With the recent cold snap we have been speaking to lots of people this week about their condensation problems and how we can help in resolving them. Here are our top tips.
Firstly, the cause:
Normal everyday living such as cooking, washing, bathing, drying clothes indoors, heating and even breathing produces water vapour. Air can hold a certain amount of moisture in the form of an invisible vapour. However, when the air contains more moisture than it can hold it reaches ‘saturation point’. At this point moisture turns back to water forming condensation on hard surfaces such as windows, tiles and walls.
Our top tips on how to control condensation:
- Control the relative humidity in your home through the use of extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms. Shutting the doors to these rooms whilst the extractor fan is operating also helps.
- Ensure there is adequate ventilation to the room and open up the vent. Trickle vents and through-wall background vents remove stale damp air and replace it with fresh outside air. New, airtight houses may have trickle vents in windows and/or controllable through-wall vents. Make sure the vents are kept open (especially during winter), most have different settings so the amount of air into the room can be controlled.
- If you live in an older property but have made substantial modifications to make it more airtight (such as double or triple glazing, draught seals, insulated cavity walls etc.) you may need to boost the amount of ventilation into the room by installing trickle vents or through-wall background vents.
- Insulate so that the internal walls are kept at a temperature above the dew point of the air inside.
- Take action before excessive condensation starts to cause mould and fungi to grow as this can contribute to health issues.
To view our range of Background and Acoustic Background Ventilators to help control condensation click here.