Condensation

The causes of condensation are quite complex. When making an initial dampness diagnosis, there are several distinctive features to look for:

• Condensation normally occurs only in the coldest months of the year.
• Trouble starts on the coldest internal surfaces: external wall, particularly corners, single glazed windows, cold water pipes, wall to floor junctions, lintels and window reveals.
• Damp patches sometimes have definite edges on cold spots such as lintels; patches of damp or mould in exposed corners are crescent shaped.
• Condensation occurs most often in rooms where large amounts of moisture are produced, such as kitchens and bathrooms and in unheated rooms into which moisture has drifted.
• It is common in rooms where flue less paraffin or butane heaters or un vented tumble dryers are in use, or clothes are frequently dried.
• It often concentrates in areas where air movement is restricted, such as behind furniture or inside clothes cupboards on outside walls.

Areas covered Dorset – Bournemouth – Poole – Weymouth - Christchurch – Ringwood – Wimborne – Ferndown – Corfe Mullen – Parkstone – Dorchester – Shaftesbury – Blandford - Westbourne – Wareham – Oakdale – Maiden Newton – Bridport – Yeovil – Warminster – Gillingham – Mere – Sturminster Newton – Salisbury – Southampton – New Forest – Fordingbridge – Wiltshire - Hampshire