Vent A Home Condensation Control Ltd
The age old problem of condensation and mould growth occurs in 1 out of 5 properties. When I first graduated university as a surveyor I joined the family business owning and managing around 350 domestic properties. Statistically that means around 70 of them suffer from condensation and mould and with constant complaints from tenants it seems like more. My job was managing the maintenance of the portfolio. It soon became obvious that there were some problems that were fairly routine, condensation and mould being one of them. Generally I would give out instructions such as ‘turn the heating up, open your windows and don’t dry your clothes on the radiators’. Instructions you may recognise yourself.
Many landlords may simply accept this is a problem which comes with the territory and cannot be avoided- we certainly put up with it for many years. However the seriousness of these simple problems soon hit us.
A tenant reported a mould problem to their local authority who in turn undertook an inspection of the property. Black mould resulting from condensation is a category 1 health hazard under the local authorities Housing Health and Safety Rating System who can issue compulsory improvement notices to landlords. And they did! We were sent an improvement notice which totalled almost £10,000! The costs for rectifying the original mould problem were minimal however the notice incorporated a full property inspection and covered in some detail everything down to a creaky floorboard. Many of the improvements were recommended and not compulsory but the works still cost thousands of pounds and the property has been inspected by the local authority four times since despite the work being carried out and even when the tenant in question vacated the property. This prompted some investigation into condensation and mould where we discovered the local authorities have had a solution for this problem since the early 1970s.
Condensation
Condensation forms when warm moisture laden air hits a cold surface. The air in contact with the cold surface becomes cooler and as cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air it is released as condensation. Think of a bottle of wine or a glass of orange juice, when you take it from the fridge it soon becomes covered in condensation. This is the same principle with our windows and walls and is also why condensation is generally associated with winter as our windows and external walls are cold and the air in our property is warm.
The moisture in the air comes from us. The more people cooking in a property, the more baths and showers people have, the more active the household, the more likely it is that condensation will form. Different families have different lifestyles and that is why a new tenant can move into a property you’ve owned for 10 or 20 years with not so much as a drop of condensation and suddenly they have a problem. Some tenants will dry clothes indoors and seem to go out of their way to make the problems worse but even the responsible tenants who do everything asked of them can still suffer just as many privately owned homes do. Unfortunately regardless of the cause it is the landlord’s responsibility to implement sufficient ventilation to prevent the problem.
In the drive for energy efficiency we have blocked up chimneys, sealed draughty windows and doors, carpeted floors, filled cavity walls and insulated our lofts. As a result houses which did not previously suffer condensation suddenly develop the problem. There are no particular properties to avoid, condensation can occur in any property and at any time of the year. Energy efficient houses are often more prone to condensation because modern properties are double glazed, have cavity walls and lofts insulated, floors carpeted and doors draught sealed. We are effectively sealing up our homes and as a result the moisture we produce has nowhere to go. Eventually the atmosphere cannot hold any more and it forms as condensation.
Black Mould and Dust Mites
Condensation is the warning sign- if you act quickly it can be prevented easily. The greater problem and potential health risk is the black mould which follows. This is damaging to both the property and the tenants and will take longer to get rid of than the condensation. By removing the moisture we create an inhospitable environment for the mould and once this has been done the mould can be cleaned from the surface and will not grow back. Simply cleaning the mould from the wall is a short term solution and the mould will come back unless the source is dealt with. Mould releases spores and can travel throughout a property and spread very quickly, these spores are the potential health risk and are known triggers of asthma and other medical conditions even being linked to the onset of Asthma in young children. The general environment in properties which suffer from mould is not pleasant for humans but provides the perfect breeding ground for dust mites! Given damp conditions these members of the arachnid family quickly reproduce and can lay as many as 30 eggs in only 2 months. This further contributes to health problems and allergies suffered by those living in the property and leads to other problems, in extreme cases the property becomes uninhabitable.
The Solution
Common sense measures should be the first port of call, unvented tumble dryers, boiling kettles and cooking without extractor fans and drying clothes on radiators all pump moisture into our home. An empty property will not suffer condensation. In many cases these common sense measures do not work or are not implemented by a tenant. Unfortunately opening windows allows cold air into a property which is not popular with tenants and in actual fact would only serve to allow cold air to that area of the property and exacerbate the problem . What we need to do is allow moisture out of our property whilst preventing cold air getting in.
The key to controlling condensation is ventilation. Almost every property has an extractor fan in their bathroom and modern properties have them in their kitchens as well. A good extractor fan can go a long way to solving the smaller problems as it pulls moisture from the property. However it can only take out small amounts of moisture no matter how powerful it is. Now consider your car. The windows are misted up because the moisture from your breath has condensed on the window. How long would it take to get rid of this moisture if an extract fan was fitted in it? Instead what we do is turn our blowers on and pull in dry air from outside the car, the window demists in seconds. We have applied this principle to a property. We install a neat retro fit ventilation system which supplies a solution to the whole house and works from one point on a central hallway or landing for both houses and flats. The system increases the pressure within the property which forces moisture laden air through natural leakage point (windows, doors, letterboxes) no matter how air tight the property these leakage points still exist. No heat is lost as the system encourages circulation of warm air which sits at ceiling level and allows cross room ventilation which creates a healthier living environment and gets rid of any damp smells. It is run on a low watt DC motor which links in to lighting circuit costing as little as £5 per year to run depending electricity provider. Each system is fitted so that tenants cannot tamper with or turn them off. Local authorities and housing associations also recognise this method of preventing condensation and use it extensively in the properties they rent out.
We are based in Tyne and Wear but operate nationally and can offer you a FREE property survey and a solution tailored to your specific property. All our work comes with a 100% money back guarantee and carries a 5 year warranty subject to terms and conditions.
Should you require any further information on ventilating your property please visit our website www.vent-a-home.co.uk alternatively I am available by email Daniel.gibson@vent-a-home.co.uk or call our helpline on 0800 9788036
Article Courtesy of Daniel Gibson @ Vent A Home
