Condensation Problems

daveco23

Hi All,
Evey morning i find that there is a huge amount of condensation on the upstairs bedroom windows in the house. Rooms are well ventilated, no evidence of damp, but every morning the water is running down the windows in rivers.. Any idea what is causing it? Anyone else have the same problem?
Thanks

ryecatcher

I've had the same problem since moving in. Have had window guys in to check the seal around the windows, have had builders in to check vents and insulation and no one's come up with anything. It can get really damp in the front (north facing) bedroom. If you come up with anything I'd love to hear it!

Charlie-Bravo

Humidity! These are common problems but each and every house is different - due to the type of user, how heating is controlled, the aspect of the house and so on. I'll try and base this on Charlesland and will take it for granted that the houses are insulated correctly!

A window located at the north side of the building would not get any sun light on it...resulting in that side of the building being cold and having colder surfaces than elsewhere will result in noticeable condensation to that particular window. You may find you have another window down stairs on the same side of the building, say the living room, with no condensation problems...the living room would be better ventilated due to the double vents.

If the bedroom door is closed over during the night, little ventilation is encouraged. It is prefered to have some through-ventilation or passive ventilation in buildings to encourage the air changes to the room. But this is not comfortable for a lot of occupants.

You can imagine, the door is closed at night, there may be one to two people in the bedroom, giving off litres of water vapour during the night increasing the moisture conent in the air of the room, and in the morning the heat comes on and raises the temperature of the air and this increased water vapour naturally condensates on the cold surface of the window. All it comes down to is increasing the ventilation!

During the day, if the house is constantly occupied because the occupants are off work, or stay at home parents, etc., the building doesn't tend to ventilate itself in line with external atmosphere, so a certain higher level of humidity is alway present and this can result in more occurances of condensation and possible increase of mould growth on cold surfaces.

Here's a helpful PDF with some ways to deal with condensation

http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/tcm21-28579.pdf