condensation

[Hyacinth]

In october 2003 we paid a company to have a Damp Proof and condensation work carryed ou in our flat. We were given a 30 years guarantee, but it is not worth anything, in the first year the condesnation in ther cupboard came back. I had to pay the company that orginally did the work over £126 just to come back and have a look. He said that it was not Rising Damp but condesnation, and it was cause by drying clothes in the flat. anyway nothings was resolve.
We've taken off the old plaster in the cupboard and re-plaster also we had air bricks fitted by the company that did the Damp proofing. Nothing works so this weekend my husband is going to put a radiator in the cupboard. Have you got any more ideas what can we do to get rid of this.

Thanks

Hyacinth Richards

 

[masona]

Have a read here //www.diynot.com/wiki/building:condensation_in_houses

 

[JohnD]

don't leave wet washing about the house

all the water that comes out has got to go somewhere, and it will go into making the house damp

ventilate more

 

[kevnurse]

Nothing works so this weekend my husband is going to put a radiator in the cupboard. Have you got any more ideas what can we do to get rid of this.

There is no doubt that your problems are due to condensation. This occurs when warm moist air (moistened by human breath and body sweat and drying clothes and boiling kettles, etc) comes into contact with a surface (wall or window) with a temperature below the dew point of the warm air. The dew point is the lowest temperature that the air can hold the moisture within it without the moisture turning into water droplets (ie condensing).

How to avoid condensation: get rid of the moisture (which means getting rid of the air carrying it - open a window). Do not put moisture into air that is trapped in a room due to no ventilation (don't dry clothes inside the house - get a condensing tumble dryer). Get a de-humidifier. Slightly open the bedroom window at night and leave the door slightly open to promote airflow.

 

[IngeJones]

The thing is, under some circumstances, you can't really avoid condensation without drying the air out beyond comfort levels. Basically the amount of moisture that is just a right healthy amount for your warm room, will automatically be too much when that air touches a cold surface. If you dried out your air to the point that it no longer had moisture to carry into the cupboard to meet that cold wall, you'd probably have dried-out throats while going about your daily life. IMHO.

The most effective solution I have seen so far in such a cupboard is where someone had lined the back of it with polystyrene ceiling tiles, meaning that the air never met a cold wall. Of course this only works for a cupboard that is built-in in the traditional sense, not a modular one that came with its own back panel. In that case your air would probably be condensing behind the back panel, out of sight.

 

[JohnD]

the OP appears to be drying clothes inside the house. People who hang wet washing over the banisters, or on top of radiators, are CAUSING damp problems. It is pretty well impossible for anyone to cure the problem unless they stop.

even condensing driers blow out quite a bit of steam. a drier with an extract hose through the wall is the best solution.

 

[IngeJones]

Yes I agree it sounds like in this case there is some excess moisture being generated that could be reviewed. But I am pessimistically expecting that even if they stopped drying their clothes indoors there would still be an (albeit lesser) element of condensation in the cupboard as walls in shut off places don't get warmed up like the exposed walls in a room.

Also if they really really wanted to go on going on drying clothes in the house and they insulated that wall thoroughly, it might be they preferred that approach. I speculate that sticking some polystyrene up is cheaper in than putting a radiator in the cupboard and less restrictive than having to change a preferred laundry routine.

 

[JohnD]

if you insist on drying clothes indoors the best way I know is to find a room on the lee side of the home, where the wind blows air out of the window rather than pushing it in, put the clothes on a rack and leave the window sufficiently open to guarantee a constant outflow.

sticking polystyrene on the wall, or adding a radiator, means that the water vapour will just move around until it finds another place to condense.