How to control condensation in your home
When warm moist air produced by ordinary household activities
such as cooking and bathing hits a cold surface, e.g. an outside
wall or a window, condensation occurs. Unless the moist air can
escape to the outside through an open window, air vent or extractor
fan, it will always stay in your home moving around until it finds
a cold spot where it can condense into condensation.
Condensation can lead to mould which can contribute to problems
of asthma and other respiratory diseases.
How can you control it?
Insulation
Condensation occurs on cold spots, so if you can warm up the
cold spots you will help to control condensation. Insulating your
loft, external walls, and draughtproofing doors and windows will
reduce the cold spots and make your house cheaper to heat. Find out
if you are eligible for a Warm Front
grant for insulation.
Heating
Try and avoid cold areas in the home. It is better to heat the
whole home to a lower temperature rather than one room to a very
high temperature. When you get condensation and mould forming, it
is often not in the room where you are making the moisture, e.g.
the kitchen, but in a room you don't often use like the spare
bedroom. This may be because this room is not usually heated. Try
heating all the rooms regularly. Make sure you are using the
heating system and controls efficiently as this will save you money
and enable you to afford to heat more of your home.
Reducing Moisture
Reducing moisture in the home will cut down the amount of
condensation. How much moisture do you make in your home?
Drying clothes produces 10 pints of moisture (6lbs of spun
washing in an unvented tumble dryer)
Washing clothes produces 1 pint.
If you use a tumble dryer make sure it is vented to the outside.
Don't dry clothes indoors if possible. If you have to, open the
window and shut the door of the room where the clothes are drying
as this will let the moisture from the wet clothes go outside
rather than circulating in your home.
Using a paraffin or bottled gas heater for 5 hours produces 3
pints of moisture
Avoid using portable gas and paraffin heaters. These fuels give off
a lot of moisture when they burn so open a window in the room where
the heater is if you have to use one. A window should be kept open
for safety reasons too. They are also expensive to run - they cost
about 7- 9p per hour to use, compared to a mains gas fire which
costs 2 - 3p per hour. Keep the kitchen and bathroom doors shut to
stop moisture moving around your home. Cover boiling pans with pan
lids - this will save on your fuel bills as well as reducing
moisture.
Ventilation
Ventilating your home adequately, by opening windows a little,
using extractor fans or vents provided, will allow moisture to
escape to the outside.
Having a bath produces 2 pints of moisture
Use an extractor fan in the bathroom if you have one when you have
a bath or shower to let the moisture out.
Open the windows on one notch for half an hour after bathing to
get rid of the moisture. Remember to shut them afterwards
Cooking by gas for 3 hours produces 3 pints of moisture
Use the extractor fan or open the window on one notch in the
kitchen when cooking to let the moisture out.
If you have trickle vents above the windows, keep them open all
the time.
Don't block up any air vents.