Condensation issues

[RonanOS]

Hi all,

Our bedroom is at the end of the house and two of the four walls are external and prone to being colder. It also has an en-suite and both of these factors are why we are assuming it is being impacted by condensation

Some mornings we find that the wooden floor along these external walls can be wet to touch from condensation. Just maybe an inch or so away from the skirting board.

It had previously been worse with the damp causing some of the wooden panels to buckle under the bed, however we made some changes like regularly using a dehumidifier, moving the bed out from the wall and being more stringent on opening windows and using the fan when showering in the en-suite.

To try get rid of the last bit of condensation we are considering two things. In both cases we plan on taking up the floor and changing the underlay to the most insulating one we can find.

1. Install the electric underfloor heating mats along the wall and have it come on a timer

Or

2. Install an electric heater on that side of the room to come on a timer.

If anyone had a similar experience in relation to condensation or how to fix it, we would love to hear it.

Thanks
Ronan

 

[Leo]

To try get rid of the last bit of condensation we are considering two things. In both cases we plan on taking up the floor and changing the underlay to the most insulating one we can find.

Given that only the flooring by the wall is affected, underlay is unlikely to resolve the issue. It's more likely conduction from the wall that's causing the temperature of the adjacent flooring to drop below the dew point. Try remove some skirting board and see if the flooring is in contact with the wall.

What ventilation do you have in that room?

 

[RonanOS]

Given that only the flooring by the wall is affected, underlay is unlikely to resolve the issue. It's more likely conduction from the wall that's causing the temperature of the adjacent flooring to drop below the dew point. Try remove some skirting board and see if the flooring is in contact with the wall.

What ventilation do you have in that room?

Hi Leo,

Will check the contact between wall and floor - there should be a small gap there but will check it out.

Ventilation is just from the window - there is no vent in the wall.

 

[TheInstitution]

Hi RonanOS,

Have you had your cavity walls checked to ensure they have proper insulation?

Like you we had a cold and damp room in the house with two external walls. We tried various things to address it. Bear in mind this isn't an old house, it was built in the late 1990's within a housing development.

A number of years ago we had a BER assessor check there was cavity insulation and he was able to do a visual check by looking down the walls from the attic. There was fibre insulation present in the cavity. So, we discounted that as the issue.

But the cold/damp issue continued. We did other things like upsize the rad in the room and upgrade the window to triple-glazed, but it made no difference.

This year we had a guy drill a few holes in the gable wall and stick a camera in. We were shocked at what we saw. While the builder did pump in fibre into the cavity, it was just fired in and not evenly applied or packed in. There were gaping holes with no insulation and places where we were able to look straight down the inner cavity to the base!

These big gaps of no insulation corresponded to the parts of the wall that were cold and damp. Essentially, the walls were colder, leading to any moisture in the house reaching its dewpoint and condensiing on that colder inner wall, causing moisture, dampness, mould and a fusty smell.

Spoke to the neighbour across the road when I saw a company doing work on his walls and it turns out he had the same issue as us and he said a number of houses in the estate also have the same issue. Shoddy workmanship by the developer. The issue was addressed by getting the old insulation vacuumed out and replaced with a modern bonded bead system (or similar). Apparently the change to the entire house was immediately noticeable.

We are booked to get ours done in January.

 

[RonanOS]

Hi RonanOS,

Have you had your cavity walls checked to ensure they have proper insulation?

Like you we had a cold and damp room in the house with two external walls. We tried various things to address it. Bear in mind this isn't an old house, it was built in the late 1990's within a housing development.

A number of years ago we had a BER assessor check there was cavity insulation and he was able to do a visual check by looking down the walls from the attic. There was fibre insulation present in the cavity. So, we discounted that as the issue.

But the cold/damp issue continued. We did other things like upsize the rad in the room and upgrade the window to triple-glazed, but it made no difference.

This year we had a guy drill a few holes in the gable wall and stick a camera in. We were shocked at what we saw. While the builder did pump in fibre into the cavity, it was just fired in and not evenly applied or packed in. There were gaping holes with no insulation and places where we were able to look straight down the inner cavity to the base!

These big gaps of no insulation corresponded to the parts of the wall that were cold and damp. Essentially, the walls were colder, leading to any moisture in the house reaching its dewpoint and condensiing on that colder inner wall, causing moisture, dampness, mould and a fusty smell.

Spoke to the neighbour across the road when I saw a company doing work on his walls and it turns out he had the same issue as us and he said a number of houses in the estate also have the same issue. Shoddy workmanship by the developer. The issue was addressed by getting the old insulation vacuumed out and replaced with a modern bonded bead system (or similar). Apparently the change to the entire house was immediately noticeable.

We are booked to get ours done in January.

Hi,

When we first moved in we looked at getting the walls pumped with the beads, however when the guy drilled a few holes he found that there was already insulation in there. It looked like the normal fibreglass wool not the modern beads.

From speaking to the guy we bought the house off also he said he got insulation added.

It could be the case that it has deteriorated over the time or the job wasn’t done well originally.

I never knew it was an option to vacuum out the old stuff and pump in the new bead. I must look into that as could be a good option! Could be patchy or missing in some points causing the issue. Also might explain why the bedroom on the other side of the house isn’t impacted also….very interesting

Thanks

 

[Babhdan]

Why not start off with one of those very cheap humidity sensors and monitor the temp and relative humidity for a few days