zoothorn

@MJNewton Last thing 11.30 pm, temp 17.5* .. 68% rh.

Well it was trying to help, yes. One thing thats really helped the room's feel: frame plant-on strips fitted finally so Ive got a really good barrier to cold coming from in old bedroom.. hey its even been cosy in here now & then since. 18* in here now, held it since 19* an hr ago when heating went off. Great right now, for 1st time. But it is alot milder: heating definitely works far worse when its cold.. and its designed so it should balance out. That doesnt work then. Also - still - got the bloody leak happening. This only occurs during DHW periods, 2 x 1hr periods during day. About 3/4 litre at a guess expelled each hr period, down front of house, hot water rotting my log store away. Now, I haven't had to do a low pressure manual tap release for a while now: so is this expulsion normal? Anything to worry about? Or just shouldn't be.. & embark on yet another 3 month battle to get it fixed? im now looking at this damn outlet pipe, my gutter 4 ft nearby, wondering if it could just drain into that.. just needs extending, & a dog leg to reach it. Hot water into a placcy gutter?

No it was MJN's (dry) brown y-fronts with the yellow piping. Not mine. Mine are damp, faded white sizeable 'hangers' not y-fronts, spruced up with PeterW's stain gubbins.

Yes, I get 40* at the rads now, tweaked it to nearly as best it can go (high end of this ashp) rads yes are hot to the touch, nicely so. So I can get 19*C in new top room, now & then & provided outside is mild (but have to wait 9 hrs 1st! so its totally hopeless AM: & Ive lodged a complaint to Vaillant now). But constant damp feeling clothes & paper best eg, always even in summer- isnt debateable (neve4 known anywhere in Uk like it scottish highlands, skye even- nowhere). You wont know what I mean without being here, & you just have normal crisp dry paper and brown y-fronts (with yellow piping). Its not in question it just is an extremely, peculiarly & unusually damp atmos.. even if a figure doesnt suggest so. 69% now 19*C fwiw. Along with my fkn thieving faeces throwing n'bors, & the dreaded house cold.. the heavy cloying atmosphere (took -months- for my lungs to adapt to it: you dont 'think' such obvious things) is the trade-off, the price I pay to live in my old cottage in this blissful spot.

But my post & y-fronts tell me I am living in a rainforest, it's not something in question MJN. Everyone moans about it.. especially obvious when you 1st move here.. very very unusual & I sense a microclimate valley 8m westwards in from the sea thing. Tbh e even in a rainforest in malaysia, i honestly think my pants were drier.

Hi Jason- tbh I think those are very good questions, but alas I don't know/ a yr ago my builder's 'team' fitted them.. I'll try digging out photos. thanks

Crikey that's complicated. Thanks tho TBC. I think what I was suggesting as a question, was if my builder, or myself, is somehow responsible for this excessive condensation? Is it something building control will spot & perhaps want rectified before signing off I wonder?

Oh Im not saying mine arent just bog std ones loads have, or Im making a fuss unneccessarily (my underlay- my feet have got used to, like new shoes, but do still ache a bit): but I do get hugely more condensation than others do, than is normal, & nothing Ive ever known in any other house Ive lived in, others' houses, hotel rooms etc. I know only that its like a rainforest here, my wibbly records/ y-fronts never properly dry, post is all flippy floppy soft paper etc.. Im certain this is most of the cause although I cant proove it: & you see this is not within my control.

Aha ok MJN. Ok can measure these things. Thing is even if I get results on this front even by opening the small window vent, Im loathed to because it lets in cold air.. if Im primarily struggling for warmth in here, it seems counterintuitive to do even this if Ive spent 7 hrs scrabbling to get the room temp up to 18.5*C, even opening & closing door is done in a jiffy to keep warmth in (unless mvhr.. but tbh i cant see that as a feasable prospect if any noise & additional running costs, let alone building it). So its a bit if a catch22. Warmth is paramount, so it seems I have to just live with the very bad condensation thing, if I cant adjust the frames, if that still is relevant. Anyway will do humidity, temp tests 1st & last thing tonight. Thanks zh

No I can see now why injecting foam might cause problems, if seeps in via even a tiny hole against the glass section you'd never get em out. But I mean polystyrene.. cheapest material, 4x shaped long bits you'd just fix through = a fantastically well insulated frame in comparison. Im surprised the option isn't there. The 50mm poly on my hatch top you see seems remarkably good insulation to me. Anyway I dont think its anything in this area I can change, just weak cold ingress spots to live with- a bit of a shame after so much effort but my fault for choosing cheapest frames, altho I wasn't given any choice when I asked for 'white upvc'. Thx

Its only half time Gav. Oranges. Do they still do oranges for half time? do premier league player have oranges?

Hi Peter- that's a useful suggestion. I think I tried some of these, in my main room when I moved in.. paranoid about my Lp's inners & sleeves wibbling due to the climate, obviously I don't get much heat in main room so can't be my huff. And they got used up so quick it was an impossible battle. I think crystals I recall. I also used a dehumidifier for a while.. but was extracting so much water from the air, again it was a hopeless battle. I do seem to notice it worst when the room temp is higher.. which is opposite to what you say, but I could be wrong & it's just when the outside is colder. I can't understand why these frames don't have insulation in, I mean its a piffling volume compared to a wall, but have air in as I think they were described as having, by way of some insulation in-? (yet another thing I can't understand as surely not perfectly sealed, therefore the air likely just cold outside air, which I cant see as being insulative, & I can only visualise as being the very opposite.. which seems to concur with what I'm finding/ where condensation is). thanks zH

Cheese in a tube? What the cheese about (+ where me huff go) = Where'd the cheese go.. zoot tooter-schmoot.

No that makes more sense, i get the gist after that diagram cheers. But if noisy at night.. & if it just runs 24/7 then im in a worse heap of sh* te. Looking at big window in this new bedroom, pools of water on the sill, same very bad condensation patches twds edges of panes too.. suggests PeterS idea of crap frames, seems to ring true as to cause. So if better frames, then i wouldnt see this condensation. Then mvhr wouldnt have been suggested. But just cos my frames are better surely doesnt mean my huff is any less.. so where me huff go? zh

Ok thanks Onoff- very kind of you.

Thanks for explanation of mvhr. Christ im never gonna understand this so its not an option, had no idea my mould would elicit complicated system suggestions as remedy. Ive had enough of complicated systems. So I have to put up with it is is then, but isnt it like PeterS hints to, poor avenue for cold to be entering? I had thought this was all it signified tbh. I was just wondering why after a fairly thorough internal build i did with all the help, such a weak point/ cold avenue could be. Maybe like Peter says its just due to cheap frames.. they are the cheapest I could go for, build all on a budget etc. I had no idea mvhr or any 'system' would be mentioned instead of 'cold bridging' paths.. & rather thrown me into yet more confusion as a result. So best i not ask anymore on it! Thanks tho. Zh

It is. At pg 100 fk it im jumping. My mistake of build, is having doors open out. So now income is ruined by covid ,and brexit, i cant put in a cheap juliet balcony now my budgets crashed & get it signed off by PeterW. Gotta be sizeable timber job. But doable if i can build my cabin base, surely, but not looking fwd to it. Be ace once done tho, views are terrific.

But as its freezing out, last thing i want is fresh air.. especially if ive spent 6 hrs trying desperately to get the room warm. Even opening/ closing door to next room i do fast to keep heat in. This ventilation thing another facet i cant understand. Ive spent alot of effort to seal the room airtight, foil tape etc, only for the advice then to be to have a vent in the window upvc frame.. the very opposite of sealing the room. Anyway.. i was just wondering if the mould was cold bridging, therefore i must have inadequately built it, somehow.

In fact its equally the same in all rooms.. but I wasnt expecting it in here, bc i thought it was cold bridging responsible, not my germs & mucus ( btw got your rad key to send back). One side of french doors alot worse than other too. Its like my student days.

@Onoff but this the new extention, not old house. Got like this in just a few months since me building it.

Like my electricity provider Co/ Green Energy just has then.. Ive got a significant black mould & condensation thing happening at french doors..

Diy 365.

@Onoff no I'm not painting door.. leaving as is it'll darken in time. But i am painting the plant ons of course.. so I set these back 1 mm?

Hang on.. so Im not getting the BH cup? He cant bring over a thread from another forum. bloody cheat. I didnt know BH was only 5 yrs old?! Ive moved into this cttg 4.5 yrs ago.. seemed like site had been going for maybe a good decade or so I thought, jumping onboard i think 3 yrs ago or so.

No my orig doors aren't haunched. Haunching looks like the biggest pain in the butt.. but that's an impressive door, especially from scrap! Ok understand my plant ons best follow the door contour. Thx.