What causes Condensation?

At this time of year, you may notice some of your new windows have condensation forming on the glass when you wake up in the morning. This simply means that your windows are working super effectively at keeping the cold out, and keeping heat from escaping your house.

Condensation occurs when warm air collides with cold surfaces. In the winter when you have your heating on more regularly, the inside of your house is warm, and the outside of the windows are much colder, and that interaction causes condensation to form. It cannot be completely eradicated because we cannot control the outside atmospheric conditions, which is the reason for causing the condensation.

There is another cause of condensation on windows which is to do with the humidity in your house. This can be reduced by various methods:

1. Open windows briefly in the day to release the warm moist air from your house and allow sufficient ventilation to occur.
2. During and after having a bath or shower, turn on the extractor fan and open a window. Also keep the bathroom door closed because this will contain the moisture to that one room, rather than releasing it into the rest of the house.
3. Similar to above, when you are cooking, make sure you use an extractor fan if you have one, or open a window, and also cover any boiling pots to reduce the amount of moisture getting into the air.
4. Ensure your washing machine and tumble dryer are vented correctly.
5. If you are not using a tumble dryer, then it is much better to dry your clothes outside rather than inside.
6. Loft insulation and double-glazing help to reduce the heat lost from your property and keep the surfaces inside your house at a higher level.

So, if you have condensation forming in your house and have just had new windows then don’t panic, it is a natural phenomenon that cannot be stopped. However, if your issue is due to humidity then hopefully these prevention methods listed above will help reduce the humidity in your home!