Damp House

[endymion]

I seem to be running into all sorts of issues . This started with my storage heater having lamped the electric and I switched it off.

I know its been damp outside and I know I have switched all heating off but I cant account for the dampness I am now getting. I have had the heating off before in summer and not had this.

I have one room that smells of garlic! Mustiness I suppose. I sure its damp. I can feel its damp in the air. All my carpets are damp when you walk on them - yet I cant find the cause. I've looked for leaks, gutters, floorboards.

Signs of mould are now beginning to appear on walls, black bitty stuff. ( those which have an outside surface) . Wallpaper is feeling damp and it is peeling in a couple of corners. Never had that before ( except in the bathroom - always have a condensation problem there).

I am out of ideas for the cause. Anyone any experiences? House is double glazed except for two windows, and roof insulated. Its a brick built detached bungalow circa 1958 build.

[dennis]

All condensation problems are caused by lack of heat and/or ventilation, do you have the windows open or have proper vents?

Are you cooking a lot without turning the extractor on?

Anyway, pop down Argos and buy a dehumidifier (about £70) and dry it out before the mould spreads, if you can't open the windows.

[Rod]

Seems to me it hasn't been just the usual summer 'damp outside', but extraordinarily damp - and with little relief. (Currently 17.9C and

72.5% RH - but has been consistently 98% for hour after hour many days.)

We open windows a lot. Even when it seems positively wet outside, some interior moisture seems to disappear out of them. If possible, open windows on both sides of the house to encourage through ventilation.

Do you close interior doors? If so, don't. Other than bathroom, we almost never close them.

Could dampness from your bathroom be spreading round the house? Our bathroom is usually one of the driest rooms in the house - other than when actually washing/bathing. I think you really have to go to town here. Maybe some humidistat-controlled fan (often discussed here)?

What about kitchen? Quite a lot of water can be added by cooking.

Do you have anything like an aquarium? Do you do lots of steam ironing?

You could try a dehumidifier - but they cost to buy/hire and to run, and IMHO they are only really sensible for acute use. Maybe your chronic problem has become acute?

[Andy Cap]

Make sure the dampproof course is exposed all around the bungalow and that any air bricks are clear. Floors can go very quickly if not properly ventilated.

[Dave Liquorice]

In the same house? I have a very vague memory that you have only moved into this place in the last year but could be wrong with that.

I doubt it was orginally constructed with double glazing or roof insulation. With the replacement windows there is now not enough ventilation to remove the warm damp air inside. Open the windows or the trickle vents if they exist. Use any extractor fans in the kitchen and/or bathroom to remove the exccess moisture, don't dry clothes inside on racks. Lack of heat inside will mean the walls will cool, if they go below the dewpoint of the air inside you will get condensation aka damp. You can lower the dewpoint of the air by making it warmer or by removing moisture.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I would find the source of the problem first. Dehumidifiers can easily damage timber such as floorboards in a building.

Have you got a solid concrete floor, or a suspended timber floor? I would take a peek under the floor coverings, and in the case of a suspended timber floor, under the floor.

If you are on a water meter, check it's not spinning round when you aren't expecting to be using water, e.g. due to a leak somewhere.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Have the windows built in ventilators? Earlier designs did not - all new ones have to have. If they have, are they all open?

Does your household do lots of washing and drying with the windows always closed? Lots of showering or bathing? Is the damp worse in some rooms than others?

Thing is most human activities produce moisture - even just breathing. Some houses of that era were pretty well sealed to external air movement. Especially if they have solid floors.

[Dave Liquorice]

I'm glad you put the "if you can't open the windows" rider on that. Air =

circulation within the building, a liitle ventilation (forced in the kitchen and bathroom when in use and for 30 mins to an hour afterwards(*= )) will almost certainly cure the problem.

(*) Timed or fit an extrator fan with a built in humidistat. But note th= at a humidistat controlled fan might trigger in the early hours when the ai= r in the house cools and the RH goes up.

[stuart noble]

Getting these problems in August suggests a water leak. I know it's been wet, but it hasn't been cold. Washing still dries on the line despite the high RH levels.

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

drying clothes indoors? Made that mistake myself.

De-humidifier sorted out both the accomulated moisture and clothes drying.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I always dry clothes indoors. But since pretty well every room in this house - including the kitchen - has a working chimney and trickle vents on any double glazing it's pretty well ventilated. Of course I'm not doing huge amounts of washing like those with a young family might.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Rod saying something like:

I've noticed it too, this year. I've been paying more attention to indoor humidity levels because I have a small collection of lenses and cameras I've acquired over the last 12 months and have to keep in relatively low humidity. I've not seen 98%, but plenty of days in the 80%s, although that's reading a cheapy greenhouse humidity meter (which surprisingly tallies very closely with daily Met Office figures for my area).

I'm now looking at heating the cupboard the stuff is kept in - just a

20W tubular heater would do it, I reckon.

[dennis]

20w dehumidifier would be better.

[Rod]

My awareness has greatly increased since getting a (very) cheap Tchibo indoor/outdoor thing several years ago. I upgraded to an Oregon with three remotes last year - that seems to agree with Met Office, feeling and reality (i.e. when it is pissing down it goes to 98% at times - the max. it can read). Would like a *good* Davies or something but priorities mean that isn't going to happen for a while.

63% at 23.9 on one side of the house at the moment.

Seems many years the ground dries out. Along the road there is a winter bourne (apparently a stream that normally runs only in winter). For years it has never been more than a dribble and much of the summer its bed was like concrete. People seemed ot think it would never run again. But this summer it has been full of reasonably fast flowing water. I guess when the ground water is so high, any sun will tend to evaporate that and plants will transpire at a rate of knots. All of which will build up and produce the hazy, sticky, humid days we have been having.

[endymion]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. Today the sun has been shining and it is dry - and they house is dryer too. So it must be condensation from somewhere.

There are earlier design windows. In fact I suspect they may have been put in back in the 1970's/80's when double glazing was a new thing. There are no ventilators . I have not had the windows open as it was so cold . So possibly there is no air movement here. The house could be well sealed.

Showers certainly we have. I havent exactly washed a lot in the last two weeks ( that makes me sound dirty but its just I knew I couldnt dry it easily. Do sometimes use a tumble dryer ( but its a new washer dryer and the dryer is a condenser).

The damp certainly seems to concentrate. Having looked further this morning. Its in one bedroom I dont use except as a study ( thats the garlic smelling room) . Its in the kitchen. Bathroom is always bad and I always have a window open in there. Its in the sitting room too. The walls affected are the ones which are external Mostly the North and NE ones but I had started to feel dampness in the hal and main bedroom

Its the carpet in the sitting room that seems to be taking the damp if you can understand that. I looked under the carpet and underlay and cant see anything on the floorboards/ void.

The floors are suspended. Wooden ones.

[endymion]

The windows have been closed because its been so cold. The windows do not have vents of any kind.

I dont have an extractor fan in my kitchen at all. I know cooking does sometimes affect the kitchen ( sundays mostly) but I have recently had a new cooker ( two weeks ago) which is fan assisted in the oven. I cant see that making a difference though. But it does coincide with the damp in the kitchen wall ( the damp the is on the opposite wall to the cooker - the wall concerned is the exterior wall to the house.

I have been cleaning the mould off the wals but its spreading in bits. - like its flying in the air and landing in odd places.

[endymion]

The floors are all suspended and timber. We dont have a cellar . We do have a void under the house. I have had carpets etc. up this morning. The floors ( wood) are dry. Its the carpets/ tiles that are getting damp/ wet. I have to say wet. They feel wet to walk on, as if I have had a carpet cleaner out and shampooed them over ( I have not)

I am not on a water meter but we did have a water leak a while back . Husband fixed it and put in new pipe work. The water doesnt come under the house at all. It comes in at the kitchen and travels through to the bathroom. But there is no sign of a leak this morning.

Its looking like a bad case of condensation I think isnt it?

[endymion]

I'm glad you put the "if you can't open the windows" rider on that. Air circulation within the building, a liitle ventilation (forced in the kitchen and bathroom when in use and for 30 mins to an hour afterwards(*)) will almost certainly cure the problem.

(*) Timed or fit an extrator fan with a built in humidistat. But note that a humidistat controlled fan might trigger in the early hours when the air in the house cools and the RH goes up.

I have never used a de humidifier. I have to say the thought worries me although I am not sure why.

[endymion]

I know some parts of the country have had much better weather than us. Its been very cold here as well as wet. Raining almost permanently and nothing d rying out. I have had all the windows closed. I opened them today. Have asked hubby to investigate fans in kitchen and bathroom. He has often said we need a fan in the bathroom, just never done it.

I don't know if the new cooker is making a difference in the kitchen?

But the sitting room and main bedroom are a new issue and a mystery.

[Appin]

The message from "endymion" contains these words:

Can't imagine why it should worry you. I have one in my archive room in a detached outbuilding. On 24/365 (on a humidistat, of course) but not plumbed in. This summer it's taken FAR more moisture out of the air than ever before. These things do work.