Dampness in flat. How do you deal with it?

Quick update - got my humidity meter through the post today, 88% in the living room this morning when I got up.

That'll be rather high then!

I've had the dehumidifier on all day, pulled out all furniture to de-mould and clean the outside-facing walls, removed anything damp and binned it, and modified the tumble-drier hose to ensure all the moisture ends up outside.

Down to 74% and dropping now.

Would like it below 50 really!
 
This may seem a bit extreme but I have just done this to my outside walls in the bedroom because of condensation hitting the cold walls especially within a poorly ventilated fitted wardrobe, making all our clothes mouldy and damp. After 2 years of basically binning all the clothes we had and replacing them I went hell for leather and insulated the external walls of the house.

Basically I used gripfill to glue 20mm Kingspan PIR board internally to the effected walls,sealed all the gaps with aluminium tape, then gripfilled 2 layers of soundproof high density plasterboard over the Kingspan, plastered over the top and then painted. Problem solved and the house is so much more cosy in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Use blobs of Gripfill at about 200mm intervals to create a small gap behind the pir board. For larger areas think about using battons and jamming the PIR board in.

If its a DPC/rising damp problem then you will also need to waterproof the inside of the walls using a bitumen paint and a vapour barrier and consider getting a resin injected DPC if you can afford it although the construction of my walls does not allow this unfortunately.

Its cheaper than you would think to, and for a permanent solution is not a bad option.
 
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Lt_Red said:
This may seem a bit extreme but I have just done this to my outside walls in the bedroom because of condensation hitting the cold walls especially within a poorly ventilated fitted wardrobe, making all our clothes mouldy and damp. After 2 years of basically binning all the clothes we had and replacing them I went hell for leather and insulated the external walls of the house.

Basically I used gripfill to glue 20mm Kingspan PIR board internally to the effected walls,sealed all the gaps with aluminium tape, then gripfilled 2 layers of soundproof high density plasterboard over the Kingspan, plastered over the top and then painted. Problem solved and the house is so much more cosy in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Its cheaper than you would think to, and for a permanent solution is not a bad option.
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more of a great idea than being extreme, a lack of insulation contributes a lot to a house becoming damp
 
bunnox said:
our bedrooms upstairs suffer with condensation all over them when we get up in the morning.

does not affect downstairs though ?
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That's because your body heat and breath/sweat moistens the air and when it hits the cold external walls it condenses.
 
Mickie said:
more of a great idea than being extreme, a lack of insulation contributes a lot to a house becoming damp
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Theres a financial incentive too as you will be surprised how much it saves in heating/cooling/dehumidifying costs. We have visibly seen our winter bills drop.
 
Paul11 said:
unfortunately there are some buildings That are just susceptible to condensation
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Know that feeling, one of my old rental places was hopeless for getting condensation. The windows would just be dripping in winter and there was nothing I could do about it. The windows were old and very draughty, but that didn't stop streaming windows and puddles on the sills in the morning. I'm so glad I am free of that place. It was horrible to sleep in during the winter as the wind would blow seemingly straight through the closed windows and it was freezing, even with the heating on. Stupid single glazing.
 
i have installed the positive air input system i posted above in two properties and it cures the problem over night

they also provide cleaner/filtered air

and they help reduce heating costs

they are not cheap , but they do solve the problem
 
Its just down to ventilation, also depends how old the flats are.
Injecting the walls is a complete waste of money and like someone said there will be a damp proof membrane, houses more often than not use engineering brick below damp.

Just make sure you have the heating on but with a window slightly ajar for a few days.
 
Paul11 said:
i have installed the positive air input system i posted above in two properties and it cures the problem over night

they also provide cleaner/filtered air

and they help reduce heating costs

they are not cheap , but they do solve the problem
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do they help keep heat in a property ? how do they reduce heating costs ?

they're just vents
 
they are not just vents

they suck air from out side, heat it, filter it and pump it in to the property

this keeps a postivie air presure and a constant movement of air which cures the condensation problem

as the air is not so moist it is easier to heat and so uses less heating to keep the property warm
 
they sound good, if i had a lot of money i'd defo get one but for me i'd want to insulate the property first as that'll reduce heating bills more..

circulating clean dry air is a good idea but it wont keep the heat from escaping through un insulated walls
 
I've had a few problems with condensation/dampness in the house since the colder weather started in January. There was a lot of mold forming on the bottom of the wall, I cleaned it off with bleach but it returned within a week. I've picked up Ebac dehumidifier and after about 2 weeks its seems to have made a huge difference. The window use to be covered in condensation in the morning, now it's very minimal and no signs of mold returning since I cleaned it a second time with the dehumidifier running.

It's quite surprising how much moisture it pulls out the air, easily fills up the 3 litre tank in a day although it is pulling less and less out now the overall humidity has fallen.
 
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