8 Steps To Fixing Damp, Mould, Condensation & Humidity In Our Home

As a few have mentioned it’s relative humidity so your room temp will have a bearing in this. I live in a brand new built house but after the first year wanted to paper a few rooms so bought these hygrometers to give me an idea of humidity in the rooms to be papered as I didn’t want the paper to start lifting especially in the main bedroom as the en suite had no openable window. What I noticed was that only during the summer it drops below 60 but in winter hangs around or above that mark. I think you’re doing very well just above the 60 mark for such an old house.

The ideal humidity range is NOT 30-60% RH - If you have 30% RH ( desert levels ) and you spend the majority of time in that environment you will have dehydration in a very short time, this level of dehydration will dry up your sinus membranes and leave you wide open to all sorts of infections in the nose throat and lungs. The ideal range is more like 45 - 60% RH. Short periods between 60- 70% are OK especially with moving air ventilation. You have done a great job of your house and showing people sensible ways too reduce excessive RH. Humidity sensors can be checked for accuracy, cheap ones can be wildly out. Do a search for calibrate hygrometer. It can be a difficult balancing act in the UK. Winter is NOT the cause of the higher humidity you experienced as cold air is much drier than warm air. It was the heating being on in a DAMP environment, warm air carries and allows a far higher moisture content than cold air. The extraction fans in kitchen and bathroom are by far the most important element of the work you are doing and MUST be used all the time in older less well insulated properties. The PIV is also useful in many situations in the cold winter the air coming in will have lowish RH and when that air is heated it will become even drier. Air MOVEMENT is key to many problems with even just a simple fan moving the air around can help a great deal and at far less cost than a dehumidifier. Dehumidifiers are EXCELLENT at dealing with high RH but as you say they are now becoming expensive to run because of our governments INSANE energy policies and the sheer greed of the corporations and their shareholders. You often see mould on the top of walls where they meet the ceiling as warm moist air can sit there where there is a cold bridge, this then condensates creating the mould. again this is where the simple movement of air with a fan can prevent this from happening. Also ALWAYS allow a descent gap between furniture and the walls including BEDS etc a descent gap is around 6 inches. Your cats are lovely too :-)

Brilliant video, many thanks for sharing your experiences and fixes.

You could fit small 1inch circular vents to the lower internal doors (or rectangle air vents) so even when the room doors are shut you still get some airflow between the rooms ;)

Im from Denmark, have a house from 1905, i have just renoveted and isolated some stuff at my house, and now my home have moisture between 75/82.% I'm looking for some ways to reduce my problem, but i dont have any wet spot.

Great video thanks

I got two areas in the house where its damp. One is a cupboard filled mostly with books but the pages are bit damp.

Other is near my door.

I still have an open fire, i dont use it all the time but when i do it really clears the air in the house but i definitely need to put more ventilation in places

Great video. Thanks a lot 🍀

I live in a ground floor flat,how would I get an air brick in? as its a brick cavilty wall with polysterene balls insulation in the cavity

Great video thank you. Absolutely loved the cat featuring in the vid 😊

Has anybody got this problem freezing cold skirting boards even during summer especially when it rains. Ground floor flat resolutions please.Humidity is sometimes up to 72. Usually around 62.

we have a bungalow, high humidity. ive put an inline fan in the bathroom and kitchen extractor ducted through the ceiling and out the soffit. i bought a piv too, but i honestly dont see this working. can you tell me what the humidity in your loft is? when i place a humidity censor underneath the duct for the piv the humidity rises. i can also smell the loft sometimes too. i think maybe i need to vent my loft? nice video btw!

Thank for these tips. After watching I will purchase a positive air exchanger.

Thank you (:

I'm in a new build about 24 years old now. Mould is a problem. My other half doesnt help as he won't open windows particularly in the winter. It runs at about 84% downstairs and 70s upstairs. It's a warm house. I have monitors, we have the drip function and keep dehumidifiers on the window ledges that are affected the worst. Not switched on all the time, just when needed.

Humidity drives me crazy. It's a 2 year struggle now, and it's still a problem. Dehumidifier is a key component, but it cost a fortune. Tiny bugs like booklices on the wall are the ones that wants me to sell the whole house and just move away forever as it gets too much for my nerves to handle with.

Wow, thank you so much! xo

30-60% humidity is not possible in the UK especially if u live near the coast where outside humidity averages about 10% more!

One of the best videos - many thanks!

Mines never less than 70% in the bedroom, annoying

In a very similar situation to yourself... thanks for the great tips, will certainly be implementing some of them. With our fitted wardrobes, they were that bad, they had to go.

Try hanging a pillow case half full of calcium chloride above a 5gal bucket. This will pull the moisture out of the air and drip into the bucket. This will make an impactful difference. Your local local Farm Store likely carries calcium chloride in bulk

You got solid brick walls with no insulation. That is what calling damp in your property. The EWI will solve this issue.

Great video. Anything you can do to NOT get dehumidifiers, is good. Dehumidifiers cost money to buy, money to run with electricity, they need to be cleaned, they need to be serviced, and they create noise when they run. So if you can stop humidity coming in from the first place, you're that much better off.

I went from a house with mold to low 50s. This is how I did it. Bought a tumble drier, fitted an extractor fan in the kitchen, ran the bathroom fan with the window open. Turned on the heating when humidity increased and then kept a window either side of the house open for 30 minutes before bed time. What I would not do is blow damp air into my house, seal my house, cover all plaster board in a vapor barrier paint, it wicks away moisture and stops mold. If you are drying clothes in your house then you are causing the problem. Also in an old house with suspended floors try sealing the gaps between the floor and the skirting board with foam strips, it allows a lot of moisture in and takes about and hour a room to seal up.

done everything identical piv unit was best thing ever seeing similar numbers since as well

Omg your channel is amazing im sooo glad i came across it!! This is exactly what i needed to learn!! You explain it sooo clearly :D Im a female with very minimal knowledge on all of this and have just had to deal with a load of mould - so this wonderful! Thank you :) Already ordered those sensors!! I'll let you know what I find :)

Just had the Nuaire Eco Heat fitted yesterday and already I have noticed the difference. Our little digital sensors were showing humidity levels of up to 90% on some days especially in the bedroom. It has managed to get it down to low 60s now..really happy with the results so far

Thank you for your deep dive video.

Can you please make a video on the piv system did you install it yourself? It would be really helpful if you could share

Thankyoy for sharing this!! I had all the exact same issues wish I had seen this video sooner

Keep above 15 degrees, open doors not windows if dry outside. The best thing to do is get some small peltier dehumidifiers (only 10 Watts). I'm not sure about the loft system because my loft is very humid, 2 litres of water per day(from dehumidifier)may go into the house. You don't really want to be dehumidifying damp air from outside in winter.

I have high humidity in my Victorian property 9soldi brick) , these are great tips. I've been on the fence about a PIV.

Our values fluctuate on a good day 40-50RH to bad 77 RH all over

We have a bit of a perfect storm in our house;

1. Downstairs bathroom with no extractor
2. No kitchen extractor
3. An always cold north facing extension (where all the condensation channels as the walls are cold - this has a dehumidifier running 24/7)
4. Gypsum plastered walls
5. Non breathable exterior paint

Venting air in from the outside is the best thing you can do besides fixing the issues (we are sorting ours, extractors etc)

I would paint any interior Exterior facing walls with Zinsser BIN 2 coats followed by Zinsser Permawhite(or whatever colour mixed). I would follow this up by either sealing any bare brickwork with stormdry or if walls previously painted then Emperor paints which would cover penetrating damp. Also check if exterior ground levels match interior if they differ then it is worth using Liquid dpm to seal walls, however before that I would insert Dryrods or dryzone alongside walls which would cover rising damp. leaving just condensation which you have ably covered.

What SDS drill did you use if you dont mind me asking?

Wowww loved this informative video. We have lived in this barn conversion since 2001.. and in the dining room the outside/inside walls are black.. they wont come clean.. so we are going to have the quarry stone rendered over like the living room side and are going to have the plaster hacked off and redone... we have dehumidifiers also, one upstairs the other downstairs.. its surprising how much water they manage to draw in. I have never seen those PIV units, Im wondering if one of those would be worth investing in here... I noticed we also have black mold coming back again in the corner ceiling area of the kitchen, and black mold forming in the porch too... over the years our vent bricks have been painted over by previous owners, so will have to look at getting those replaced. The walls here are so incredibly thick being an animal/hay barn, and barns weren't meant to be lived in, let alone 21st-century living.. Im so thankful to you for making these videos, Im going to watch this a few more times and start writing down "must haves" lol. Also those little humidity gauges/sensors are something Im going to invest in also. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Blessings to you from Cornwall 🙂

All very well making holes everywhere, but surely it's bloody freezer in winter

Just fitted a Piv in our very damp no cavity house, it’s been fantastic, the next cold very morning windows were 90% clearer and the bathroom is much quicker to dry out, the humidity is down to about 60%, apart from the cool air on landing it’s fantastic.

Hi - I also live in a bungalow and humidity is a constant battle. I agree 70% being the "red line" value - sustained RH over that and problems will occur. I use a dessicant dehumidifier in winter and a compressor one in summer for better efficiency. They are in the hallway and just about manage to keep humidity throughout at around 60% - which is fine. Setting it for less than that makes them run too hard, almost constantly running. I don't have a bathroom extractor, that should probably be my next step.

Morning.. I found this so interesting that I bought a unit.

How many hours/days did it take for this to drop the humidity in your house...?

Many thanks for your excellent and varied film content. Please keep 'em coming...

Rupert

It’s very reassuring to find it’s not just us struggling with bungalow life. We’ve lived in a 1970 bungalow for seven years and this year we’ve tried to reduce using central heating resulting in condensation and mould. We’ve bought a dehumidifier. And are planning on new windows. But I feel like it’s a battle zone 😏

I fitted a PIV unit into my 2 story house just before Christmas, we were getting condensation and mold growth everywhere! even bought one of those window vacs. Fair to say that the PIV unit has been a literal godsend and dropped our humidity from average 80% to 55%. for about £350 the PIV unit is well worth the investment and really easy to install.

We found a great solution to all the problems UK cold weather brings, by moving to Spain.

Great advice. I've done most of these things in my victorian terrace with good results but not the PIV yet. I too use a dehumidifier to dry clothes together with a heated drying rack. One thing I highly recommend is a window vac which I use in the bathroom (I also don't have a window in mine.) Half a minute round the tiles and mirror and the room is dry. I used to think they were a gimmick but they're we'll worth it.

You have to remember that Relative humidity is based on air temperature. If you are getting 60% in a cold room, that will rapidly drop if heated. What temp is the room that you are taking the 60% humidity reading? I have a workshop that sees 80% humidity due to it being cold. However, when I heat the room, it drops to 50%.

The dehumidifier for the laundry is a game changer. It’s incredible how every house in the UK and Ireland hasn’t got one for general use and laundry.
Humidity management is something that requires a little self education for most of us. There is a mind change needed to understand that heating clothes just puts the moisture into the air. It’s not actually removed.
I’m very intrigued by your attic air recirculating system.
Thanks for the video.