Humidity advice..?

[sandman1600]

We moved into a 1970s split level bungalow at the start of the year. Living accommodation is on the main floor as you enter the property. Floors are floating wood floor with a two foot drop to concrete. The humidity here is fine.

The bedrooms and bathroom are downstairs and offset from the living accommodation… so there’s nothing above them and the floors are just solid concrete.

There’s a lot of tall trees around the property which offer a lot of shade and so the downstairs rooms are constantly cool (or freezing cold in winter). Even in the recent heatwave the downstairs rooms were still cool and we needed a duvet at night.

We’ve got a cheap humidity gadget from Amazon and we’ve got an Apple HomePod. Both give humidity readings of anything up to 75% in our bedroom. You can feel clothing out of the wardrobe feels damp/moist.

There’s no sign or smell of damp/mould in the room. The windows don’t really show a lot of condensation. There’s a small airbrick vent near the ceiling which seems to make no difference. The windows are French doors so we can’t really leave them open unless we’re in the house.

The ceilings are vaulted with a metal roof and I’m guessing there’s little to no roof insulation. This is something we’ll be looking at in the future.

The property had been empty for a couple of years when we moved in and the heating downstairs isn’t really working so we had to use plug in oil heaters through the winter. We were hoping the warmer weather might help but it’s worse now because we’re not using any heating.

I’m just really struggling to understand the cause and how to tackle it so any help would be a help.

Thank you!

 

[^woody^]

75% RH is not a problem.

Humidity always has to be considered along with air temperatures.

If you had a humidity problem, then you would definitely have mould and may also see contestation on surfaces.

Ensure there is adequate ventilation.

 

[sandman1600]

75% RH is not a problem.

Humidity always has to be considered along with air temperatures.

If you had a humidity problem, then you would definitely have mould and may also see contestation on surfaces.

Ensure there is adequate ventilation.

Oh really? That’s really good to hear. The monitors are warning us of high humidity and along with fabrics feeling damp in there I was getting anxious.

Thanks again.

 

[^woody^]

Are fabrics damp or do you just think they are?

Fabrics won't get damp from air humidity alone unless you are wearing them outside in the rain.

 

[sandman1600]

Honestly I don’t know. Clothes that have been stored in the wardrobe really do feel slightly moist to the touch. It’s not like they’re dripping wet. There’s just a sort of tacky feel to them. We’ve both noticed it separately so I wouldn’t have thought it was just perception.

None of the walls are wet to the touch and other than a little bit of misting on the windows, there’s no real condensation.

The rooms are noticeably cooler downstairs than upstairs so maybe it’s a temperature thing that’s causing that perception.

 

[Andy165]

Why not get the central heating working properly/ checked out ? Are the radiators adequately sized to heat the rooms and the system balanced properly ?

 

[sandman1600]

That’s underway. It’s a big job as everything including the boiler needs replacing and there’s a lot of other work that needs to be done before we can replace it all.

But in the current temperatures, we’ve not got ANY heating on either floor. Upstairs is fine. Downstairs is humid. Hence my question.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

75% is too high. You should aim for 60% in the UK.

Do you have any plumbing, waste pipes or outside downpipes/drains in the vicinity? Start by checking outside the next time it's raining heavily. Look for leaks, check the drains aren't backing up.

You could try closing the room doors for a few days with the humidity meter trapped inside, see if this gives any clues.

 

[sandman1600]

75% is too high. You should aim for 60% in the UK.

Do you have any plumbing, waste pipes or outside downpipes/drains in the vicinity? Start by checking outside the next time it's raining heavily. Look for leaks, check the drains aren't backing up.

You could try closing the room doors for a few days with the humidity meter trapped inside, see if this gives any clues.

Thanks for that. The upstairs is around 50% humidity but this lower level is over 70% in every room. It’s pretty much consistently at that level. Whether we have rain or not, it seems about the same in every room.

It’s very noticeably cooler as you walk downstairs and so we’ve always assumed this is connected to the humidity issue.

The only plumbing around this area is in the bathroom and weirdly that room has lower humidity (unless we’re using the shower obviously).

There is a drain problem in one of the upstairs rooms where roots have dislodged a drain (which we’re in the process of getting fixed) however there are no signs of damp, mould or water ingress anywhere inside the humid rooms.

 

[Swwils]

Humans cannot feel wetness, you are only able to feel temperature and touch. This why cold but dry clothes can "feel wet".

ventilation is the key.

 

[sandman1600]

Humans cannot feel wetness, you are only able to feel temperature and touch. This why cold but dry clothes can "feel wet".

ventilation is the key.

That’s really interesting. There is definitely a damp “feel” to the fabrics though. I clearly can’t say they feel “wet” but there’s a tacky, sort of moist texture to the clothes that feels like more than just a temperature issue. Texture is something we can identify with the receptors in our skin and the texture of dry fabric and wet fabric is different. That’s what I’m detecting.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

75% is too high. You should aim for 60% in the UK.

I agree, I would be concerned if the humidity in my home was more than 60%. My system constantly records both indoor and outdoor, at present it is showing an indoor value of 49%, it recorded 56% briefly, whilst Sunday dinner was cooking this afternoon.

 

[sandman1600]

I agree, I would be concerned if the humidity in my home was more than 60%. My system constantly records both indoor and outdoor, at present it is showing an indoor value of 49%, it recorded 56% briefly, whilst Sunday dinner was cooking this afternoon.

Thank you. That’s definitely the way I was thinking.

The upstairs rooms are all under 60% and they feel fine. Downstairs doesn’t feel pleasant. The only thing that seems to make any difference is turning the heaters on for a few hours but that’s not something we want to be doing during the summer.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The upstairs rooms are all under 60% and they feel fine. Downstairs doesn’t feel pleasant. The only thing that seems to make any difference is turning the heaters on for a few hours but that’s not something we want to be doing during the summer.

Have you considered running a dehumidifier? Most effective, if run in one room at a time, with the door closed.

 

[sandman1600]

Have you considered running a dehumidifier? Most effective, if run in one room at a time, with the door closed.

That was what we were thinking of next. I just wasn’t sure if that was a long term fix though.

Think we’re going to have to do it in the short term at least.