Condensation

Yes. Cork tiles or thin insulation is all you need if it IS condensation.

You are merely looking to raise the surface temperature above dew point.

However 'low down on a corner' might be some other problem. Make intelligent guesses first, because slapping insulation over e,g. damp penetration or rising damp will lead to it getting even wetter behind the insulation.

You can get expanded polystyrene rolls which you can paper or paint - they indent badly, though. You can also get anti-condensation paint.

If it's low on the wall I'd look for a cause other than condensation

- bridging of the cavity would be high on the list of suspects.

We had it thoroughly investigated: i.e. we punched a hole through to see what was what and there is absolutely no other problem - no rising or penetrating damp of any kind. Everything was quite dry so, it can only be condensation in a cool corner, when the CH is on fully.

See my reply above. No damp, no bridging, nothing.

I'm trying anti-condensation paint at the moment, although our condensation is causing localised slight mould growth rather than the condensation being visible itself. The paint does seem to stop our problem, but I'm not sure if it's more due to fungicides in the paint rather than the insulation aspects. I'm also looking at more substantial insulation for some closets built into outside walls that get very cold and cause the same problem, but I'm not sure what way to go here. The polystyrene rolls look too fragile, so I might go for cork tiles or thin celotex.

Has anyone tried using and painting celotex boards on the visible side of walls?

Is this an outside wall ? Or an unused chimney ?

I've used them directly on a loft ceiling where I covered them with a thin coat of Easy-Fill then painted. Works well and much softer when you bang your head on the low ceiling as well.

Really, just use almost anything. Cork tiles with lining paper? thin celotex if you must, but paper it over.

All you want is about 3mm of something fairly much less conductive than solid brick. Tounge and grove panelling? Bary Bucknall Hardboard? Rendering with expanding foam? Dry lining with plasterboard?

It's an outside corner wall, one side of which is north facing so gets no solar gain whatsoever.

I think I am going to try the paint as we do not want any measure too visible.

It won't work, though it may reduce the mould.

If you want to know for sure, get a temperature/humidity meter and an IR thermometer. Measure the temperature and humidity of that corner of the room, then calculate the dewpoint using an online caculator eg

Then measure the wall temperature with the IR thermometer to see if it's below the dewpoint. If it's still getting damp and the wall is always above dewpoint then there must be penetrating or possibly rising damp or hygroscopic salts in the wall.

If the wall is below dewpoint at times, try the paint by all means but if it doesn't work, try drying the corner out with heat and then lining it with thin Celotex and using some furniture to hide the Celotex.

cheers, Pete.

Oops a simpler and cheaper way would be to tape a thin sheet of glass or foil to the wall and checking for condensation on that.

cheers, Pete.

When I was installing central heating, I chose this location for one of the radiators for exactly this reason. If you wre considering moving or adding further radiators to this room, you might like to consider providing some heating in this corner.