condensation under carpet

[sam111]

I have a first floor flat which was rented out. The living room/kitchen is over the garage and the bedroom is over the utility room in part, the remainder being over the walkway in front of the utility room, supported by concrete pillars. there is underlay and carpet on all the floors which are concrete. Along the outside wall of the bedroom, the carpet is sodden-when I pulled it up after the tenant moved out, I found lots of condensation under the underlay.
I suspect the tenant had been drying washing/not opening windows. There is no problem in the bathroom which has internal walls. There is a similar problem in the living room by the front external wall (not nearly as bad as the bedroom).
I will have to replace the carpet-what can I do to improve this/reduce the problem.. There is polystyrene insulation under the bedroom overhang on the outside.I have read about cloud 9 underlay etc. would it help if I laid cork tiles on the concrete before fitting new underlay and carpet? Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

 

[mac391]

I have a first floor flat which was rented
You shouldn't realy have any moisture problems on a floor in a 1st floor flat !! Have you checked for penetrating damp ?? i.e around the concrete pillars or cracks in exterior render/brickwork? Neither cloud 9 or cork tiles will help you here i don't think. Get the ladders out and have a good look outside first.











out. The living room/kitchen is over the garage and the bedroom is over the utility room in part, the remainder being over the walkway in front of the utility room, supported by concrete pillars. there is underlay and carpet on all the floors which are concrete. Along the outside wall of the bedroom, the carpet is sodden-when I pulled it up after the tenant moved out, I found lots of condensation under the underlay.
I suspect the tenant had been drying washing/not opening windows. There is no problem in the bathroom which has internal walls. There is a similar problem in the living room by the front external wall (not nearly as bad as the bedroom).
I will have to replace the carpet-what can I do to improve this/reduce the problem.. There is polystyrene insulation under the bedroom overhang on the outside.I have read about cloud 9 underlay etc. would it help if I laid cork tiles on the concrete before fitting new underlay and carpet? Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

 

[sam111]

there are no visible signs of cracks etc. I lived in the flat for 3 years before renting it out and never had this problem but I always opened the windows to air out.
the part of the bedroom floor that is mainly affected is the part that is suspended over fresh air as opposed the the bit over the utility room. as the floor is so cold especially in that part of the room, I wondered whether insulation on the floor would help. I have just been in to paint between tenants and found mould on ceilings and walls, even on the uvpc round the windows so clearly the last tenant has not had the windows open. I have asked the new tenant to make sure they do air the property but it's difficult to enforce that.

 

[mointainwalker]

Could it be that what you have found is not condensation, but maybe actual water that dipped out of wet clothes hung up to dry ?

If that were the case, I would imagine that it would not dry out whilst trapped in the carpet/underlay. If so, then there would be no on-going problem with a more reasonable tenant.

 

[sam111]

no-the damp areas are nowhere near the radiator-one patch was under a floor standing mirror with a wooden base which wasn't moved until I moved it so had stood there for a year. there are no water pipes anywhere near the damp areas.