Can Condensation Cause Damp?

Can Condensation Cause Damp?

By Ruth MacEachern

Product Manager

Household damp can cause a great deal of damage to the fabric of the building. From crumbling plaster to peeling paint and rotting window frames, a build up of damp can be expensive to repair, as well as creating health risks in the form of mould and dust mite waste. It is important to deal with damp as quickly as possible to prevent expensive building repair bills, and this means identifying the cause and stopping the problem from progressing as early as possible.

Finding the Cause of Damp in Your Home

Damp can be caused by a range of factors, and it is often possible to identify the cause simply by looking at the damp area itself.

Have you Found Damp on Ground Floor Walls?

If you find damp patches along the lower part of ground floor walls in your home, it is most likely to be rising damp. Rising damp is caused when moisture from the ground is drawn up into the walls by capillary action. Modern building regulations require that a damp proof course – a plastic membrane – is installed in walls. This stops the moisture from being “sucked up” into the walls and forming damp patches.

If you have discovered dark stains rising from the floor to about one meter above the ground, it is likely to be rising damp, and you will need to speak to a builder about resolving the problem by damp proofing walls.

Have You Found Damp Patches on Ceilings or around Windows?

Damp patches on ceilings – often with a dark ring around them or spreading around windows might indicate that there is a leaky pipe or a hole in your roof or walls that is letting water in from outside. Penetrating damp is often easy to fix, but it can be an expensive job depending on where the water is coming from.

Are there damp patches on exterior walls or in cool rooms?

When you discover damp patches with no apparent explanation, particularly on external walls, or behind furniture that worsen in wintry weather, the chances are that condensation is the cause. Water vapour from bathing, cooking and other day to day activities can build up in the air around your home, and when this saturated air comes into contact with a cool surface such as a window or wall, it will form condensation that can, over time, soak into porous surfaces and build up to the point where persistent damp forms.

Condensation damp may still require work from a builder or plasterer to resolve, but to prevent it from re-occurring, you will need to take away the source of the moisture. In most cases, this means that you will need to improve ventilation in bathrooms and kitchens. Extractor fans and whole house positive input ventilation systems such as EnviroVent's Atmos help to control the flow of air and remove moisture from your home. This prevents the build-up of condensation and stops damp and mould from developing.

Read our Tips to Reduce Condensation >

Get Help Today

If you have discovered condensation building up on windows and have noticed damp or mould patches developing on your walls, we can help you stop the problem before it gets too bad. Simply enter your postcode below to find your local ventilation specialist. We can visit your home to conduct a free survey that will identify the causes of condensation damp and offer you advice about the best way of dealing with it before the damp problem gets worse and starts to affect your health and the value of your home.