Insulation - too much or not enough?

Jan 20, 2012 30 Replies

Hello again, As most of you know I have had an ongoing issue with damp(condensation) for sometime. Its in most of the N/NE rooms in winter especially the kitchen. I have a de humidifier and a fan heater in the kitchen now to no avail. I still have mould returning.



I saw this TV programme where someone had been " bubble wrapped" in insulation and was suffering damp as a result I have tried looking up how you know whether your problem is too much or too little insulation ( and air movement). How do you tell?



I had begun to think our condensation was a result of too little air movement and too much double glazing etc. but I had the dining room and sitting rooms re glazed before Christmas ( necessity - the patio windows and French windows were broken) and now all the condensation in those rooms has just gone!



I am not wondering if I should try the same in the kitchen. The kitchen is always sopping wet on the door and walls around the door and on the window. They are wooden frames on the double glazed windows and door is wooden. The door is full of mould and is rotten and needs replacing. I am thinking to do it in plastic ( and do the window just to match) Now am I asking for more trouble or less if I do this? What do you think?



By the way, I barely cook , I don't run many things - washing once a week and dishwasher three times a week and not a lot else most of the time - so where does the water vapour come from?



Nasty, but don't worry, the doctor can give you some cream for that.

Showers, baths, people breathing, drying towels indoors, as well as cooking and such. If your home isn't ventilated at all, which some people do to "stop draughts" and hoping to cut down the heating bills, water vapour just builds up and condenses onto anything below room temperature. I remember many years ago, we had a client who was complaining about the house (Which was practically airtight and insulated to the extreme) being stuffy and mouldy, so we opened the plate that was closing a chimney off slightly. Within minutes, the stuffiness had gone, and within days, all the condensation had gone, at which point, it was worth cleaning off the mould and mildew. We didn't even need to install the vent the client had requested we put into the bathroom window.

No, it treats a symptom it doesn't do anything for the root cause of the problem.

This damp does seem a bit extreme but it doesn't take much water, from even sparse cooking, to make cold walls/windows run with water. Kitchens should have extractors that vent outside same with bathrooms and they need to be used...

Not opening a window when showering even if a fan is running, without a bathroom (or other) window open the fan won't do it's job.

If your dishwasher is anything like ours when you open the door after a cycle you are hit with clouds of steam. That's gotta go somewhere...

Blocked gutters? go outside when it's pouring down and make sure the water is going down the inside of the pipes (not visible)

How do you dry your washing/wet towels etc?

As others have said, a proper dehumidifier will cure the symptoms, however if there's a lot of damp to clear it might run continuously day and night for several weeks before getting things under control.

Wet washing on an indoor airer/line/horse is a killer without a dehumidifier. Just because the DH fan is spinning doesn't mean the compressor is working. I empty ours every 3 or 4 days at the moment but it's on all the time and kicks in and out adjusting Relative Humidity to ambient temerature.

Ooh-err missus. Are taking Jamie Oliver too literally?

formatting link
couldn't resist.

Something's wrong with this picture. If you're running a dehumidifier, there's no way anything should be wet.

NT

Are you wanting payment now? ;-)

Just wondering whether the new windows have trickle vents, which might explain the improvement there.

How about heat recovery ventilators, something along the lines of

formatting link
would get fresh air in, moist air out, without losing all the heat.

Chris

Have you tried turning the de humidifier and the fan heater on?

So that's how Moses crossed the Dead Sea then. He just walked very slowly whist holding a dehumidifier in front of him.

Of course things can still be wet even with a dehumidifier running.

If they are, water's pouring in somewhere, its not condensation

NT

Well that's what happens when you live under a bridge like the OP:-)

I do not have extractor fans and putting one in would be a problem I suspect. I know if I freeze to death, suck all the heat out of the house by opening the kitchen windows the problem is much reduced. As it is when I pile the heat on in there ( fan heater).

Even the de humidifier runs overtime. OH complains about cost - what might be one or two pence an hour to you mounts up when its constant and its never off.

I need to get a back door. The old one is rotten ( result of constantly being wet?). I just fear it may make matters worse.

I know the problem is lack of ventilation and the house is "air tight" - my predecessor insulated and draught proofed everything in sight ( and probably out of sight too)

But it has struck me that my sitting room and dining room windows no longer get condensation even in the worst weather where before the old ones were always dripping wet in a morning and evening. So I don't know what the problem is anymore. Thanks for the advice I am trying everything I can to cure the kitchen - which is worse than the other rooms.

Yes, thank you. I am daft but not that daft. But they have to work overtime and OH is complaining about the costs, so they do have to be switched off sometimes. The noise can also be a problem in the night ( I live in a bungalow and the bedrooms are across from / next the kitchen

If they are, water's pouring in somewhere, its not condensation

Thanks. I cannot find it but I am getting all the gutters/ facias and soffits done asap now. Patio windows had to take priority because they broke. But I am looking for where water might be coming from.

Don't be daft, the "OH" wouldn't allow that.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required