What do you see when you pull back the curtains first thing in the morning? A beautiful frosty landscape, or are you not that fortunate and only ever greeted by the sight of condensation?
Condensation rears its ugly head a lot during the winter months. It emerges for different reasons.
It could be due to warm air colliding with the cold surface of the glass or a high level of humidity in your house which will be down to your central heating system being on.
Tackling condensation requires a series of steps.
Begin by removing the water droplets with a squeegee and then use a towel to mop away any condensation that’s left.
So that humidity levels don’t get too high again, install a humidifier in the affected rooms to remove any moisture in the air.
Kitchens and bathrooms are where condensation mostly tends to occur.
With that in mind, always keep a window open (if you don’t have a good extractor fan) and the door into these rooms closed when cooking and showering to avoid too much steam being released into the air.
Improving insulation will also help as it will keep your walls above the dew point which is the temperature at which moisture in the air turns into water droplets.
You can achieve this by upgrading from single-glazed windows to double-glazed windows. The reason being is that double-glazed windows stay warmer than single-glazed designs and are consequently less prone to condensation.
However, it needs to be pointed out that condensation can form of the external side of the glass within a double-glazed energy efficient window, normally in March and October, when the dew point is at its optimum level and there are great temperature shifts.
This is not a cause for alarm!
What it shows is that the windows are offering the standard of energy efficiency they’re supposed to, and in any case, the condensation will fast evaporate once some sunlight or a breeze hits it.
We hope this post manages to answer any questions you have about condensation. If you need to know anything else, you may find the information in our Helpful Guide on condensation. Get it downloaded for FREE here.
