Condensation

Understanding dampness

Dampness in your home may not always be due to condensation. It could also be caused by issues such as leaking pipes, a leaking roof, or rising damp.

Leaks: Often cause damp patches on walls and ceilings near the leak.
Rising Damp: Identified by a damp 'tidemark' low down on indoor walls.

What is condensation?

Condensation is the dampness formed when air containing water vapour is cooled by contact with a cold surface, such as a window or external wall. On contact this air-borne moisture turns into droplets of water and collects on the cold surface. It mainly occurs on cold walls indoors and other cold surfaces such as tiles and cold water supply pipes under sinks and hand basins. It is usually at its worst during the winter and often results in black mould growing on walls and other surfaces.

How to prevent condensation

To deal with a condensation problem effectively, you will need to keep your home ventilated, keep it warm and reduce moisture.

Here are some guides to help prevent condensation:

Keep your home ventilated

Let wet air out! The best way to remove water vapour is by providing adequate ventilation. Nobody likes draughts, but some ventilation is vital.

Ventilation tips:
- Keep a small window ajar, or a trickle ventilator open, in each occupied room to give background ventilation.
- Open the windows to let the water vapour out, especially when you're doing the washing or cooking. Windows near the ceiling are more effective at letting water vapour out than ones lower down.
- Use the mechanical extractor fans if they are fitted.
Security tips:
- Close windows when you go out.
- Ensure background ventilation windows are not accessible from the outside. New windows often have night latches for security.
Avoid:
- Blocking air vents or chimneys.
- Draught-proofing rooms with condensation or mould issues.
- Draught-proofing kitchens or bathrooms.

Keep your home warm

Heating your home can help solve a condensation problem, but only if it is used in addition to the other three steps already described.

However, it needs to be 'dry heat', such as central heating or gas fires, not paraffin or portable gas heaters as they put a lot of water vapour into the air.

Also, simply heating your home will tend to warm the air. Warmer air holds more water vapour, so the air in your home could become even wetter. There will be more water to condense out onto any cold surfaces.

This is more likely to be a problem if you only put the heating on for an hour in the morning and an hour at night. In this case only the air is warmed, and building fabric itself stays cold, so there's more chance of warm wet air being in contact with cold surfaces.

The best approach to heating in order to reduce condensation, assuming you have completed the other three steps, is to heat your home at a low level for a long time.

Keep the heating on, but set it to provide just a minimum of background heating. This will warm the whole building up, and keep it warm, so there are no cold surfaces to create condensation.

Reduce moisture

The amount of condensation depends on how much water vapour is in the air. Many everyday activities add to the water vapour level in your home, but their effect can be kept to a minimum. An average family will produce up to 17 litres in a 24 hour period.

Cooking
- Cover pans when cooking
- Don't leave kettles and pans boiling longer than necessary
- Keep the kitchen door shut and the room well ventilated
Drying clothes
- Hang washing outside to dry whenever you can
- If you have to use a tumble dryer, make sure it's vented outside
- If you have to dry washing indoors, use the bathroom and keep the door shut and the room well ventilated
- Do not hang wet washing on radiators all around your home - doing so is very likely to cause condensation problems
Bathing
- Keep the bathroom door shut and the room well ventilated.

Dealing with Mould Growth

Tenants should report all damp and mould related works through the Customer Contact Centre via the online reporting system or by phone.
The Customer Contact Centre advisors will arrange an appointment with the tenant for a surveyor to attend and inspect their property.
If a mould clean is required, we will arrange an appointment with the caretaking service to attend within 72 hours to remove the immediate hazard.
An appointment will be scheduled for a surveyor to attend your property and complete a mould/housing defect report. Damp probes may be left at your property to measure humidity levels if this is required.
During the inspection, the following information will be discussed to assess:
Are there any improvements that can be completed to the property which will assist in the resolution of the damp and mould
Provide detailed information to assist tenants to understand how damp and mould arises.
Discuss what steps the tenant can take to prevent damp and mould from re-appearing

If you already have mould growth in your home, you can purchase fungicidal solutions to wash down surfaces where the growth is apparent. Redecorating with fungicidal paint can also help prevent mould growth.