Hidden Areas Where Condensation Can Be a Problem
By Ruth MacEachern
Product Manager
Feb 05, 2025
Condensation might seem like a minor nuisance, but it can lead to major problems in your home over time. If condensation isn’t dealt with, it can lead to damp and mould developing which can damage the fabric of your home and affect your health.
Sometimes condensation can be obvious – waking up con cold mornings you may often see droplets of wate on your windows, but condensation can also develop in other, harder to find areas, where it may go undiscovered for long periods of time.
Dealing with the causes of condensation in your home will reduce the risk of mould and damp forming, but unless you can find the problem, it can be harder to deal with it.
What causes condensation in your home
Condensation forms when warm, moist air meets a cold surface, and it can develop anywhere that these conditions are met.
Activities such as cooking, bathing, and drying clothes indoors all release large volumes of water vapour into the air and increase the humidity levels in your home. Taking steps to reduce the impact of these can help. Using pan lids when cooking, drying clothes outdoors, and ensuring that your bathroom extractor fans are in use when bathing can all help to lower humidity levels.
While condensation is most visible on windows, it can also form on other cold surfaces including poorly insulated walls and ceilings. Painted surfaces are often porous which means that the condensation can soak through into underlying plaster and wood to cause damp patches to form.
Hidden areas where condensation can form
In areas where you can’t immediately see condensation it is more likely to develop into damp and mould. These hidden areas exist in most homes.
When air can circulate properly, condensation is less likely to form because the movement of the air means that it doesn’t spend as much time in contact with a cold surface. This means that condensation can sometimes form on walls behind furniture – particularly larger items of furniture such as wardrobes and cupboards.
One area where condensation is particularly common is behind kitchen cupboards and appliances. Cooking on the hob releases significant amounts of steam into the air, and if you do not have an effective extractor fan in your kitchen, this water vapour can condense inside and behind your kitchen cupboards.
Moist air from inside your home can travel through light fittings and loft entrances into the loft where the cold air will cause condensation to form on surfaces and in time this can lead to mould growth.
If you have concrete floors in your home, condensation may build up below carpets where mould can grow and be difficult to remove.
The problem with hidden condensation:
If you don’t know that you have a condensation problem in your home, it can be harder to deal with. This means that you only discover the issues when mould has started to develop on surfaces, and you may notice a musty smell that can be hard to track down.
Mould can be dangerous to health, especially for younger children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems such as asthma.
A free home survey from your local EnviroVent ventilation specialist can identify the causes of condensation in your home and let you get advice about the best solution to the problem in your home.
Find out more
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