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- The Surveyor’s Corner
- by Tim Hollingsworth
- Tim Hollingsworth, managing director
- of leading surveying and estate
- agency firm Rumball Sedgwick,
- offers simple tips on how to prevent
- condensation in your home.
- How many readers remember the 1970s TV
- series ‘Rising Damp?’ You know, the one about a
- group of ill-assorted tenants having to put up with
- their tight-fisted landlord, played by Leonard
- Rossiter.
- You may not live in that sort of squalor, but there
- are still several reasons why you could get damp in
- your property. During the winter, it is often caused
- by condensation.
- So, why do you get
- it and what can you do
- to stop it?
- I recently took a call
- from a landlord of a
- flat where the tenant
- was complaining of
- chronic damp coming
- into the property. When I arrived for my inspection
- and saw that the flat was within a late Victorian
- conversion, with four outside walls and situated
- on the top floor, my immediate reaction was that it
- must be condensation.
- Inside, I noticed that the bedroom was full of
- clothes hanging in the recesses on rails and the
- windows were firmly closed. Water was trickling
- down the walls and the windows, even though the
- weather outside was dry, if rather cold.
- I asked the couple living there if they ever
- opened the windows at night and before I even
- mentioned the word, I got a lecture about how there
- was ‘no condensation’ and ‘why would they open
- the windows in cold weather.’
- Using my moisture meter, I inserted two long
- probes into the bedroom walls and found the walls
- to be completely dry. The damp was on the surface
- only, proof positive that problem was not water
- coming in from outside, but condensation created
- inside by the occupiers.
- Further questions revealed that the occupiers
- would hang their washing in the spare room to
- dry and that they rarely used the extraction fans
- because they were noisy. It was clear that this
- couple were filling the flat up with damp air and
- with no ventilation, the moist air was condensing
- on the external cold surfaces and hence water was
- running down the inner walls and glass.
- I explained to the occupiers that if they wanted
- to stop the damp, they should open a window a
- little at night time to allow adequate ventilation
- and use extractor fans at all times when using the
- bathroom or cooking. I also suggested they get a
- tumble dryer with an outside exhaust.
- If you want to prevent condensation and the
- horrible black mould it generates, you need to get
- the balance right between heating and ventilation.
- So before you go to bed, make sure your small
- window is open, the extractor fan is turned on and
- your heating is set to create a good balance of
- warmer air in the property.
- Rumball Sedgwick has offices in Watford and
- St Albans. If you have a problem with damp in
- your property and need a professional inspection,
- please contact Tim Hollingsworth on
- 01923 200096 or tim@rumballsedgwick.co.uk
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