Anyone else suffer with condensation in their home?

[abillybob]

Hey Guys

 

So me and my partner are finally in our home (Moved in 2 Fridays ago). We've pretty much got it how we want now apart from we have 2 skylight windows in the house made by Fakro drip a lot of condensation. They seem to be ok in the afternoon but when night time comes they have a lot of condensation on them and tend to drip down the wall and onto our bed.

 

The one skylight is around 30 feet high so we have no idea what to do with this one as we can't even reach the thing but the other is directly above MY SIDE of the bed.. The girlfriend is fine with it! Which drips during the night quite often, we're even worried about putting a blind on the thing as surely it'll just drip onto the blind and ruin it so we have this ghastly light shine through the top of our bedroom in the morning which wakes us up.

 

We have tried opening the skylight and other windows which seems to help but in the winter months now it makes the house incredibly cold, we also don't fancy running a dehumidifier 24/7 as surely this will cost us a lot in electric! So we're a bit confused how to remedy the situation?

 

My mum has a skylight which doesn't have any condensation problems so we're a bit confused why we are having them

 

Thanks peeps

[Andrew_C]

How much moisture are you putting in to the house? Shower / non-vented tumble drier / washing draped over radiators / open gas fire / lots of boiling food?

 

Extract in the bathroom, extracting cooker hood (not recirculation), proper vent for tumble drier. After that, I'd look at "positive pressure ventilation". I've done that, and almost stopped any condensation. It pulls the slightly warmer than outside air from the loft into the house, rather than sucking your warm air out, which is replaced with cold.

[newpersn]

Any windows vents closed? May be worth opening them up. Most of our windows have 2 vents on. Always have 1 open in the winter months.

[witch]

I'm told that sticking "window film" on the glass might help.

[pcstru]

How much moisture are you putting in to the house? Shower / non-vented tumble drier / washing draped over radiators / open gas fire / lots of boiling food?

 

Extract in the bathroom, extracting cooker hood (not recirculation), proper vent for tumble drier. After that, I'd look at "positive pressure ventilation". I've done that, and almost stopped any condensation. It pulls the slightly warmer than outside air from the loft into the house, rather than sucking your warm air out, which is replaced with cold.

 

Another option is a vent with a heat exchanger (it takes heat from the air being expelled and uses it to heat up incoming air). You can get these for single rooms or whole house systems. Some are available with humidity sensors so they only cut in when (roughly) needed.

 

In a bedroom, the source of the condensation might well be human...

[JATSO]

Hey Guys

 

So me and my partner are finally in our home (Moved in 2 Fridays ago). We've pretty much got it how we want now apart from we have 2 skylight windows in the house made by Fakro drip a lot of condensation. They seem to be ok in the afternoon but when night time comes they have a lot of condensation on them and tend to drip down the wall and onto our bed.

 

The one skylight is around 30 feet high so we have no idea what to do with this one as we can't even reach the thing but the other is directly above MY SIDE of the bed.. The girlfriend is fine with it! Which drips during the night quite often, we're even worried about putting a blind on the thing as surely it'll just drip onto the blind and ruin it so we have this ghastly light shine through the top of our bedroom in the morning which wakes us up.

 

We have tried opening the skylight and other windows which seems to help but in the winter months now it makes the house incredibly cold, we also don't fancy running a dehumidifier 24/7 as surely this will cost us a lot in electric! So we're a bit confused how to remedy the situation?

 

My mum has a skylight which doesn't have any condensation problems so we're a bit confused why we are having them

 

Thanks peeps

 

We use a dehumidifier its on all the time drying our laundry in the conservatory. Next to nothing in electric consumption and cost. Well worth it in my opinion.

[difinity]

A dehumidifier costs less than you think to run (about 25p for 7 hours) but it doesn't need to be on 24/7.

Do you have conventional radiators or underfloor heating ?

[CAM]

I live in a basement flat, no windows so I get lots of moisture in the room. It's a nightmare, I have to leave the front door open to vent it out, letting in all the bugs and cold air in. Washing takes ages (read days) to dry and I have to stay on top of mould and mildew. I have an extractor in the bathroom which I leave running after showering and an extractor hood in the kitchen (although the vapour still escapes and ruins anything paper/card on the worktop including my recipe sheets!).

[pcstru]

A dehumidifier costs less than you think to run (about 25p for 7 hours) but it doesn't need to be on 24/7.

There are a few different types of dehumidifier. The cheaper ones using peltier elements can be quite horribly inefficient. A good rule of thumb for cost is 1W Year = £1 (leave a 100W PC on all year and it will cost you ~£100). I'd also be wary of a dehumidifier in a bedroom. They can be quite noisy.

[abillybob]

Thanks for all the responses guys it's really helped!

 

How much moisture are you putting in to the house? Shower / non-vented tumble drier / washing draped over radiators / open gas fire / lots of boiling food?

Extract in the bathroom, extracting cooker hood (not recirculation), proper vent for tumble drier. After that, I'd look at "positive pressure ventilation". I've done that, and almost stopped any condensation. It pulls the slightly warmer than outside air from the loft into the house, rather than sucking your warm air out, which is replaced with cold.

 

We do use the shower daily although the bathroom has a small extractor fan which is on, doesn't tend to clear the room of all the moisture though! We use a DriBuddi from JML to dry our clothes no tumble drier, this could be putting moisture into the houuse but as we've just moved in we've only used it once so I don't think it's a contributing factor yet! We have a big extractor fan above the hob and run it every time we are boiling and cooking food!

 

The positive pressure ventilation looks good although I'm a bit worried about cutting a hole in my ceiling and we don't have a power socket to run the thing from in the loft! Do you know if there are companies that will fit this for us

 

Any windows vents closed? May be worth opening them up. Most of our windows have 2 vents on. Always have 1 open in the winter months.

 

We don't have any vents on the windows, my mum does on every window in the house so maybe this will help but we'd have to get them fitted to skylight which I'm unsure if possible?

 

I'm told that sticking "window film" on the glass might help.

 

I did read something about this helping. I thought about applying a dark as dark can be window tint to the skylights as this will block out light as well as hopefully helping with the condensation!

We use a dehumidifier its on all the time drying our laundry in the conservatory. Next to nothing in electric consumption and cost. Well worth it in my opinion.

 

Ah ok, our main concern is that it costs a lot of money to run one. Where do we keep it in our bedroom or can you just shove it anywhere in the house?

 

A dehumidifier costs less than you think to run (about 25p for 7 hours) but it doesn't need to be on 24/7.

Do you have conventional radiators or underfloor heating ?

 

No underfloor heating. we just have normal radiators around the house! The house does get warm very quickly!

[LeMarchand]

We get a lot of condensation on 2 sides of the house. The side shared with the neighbours and the (normally warm) front are fine, but the back is particularly bad and we have found damp behind shelves before plus in winter the cistern is always dripping. Borrowed a dehumidifier from my Dad and that was great, but does mean that you have a clunky unit + lead in the way. (Don't buy the £30 job from Aldi!). I do like the look of the thing @Andrew_C linked to, but worry it might make the house colder.

[cherd84]

On top of the other comments re: dehumidifiers, the better ones (although not all that cheap to buy~£130 from Amazon) you can get ones where you set a % humidity so that it just clicks on when needed. They also have a 'laundry' setting if you need to dry clothes inside.

 

If you can place it on a landing it should make a difference to upstairs although, we get a lot at home too and I tend to move it room to room. If you get one, just don't leave it running while you're in bed unless you want a severe case of cotton mouth!

[Willott]

Are the skylights single glazed? If double glazed, it may be that the glazed unit has failed - the condensation is caused when warm damp air hits a cold surface - in a double glazed unit, the inner glazing should be the same temperature (or near as anything) to the inside pane. I'm assuming that you don't get condensation on any other windows in the room or on the walls? The other thing to look at its what temperature your thermostat is set at, and with heat rising, the location of this may mean that the air at the 30ft high skylight is warmer than the rest of the house, and so a greater temperature differential with outside which may exacerbate the issue

@LeMarchand - cavity wall or single skin?

[abillybob]

On top of the other comments re: dehumidifiers, the better ones (although not all that cheap to buy~£130 from Amazon) you can get ones where you set a % humidity so that it just clicks on when needed. They also have a 'laundry' setting if you need to dry clothes inside.

 

If you can place it on a landing it should make a difference to upstairs although, we get a lot at home too and I tend to move it room to room. If you get one, just don't leave it running while you're in bed unless you want a severe case of cotton mouth!

 

Thank you will have a look around

 

Are the skylights single glazed? If double glazed, it may be that the glazed unit has failed - the condensation is caused when warm damp air hits a cold surface - in a double glazed unit, the inner glazing should be the same temperature (or near as anything) to the inside pane. I'm assuming that you don't get condensation on any other windows in the room or on the walls? The other thing to look at its what temperature your thermostat is set at, and with heat rising, the location of this may mean that the air at the 30ft high skylight is warmer than the rest of the house, and so a greater temperature differential with outside which may exacerbate the issue

@LeMarchand - cavity wall or single skin?

They are double glazed apparently this is them! We haven't noticed condensation on any other windows only the skylight windows. So do you think that could be the problem that the windows double glazing has failed?

[LeMarchand]

@LeMarchand - cavity wall or single skin?

 

Cavity, but first gen so not brilliant. Last time we got someone to look they said there wasn't a lot they could do as the old (not very efficient) gunk was in there so there wasn't room for better stuff. Unless there is now a way to remove the old?

[Andrew_C]

I do like the look of the thing @Andrew_C linked to, but worry it might make the house colder.

Strictly yes - but not as cold as running an extract will.

[MkII]

I'd reiterate what Andrew_C said, being an accidental landlord and having lots of this to deal with.

 

I've just bought a Nuaire Drimaster for £200 and got an electrician to fit it (the not heater version which adds another £50 I think). It goes in the hall ceiling. Needs about 600mm clearance. This has worked wonders on our house, and the electrician is installing one in his. There's a 14 year old girl living there with asthma and her symptoms of coughing and breathing difficulties have disappeared. The house feels airy and fresh. It's not noticeably colder either. There's no fan ventilation in the bathroom from the daily used shower, just an air gap from the hall for this thing to do its thing.

 

Cost to run is tiny... (for the non heater version.. not too bad for the heater either) £2 per year. There's no dehumidifier in the way and the ROI is way better.

 

If you're able to fit the thing yourself minus the electrics there's a guide here:

PIV Unit - Stop Condensation on Windows and Around the Home Low Cost

 

Here's a great intro to the subject too:

[JATSO]

Thanks for all the responses guys it's really helped!

 

 

 

We do use the shower daily although the bathroom has a small extractor fan which is on, doesn't tend to clear the room of all the moisture though! We use a DriBuddi from JML to dry our clothes no tumble drier, this could be putting moisture into the houuse but as we've just moved in we've only used it once so I don't think it's a contributing factor yet! We have a big extractor fan above the hob and run it every time we are boiling and cooking food!

 

The positive pressure ventilation looks good although I'm a bit worried about cutting a hole in my ceiling and we don't have a power socket to run the thing from in the loft! Do you know if there are companies that will fit this for us

 

 

 

We don't have any vents on the windows, my mum does on every window in the house so maybe this will help but we'd have to get them fitted to skylight which I'm unsure if possible?

 

 

 

I did read something about this helping. I thought about applying a dark as dark can be window tint to the skylights as this will block out light as well as hopefully helping with the condensation!

 

 

Ah ok, our main concern is that it costs a lot of money to run one. Where do we keep it in our bedroom or can you just shove it anywhere in the house?

 

 

 

No underfloor heating. we just have normal radiators around the house! The house does get warm very quickly!

 

Ours is confined to the conservatory its quiet in operation and keeps the windows clear. By keeping the doors shut while your out during the day with the unit in the problem area you should see a change in the the moister build up but because its your bedroom and you will be adding warm air(excuse the pun) into the room at night, it just condenses onto the surface of the cold glass.

Maybe your Fakro skylight isn't thermally up to the job. Your roof tiles should have vents in them to allow air to circulate and prevent moister buildup. It was requirement for our loft conversion to have the vents with the Velux windows.

 

Have a look here at various dehumidifiers Cheap Dehumidifiers | Buy Commercial & Domestic Dehumidifiers Online

[mikeprice]

Obviously the condensation is caused by the humidity in the bedroom condensing on the window glass - which means the glass is cold

 

I would suspect that the double glazing has failed - but also having a decent blind will help as there will be another layer between the cold glass and the wet air in the room

I had this in a house ages ago and the blinds made a difference - but you do have to be careful of mildew - you will need to wipe them down every few weeks in teh winter

[Willott]

@abillybob - Is the skylight you can reach noticeably colder to touch than other windows in the same room? If you know someone with an IR camera you could take a look with that as well from the outside and see if the skylights show warmer than other windows for example. If it's the WLI or WGI model range and not the FWL/FWR it would appear to be single glazed, so I'd check the model (if there's a number on it), or look at the glazing unit itself, it should be fairly obvious if it's double glazed.

 

@LeMarchand - it would appear that it's possible to remove some cavity wall insulation, however, not necessarily cheap capex (couple of grand), however you may find reduction in heating bills, less maintenance relating to damp etc and a generally warmer house

[jonnykewell1]

What is the pointing like on your external brick work? Our neighbor thought we had a problem for ages and it turned out that they needed to get the render sorted on their outside walls as it was letting in water. Do you also have some roof tiles with vents to allow air to flow freely? I've also heard of problems with cavity wall causing condensation issues and making sure that the air bricks in your wall are clear.

[LeMarchand]

@LeMarchand - it would appear that it's possible to remove some cavity wall insulation, however, not necessarily cheap capex (couple of grand), however you may find reduction in heating bills, less maintenance relating to damp etc and a generally warmer house

 

Cheers! Alas, we've just got a loan to redo the bathroom + other bits so it's a long way off that - but £200 (+ possibly fitting) for PIV is do-able.

What is the pointing like on your external brick work? Our neighbor thought we had a problem for ages and it turned out that they needed to get the render sorted on their outside walls as it was letting in water. Do you also have some roof tiles with vents to allow air to flow freely? I've also heard of problems with cavity wall causing condensation issues and making sure that the air bricks in your wall are clear.

Hoping this is for me! Looks OK (but not an expert!). Could be this as it's on the walls that get the worst weather, but then if those walls are colder they're more likely to get condensation. Pretty sure air bricks are clear. will take a look at weekend!

[timbo343]

Could you buy one of those moisture collectors or even put cat litter in some old socks around the room to absorb the moisture? I saw it on life hacker about putting this in the car Prevent Car Windows From Fogging Up with Cat Litter-Filled Socks.

 

We used to have bad condensation in our last house but it had rising damp and smelt damp. You could get yourself a humidity monitor off amazon to give you an idea on how humid it is in the room - i have them in each room around the house to monitor the levels.

 

I must admit, until last night it has been very humid and last night saw the first bit of condensation on our 1 week old windows, but this condensation is only about an inch from the UPVC frame. Having the window open for about 30 mins each day would help as you need to get the moisture to the coldest place.

 

Maybe having a small fan to blow the moisture out of the window when its open would help too.

 

Are you able to put an extractor fan in the room or above the ceiling that can vent to the outside or even to the attic and then pipe to outside?

[Andrew_C]

Are you able to put an extractor fan in the room or above the ceiling that can vent to the outside or even to the attic and then pipe to outside?

Don't extract into the loft; you are only moving the problem to somewhere you won't see it! *DOH! Just seen that you spotted that!*

 

As I wrote above, removing moisture at source is the 1st step, second, remove any very moist air, third, deal with the remainder. But see my post on "positive pressure".

Edited November 2, 2016 by Andrew_C
Actually reading what you wrote.

[timbo343]

Don't extract into the loft; you are only moving the problem to somewhere you won't see it! *DOH! Just seen that you spotted that!*

 

I meant put an inline extractor in the loft and then vent to the outside via the white ducting. We have one of these in for the bathroom https://www.voltelectrical.co.uk/products/Ventilation/Extractor+Fans/Manrose+MF100t+4+Inch+MixFlo+Extractor+Fan+with+Timer/2576180905?gclid=CjwKEAjwnebABRCjpvr13dHL8DsSJABB-ILJkg-Zv7i_hpRzTXFrsiWj90ftMZ3JMaam4r7I3POWjRoCZ93w_wcB which is sat in the attic venting to the outside. Yes it gets rid of the steam however we still have the window open and trickle vents open in the bathroom to bring the humidity down. Having the heating on too also bring the humidity down with the window ajar. It seems a bit backwards but its all about getting the moisture to the cold air.