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Make sure before you buy, that the output is high enough to heat the room on the coldest night.

Put simply, condensation doesn't form on a warm surface. If you remove the plaster and stick sheets of polystyrene to the bricks with plasterboard adhesive, the problem will be solved. The condensation should move to the next coldest surface, probably the window/window sill, which you can dry...

There Tony, you can be constructive!

Freddy, surely you can try to offer something useful?

Freddy, you are supposed to come back with an erudite reply.

Freddy, while manufacturers like to make their product read the better buy, in real life situations, not in the lab, it is impossible to make rockwool an air tight fit. In real life you have warm air rising through and round the product. I have seen lofts where the insulation has been so badly...

========================= Tony. Is wrong! Not only is polystyrene better inch by inch it is wind proof and water proof. It can be under water or covered in ice and it still works. You cannot say that of rockwool. You can also pile things on it without it deforming and lowering its insulation...

All forms of insulation use air as the object that slows the passage of heat to cold. Mineral wool/rockwool transmits heat along its fibres, it also allows warm air and water vapour to pass though it. The water vapour can and does freeze inside and when it thaws makes the...

First of all walk round the outside of the house and see how high the damp proof course is above the ground. It should be at least six inches above the ground, more is better. If the ground is not low enough, lower it, this is something you can do yourself. Then tidy it up with a layer of...

Nevertheless, it will indicate if the wall is dry! I recommend that you keep your heating on at a steady temperature for a least three days, preferably a week. Then take a careful look at each wall to see if there are any damp patches. You may expect to find rising damp in any wall up to...

Water vapour from breathing and sweating is always a problem in a bedroom with little heating. Having written that, there is no point in having a hole as large as you describe, as this is overkill once you take the wind into consideration. Water vapour is programmed to always move to the...

Condensation is formed in the home the result of cooking, washing, drying clothes and breathing, sweating, fish tanks, animals, indoor plants . Water vapour is programmed to head for the nearest cold surface to condense. This is normally your windows, as the coldest place in the home, but...

We were born the same year, my birthday is September.

Of course you can fit polystyrene sheet between the joists, it works very well, just cut one side at a slight angle and push it in place. Because joists are not always straight and parallel, I find it best to fill every second space and then go back and fill the remainder. Also if you are a diy...

From 2016 all new build homes must be of Passive house standard, that means as near as possible to air tight. From 2020 all new offices and factories must be built to the same standard. In practice all new commercial buildings are being built to this standard now as owners realise how...

Water vapour will be created by you, breathing and sweating. I expect the inside of your shed will be warmer than the cold outside. As such the small amount of water vapour created will be attracted to the nearest coldest surface, usually the windows. If there are holes/cracks between the...

To get a decent fire, you need a decent air supply. Try opening a window to see if this enables the smoke to clear. If this works, check with the installers where the fire is expected to get its air from, what provision did they build into your home. Have you tried the fire when there is a...

Mould need food, water and a temperature above 40F to grow. Mould lives on paper and wall paper paste, among other things. No food and it dies. Warming the wall by allowing warm air to circulate will deprive it of condensation/water. Removing the source of water vapour will help. Water...

You write that you have a Victorian period home, that is somewhere between one to two hundred years old, how old? At that time, nearly every room had a fireplace, count the fireplaces/rooms and chimney pots, very often homes as late as the end of Victoria's reign had shared chimney's. Due to...

We are moving into winter now and yours walls will be rained on frequently. Its probably to soon to know if they are waterproof. Wet walls dry out at about one centimetre a month in good dry conditions, if your walls are exposed to wind swept rain it will probably take until the end of next...