Home DIY

Not sure if we are allowed smoke. Given how lawless London is, I might just say FTP. But I will try and find out first.

fucking gorgeous, well done

Anyone got any tips for reducing condensation build up?

Moved into a top floor, purpose built 60s flat in Jan. Had bad condensation in January/February but tried to reduce the amount of kitchen/bathroom steam getting into other bits of the house and tried to ventilate where possible. That seemed to do the trick but now the cold is back, we're getting it in the corners of the colder rooms (the bedrooms).

I don;t like the idea of paying to heat my flat while I'm out. We should be getting a new modern roof in the next year which I hope will help eliminate cold areas on the ceilings but aside from the above, and wiping down any liquid as we find it, does anyone have any tips?

Trickle vents, moving furniture to allow airflow, move things away from external walls, setting fire to the neighbours.

Insulate any identifiable heat bridges (e.g lintels exposed to the exterior and interior, see posts passim.)

Borrow a dehumidifier to see whether this is a humidity or heatpath issue?

Thanks. Didn't realise this thread had previous. Should have guessed.

Find a reasonably priced de-humidifier.

LiDL had one earlier this month that was just over £100.

Much cheaper to condense water vapour from the air,
than trying to warm the entire volume of the flat.

The only really reliable way is to heat your flat when you're not in, I think. It doesn't need to be as warm as you'd have it yourself if you were in, at least.

I've had most success by leaving windows open if the weather is cold and dry but it's obviously not a permanent strategy in the winter because it's bloody freezing. You can get closeable trickle vents for your windows which might help if you don't already have them (or you can hire somebody to put them in for you, obv).

Edit: oh, i spent too long eating cake and not enough time typing :(

Insulating the heat-bridges that are causing the condensation will reduce the heat lost, hence reduce the cost of maintaining a constant temperature.

Heat is transferred at a rate proportional to the difference in temperature, hence maintaining a lower temperature is cheaper regardless of insulation (assuming you don't change the insulation).

Insulating the heat-bridges

How might you go about doing that?

Stupid question but do trickle vents also let heat out? I assume they must, to some degree?

Yes. Not a huge amount, and they can close if you decide to be a big wuss. A big, damp wuss.

I'm just going to go round sucking up the moist air like Kirby

Are there any air bricks?

Get a de-humidifier, stick it in the laundry room (wherever you dry clothes).

We don't have trickle vents, but the windows themselves can be locked in a "cracked open" position.

You need air to circulate freely within the flat - keep doors open, crack the windows in rooms with water sources (humans, laundry etc) and/or use the de-humidifier in said rooms.

When we moved into our place the wall paper was, literally, hanging off the walls due to humidity - when peeled off the back of the paper was thick with mould.

The previous tenants had left the heating on all the time, never opened a window, had laundry drying in two rooms, and, helpfully, the plumbing was leaking in multiple locations.

I ripped out 99% of the old plumbing, broke open the windows (keys were long gone), bought a dehumidifier, and we installed a wood-burner this time last year which is basically the best thing ever (and the cats love it).

If it's a lintel, glue foam sheet to it.

Tiles bought from here:

http://www.architecturaldecor.co.uk

Really nice guy, and the tiles are nicely well (hand) made.

Condensation is such a bastard.

Get a good dehumidifier (no idea what constitutes a good one) we were given a shit one by the estate agent. Although it's running almost everyday on and off in the kitchen/dining room and needs emptying every other day it is still soaking.

As for leaving the heat on I found it a waste of time as if I'm not mistaken condensation builds up when hot air hits cold areas , windows and lintels etc.

Every corner in our house has mould build up after a couple of weeks all of our furniture is pretty much in the center of each room, if it is on an external wall.

The only way to combat our situation, if it was mine, would be to level the fucker. Landlord had the outside re-rendered and but guess what all that has done is seal the fucking mould/damp/slugs in...can't wait to leave this fucking place.

Oh shit you wanted advice didn't you?

Any Question Answered page 1580 for some dehumidifier discussion.
We have two dehumidifiers: both seem to work better in a warm room, but they are addressing a symptom not the cause. In my case, the main issue is condensation on windows and Mrs. E's insistence on drying things over radiators rather than in a condenser dryer which oddly seems to work best in a cool room.

get a decent dehumidifier ie. one that turns itself on when the humidity reaches a certain level - expect to pay around £220+

Or fix the problem and not just cover the symptoms.

Can any of you trade guys recommend where I can buy a relatively small sheet of premium grade ply wood cut to size? AA or whatever its called.
To be delivered to my place in East London. Only looking for 120 x 80 cm.

PJ Johnsons timber 020 8205 5000

Fast, cheap and have always been helpful to me

I love that fireplace.

I did indeed backfill with vermiculite years ago. I did it with loose stuff once the fireplace was in and it has been fine since.

Ok, so the towel rail in my bathroom has given up the ghost, we're thinking it's the element which will cost around £45 to replace, on the other hand I can get a second hand one for about £20, is this a false economy.

What we have is one of these, we would be replacing with a similar model.