Condensation / Mould - Positive Pressure Units

[mike1978]

Hi, We bought a house recently which suffers from bad condensation. This is causing mould to appear , etc.

We had a specialist look at the house who said that basically it needs to breathe and this will solve most of the problems. He has recommended a PPU unit and some humidity fans in the bathroom and kitchen.

The house is circa 200 years old with solid stone walls, there is no extractor hob fan in the kitchen and no extractor fan in the bathroom. Also, the solid stone walls are plastered with normal gypsum plaster and i believe it should be a lime based plaster to let the walls breathe. Also, the rear windows on the house are single pane although they do have vents built into the top.

It sounds about right the survey outcome and makes sense - its a bit much to take all the plaster off at the moment, so we`ll probably go with the units although i may do the work myself to save costs.

Looking around though, there are plenty of units out there - can anyone recommend which are better/worse?

Cheers, Mike

 

[endecotp]

Fit the extractors in the kitchen and bathroom (and use them) and see what difference that makes.

 

[^woody^]

We had a specialist look at the house

What did he specialise in, sales?

It's nonsense about buildings needing to breathe, if it's the occupants causing the condensation in the first place.

PP fans will only attempt to deal with the moist air that you produce, but you need to be aware that you need to make changes to what you do or how you do it too - else risk the fans not solving the problem.

So the 'specialist' should actually diagnose what is going on, what is causing it and advise on a encompassing approach to rectifying it. Not just bung a few fans in.

 

[mike1978]

well, to be fair, he did have a good point with there currently being no extractor fans fitted to the bathroom or kitchen at all - all that moisture produced has to go somewhere? Also, the gypsum plaster not allowing the stone walls to breathe sounded fairly plausible?
We`ve not been drying clothes in the house, but already starting to get mould appear in corners, etc. Windows are full of condensation in the morning when the sun comes up too,

 

[mike1978]

The surveyor who originally looked at the house, said that it was suffering from rising damp and all the ground walls needed the plaster taking off and the whole house tanking and then replastering again - this i thought was a bit over the top, hence why i got my own independent survey as i thought this approach was just trying to cover up the symptoms which would reappear at another point.

I do appreciate the independant views on here , so no worries, cheers