your guide to damp proofing and condensation
Damp ? Whats All The Fuss About !!!
Well it depends on what you mean by damp.
Damp in your home can cause untold problems with your health and possessions if left untreated. The most common form of damp in a home is rising damp and condensation and the two get mixed up very easy when trying to diagnose them. This website will help you identify and eliminate the cause of damp related issues to your home as well as give you in-depth knowledge on the subject. This website is specifically designed for ease of use. The navigation menu at the top is broken down into 6 main subjects the subjects are. To find out more information on each given subject just click the required area of interest. |
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Misdiagnosis of condensation
First of all let's start by giving you an idea of what condensation is without being too technical.
Condensation is when water vapor under a certain amount of pressure within an area for example a room's moisture content is attracted to a cooler surface and then changes its properties from vapor to water droplets. The reason that condensation is attracted to cooler surfaces is because vapor behaves like a gas its constantly bouncing around and when the vapor hits a cooler area it reacts and cools the vapor down thus turning it from a gas state to a solid state. A bit like when you boil a plan the water is moving around and vapor is coming off of it. Then try to imagine pouring the boiling pan into a tub full of liquid nitrogen. What do you think will happen it's going to change its state/ molecular structure from gas to solid.
If you've ever seen condensation before you will notice that 9 times out of 10 it will be attracted to glass that's because it is unable to retain heat as well as other materials in your home but on occasions you may notice it on your walls this could be a multitude of reasons why the most common reasons are that the wall has suffered a defect for example a end terraced house will normally suffer from condensation on the gable end of the property the most exposed to the weather if the pointing has deteriorated and enabled Frost to get in to your masonry/ brick work then this would cause condensation or if your home hasn't got a cavity wall this would cause condensation.or if it has a cavity wall and something has built up inside the cavity for example coal and brick dust this would cause condensation to occur.
most damp proofing companies use a damp meter and what this does is passes an electrical current from one prong to the other they put the two prongs on tour the effect of wall and it displays a reading or sometimes makes a noise to indicate the level of dampness on the affected wall the problem with this is that sometimes condensation can get misdiagnosed as rising damp and vice versa.
Condensation is when water vapor under a certain amount of pressure within an area for example a room's moisture content is attracted to a cooler surface and then changes its properties from vapor to water droplets. The reason that condensation is attracted to cooler surfaces is because vapor behaves like a gas its constantly bouncing around and when the vapor hits a cooler area it reacts and cools the vapor down thus turning it from a gas state to a solid state. A bit like when you boil a plan the water is moving around and vapor is coming off of it. Then try to imagine pouring the boiling pan into a tub full of liquid nitrogen. What do you think will happen it's going to change its state/ molecular structure from gas to solid.
If you've ever seen condensation before you will notice that 9 times out of 10 it will be attracted to glass that's because it is unable to retain heat as well as other materials in your home but on occasions you may notice it on your walls this could be a multitude of reasons why the most common reasons are that the wall has suffered a defect for example a end terraced house will normally suffer from condensation on the gable end of the property the most exposed to the weather if the pointing has deteriorated and enabled Frost to get in to your masonry/ brick work then this would cause condensation or if your home hasn't got a cavity wall this would cause condensation.or if it has a cavity wall and something has built up inside the cavity for example coal and brick dust this would cause condensation to occur.
most damp proofing companies use a damp meter and what this does is passes an electrical current from one prong to the other they put the two prongs on tour the effect of wall and it displays a reading or sometimes makes a noise to indicate the level of dampness on the affected wall the problem with this is that sometimes condensation can get misdiagnosed as rising damp and vice versa.
