Ventilation

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

In the short to medium term, have you bought a decent dehumidifier? We spent about £200 on one, and it's marvellous.

Our middle child's room can get quite damp, so at least once a week during the winter we put it on during the day; the amount of moisture it absorbs is crazy.

It is also great for the bathrooms and in each room every couple of weeks. In terms of the ventilation, we had one put in a toilet in work, and it does nothing.

Yup, been using the last couple of winters, but wanted a low maintenance/not hacing to remember to turn it on option.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

An alternative is a MEV 'spider' system as you have humidity you might need extraction rather than a warm air PIV.

There a new fad one of our clients is doing on voids, they're shaving 10mm off the bottom of the internal doors to promote airflow.

Try envirovent, they will send a rep round who will let you know exactly what you need for free, then if the quote is to much do what they recommend yourself

I have EnviroVent coming around in about a week's time. Same problem. Let's see what happens...

Yeah, I think one of those would be fantastic, however, if I've understood things correctly they need a lot of ducting running between the unit and various rooms, requiring quite a bit of structural work. The ideal time to do that would have been 5 years ago, not now.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

@Woolly Blue

 

[Woolly Blue]

@Woolly Blue

What's up ?

Are you not a little bit turned on by talk of ventilation ?

Speaking of which @Daveysgingerlovechild ...

Because we exhale co2, co2 levels in a house are a good proxy indicator of whether or not a house is getting a healthy amount of air exchanges.

If you can beg, steal or borrow a half way decent co2 monitor ( to measure the parts per million of co2 in your house ) and see how it varies :-

• Overnight downstairs with bedroom doors shut
• In bedrooms during the day with their doors shut and another time open
• How co2 levels drop with windows open ( they'll quite quickly normal to external levels )

Then you'll get a good idea whether or not the overall ventilation on your house is adequate or not.

If the co2 levels never increase beyond something like 1000ppm then your current ventilation is pretty good.

Between 1000 and 1500 is getting into the poor range

Between 1500 and 2000 is definitely at the point where you're not getting enough air changes.

Above 2000ppm and you'd probably know about it anyway ( it'd feel really stuffy )

I've mostly lifted those numbers from https://www.kane.co.uk/knowledge-centre/what-are-safe-levels-of-co-and-co2-in-rooms

You can pick up co2 meters online for 15 to 30 quid.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

What's up ?

Are you not a little bit turned on by talk of ventilation ?

There is no such thing as sexy ventilation at our ages.

 

[Joey66]

Dear Grandolddadsnet.com,

Anyone got experience with having mechanical ventilation installed in their property?

I'm weighing up getting a Positive Input Ventilation system installed in my house. It gets terrible condensation and very humid (leads to mould when very cold) in winter - a case of an old house which has had most of the natural airflow sources sealed by modern doors, windows etc.

Reviews seem to be mixed online. Some wonderous claims made by the companies that make them too. But my understanding is to work they need an exit point for air to escape from, so am I bit skeptical.

Any insights?

I used to have it in my large modern Glasshouses - plus a Thermal screen all on computer - they were a ruddy nightmare - always going wrong etc .... Joints bolts snapping etc .....
An electric explair fan would be more reliable in a house TBH ....

 

[Moomin]

Done that too.

Have you tried burning your house down?

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Have you tried burning your house down?

Yes. It's too bloody damp for that.

 

[john jako]

SHOW US YOUR VENTILATION DUCTS

 

[Ming the Merciful]

I lived all my life opening windows when I was hot and shutting them when I was cold.

Now I am tasked with an indecipherable schedule of dehumidifying rooms and opening and shutting windows at the drop of a hat in case the house is too wet or too dry or has a headache or whatever.

I keep trying to tell my wife I survived very well with my old tactics but we can't risk it apparently.

 

[Rita_Poon]

I lived all my life opening windows when I was hot and shutting them when I was cold.

Now I am tasked with an indecipherable schedule of dehumidifying rooms and opening and shutting windows at the drop of a hat in case the house is too wet or too dry or has a headache or whatever.

I keep trying to tell my wife I survived very well with my old tactics but we can't risk it apparently.

You'll do as you're told!

 

[Ming the Merciful]

You'll do as you're told!

Indeed I will.

She's honed me into the best recycler and bin man on the block to be fair.

 

[tommye]

Yes, the other thing I'm having done is a couple of fans shoved into the kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom has one (it's old and crap) but the kitchen doesn't. Might just see how I get on with those first.

Currently doing a massive amount of mould work for local housing providers due to Awaabs Law. Few things, wash the walls with Bacdet and Halophen. This will clean any underlying mould present. Then give your walls 2 good coats of an anti mould paint¹, or if rooms are cold a thermal paint²
The best extractor to get, that we fit in every house, is this...

Filterless Bathroom & Kitchen Extractor Fan | EnviroVent

The Filterless Extractor Fan is a major advancement in electric low watt extractor fans, extracting moisture at low energy.

www.envirovent.com

¹ https://biokilcrown.co.uk/shop/anti-condensation-products/anti-mould-emulsion/

²

Wykamol Thermaldry Anti-Condensation Paint 5l Tub | DIY at B&Q

Thermaldry Anti-Condensation Coating is both thermally insulating and water repelling. It increases the wall temperature, therefore preventing the formation of condensation and mould growth. It is a styrene acrylic copolymet dispersion, water based paint. Thermaldry incorporates...

www.diy.com

 

[tommye]

Will get back to you tomorrow Davey as just about to go to bed.
Will post some pics of before and after using the above method.

 

[tommye]

If you're in Liverpool or nearby let me know and I'll give you the stuff you need. Same for any of you local, gis a shout.