If condensation is regularly building up inside your property, it may be lacking adequate ventilation.
Condensation is an annoying problem that all homeowners encounter from time to time. Whilst a few droplets of condensation on the window every now and then may not cause problems, properties that are consistently damp with condensation could experience extensive damage.
If you often notice condensation in your home, then ventilating your property better could be a quick and simple solution to help banish the problem and avoid expensive damage.
What is condensation?
Condensation occurs when warm water vapour in the air meets a cold surface and turns back into liquid water.
We perform plenty of activities inside our homes on a daily basis that produce water vapour, including cooking, showering, bathing, boiling the kettle, washing clothes, and even breathing.
If our homes are lovely and warm and well insulated, then this water vapour will build up in the air causing humid conditions. When this warm, moist air then meets a cold surface, like an outside wall, door, ceiling, window or even floor, it turns back into liquid water. This is when we start to notice droplets of water appearing on indoor surfaces.
In more serious cases of condensation, you may even notice that whole areas of your walls or ceiling look damp or discover pools of water forming under your windows and moisture dripping down the walls.
Why is condensation a problem?
If your home suffers from condensation, then this indicates that you’re living in a humid environment.
Depending on the severity of your condensation problem, you could find that it causes expensive damage to your property, including:
- Mould
- Damage to decor (eg. peeling wallpaper and flaking paint)
- Structural damage
- Damage to furniture and textiles
As well as damaging your property, the conditions that cause condensation to occur are also unhealthy conditions to be living in. Living in a damp, humid, and unventilated space can cause a variety of health issues including allergies and respiratory problems, especially if mould is present.
How can ventilation improve condensation?
Making sure that your property is adequately ventilated is key to avoiding condensation.
Condensation occurs when conditions are humid. Homes that are very well insulated but that lack ventilation tend to experience a build up of humid air, providing the perfect conditions for condensation to occur.
Ventilating your home provides a way for the moisture in the air to escape from your home.
Improving ventilation in your home
In some cases, simply being aware of the problem and remembering to regularly air your home by opening windows is all it takes to prevent condensation becoming an issue.
However, in instances where this isn’t enough, advice should be sought from specialists to find out where the root of the problem lies and how ventilation can be improved.
Opening windows
In many cases, simply leaving the windows ajar in the rooms where condensation is a problem can help the humid air to escape and prevent condensation from causing damage.
If you don’t want to leave the windows open all the time, try opening them when you’re performing activities that produce a lot of water vapour, like boiling the kettle, showering, or cooking.
When performing these activities, remember to also close the doors to the rest of the house to prevent the humid air from escaping and spreading around your home.
Ventilation systems
If opening windows isn’t enough, or you’re looking for a more permanent solution to your condensation problem, get in touch with our team of experts here at Atlantis Property Preservation to find out more about our cost-effective ventilation systems.
Just some of the ventilation solutions that may help to rid your property of condensation include:
- Air bricks – Bricks with holes through them which are installed in outside walls to improve ventilation.
- Extractor fans – Typically installed in the bathroom and kitchen. Extractor fans are turned on when cooking or showering to remove the steam and humidity from the air.
- Sleeved wall vents – vents in the wall that improve airflow to ventilate the property with little or no heat loss.
- Window vents – Vents that are added at the top of window frames to improve ventilation and reduce condensation.
- Positive Input Ventilation systems – this whole house solution utilised the positive pressure in your roof space, to force humidity from your home before condensation has time to form.
Get in touch with Atlantis Property Preservation
If you need help resolving a condensation problem in your property, give our experts here at Atlantis a call on 0800 0988 277.
