Condensation on windows

[DumbStick 13]

We are very happy with the insulation in our house, the rockwool is stuffed in every conceivable wall and floor of the house, and how 'warm' - or perhaps I should say 'not cold' - mornings have been in our main rooms.

 

We have been having some condensation on the windows in our bedroom though which is slightly annoying and less than the perfect that I have been striving for!

 

I spoke with the builder about how to perhaps reduce that, and he mentioned a special offer in our region for double double glazing. Yes, a second set of double glazing. Apparently it's quite popular in Hokkaido.

 

Seems like a good idea. Reduce (eliminate?) condensation, keep in more heat/air conditioning reducing costs and also further soundproofing (not that we particularly need soundproofing). As it's not that expensive, we are currently considering.

 

Anyone any experience with this?

[KlingKlang 1]

Get awful condensation on my windows, all of them!

I wipe it off in the morning.

[Chriselle 158]

All that heavy breathing in the new bedroom hey Dumbstick......

[Saitaman 1]

[NoFakie 45]

We get it in our place, but mainly in the toilets and bathroom. We'd get it much more, but we've got a woodstove which dries the air indoors. For our place, the problem isn't so much the glass, it's the aluminum frames of the windows. They have thermal breaks and are pvc on the inside, but they still get much colder than the glass itself. For what they charge, Tostem and YKK are poor quality imo. I'd have liked better quality windows, but we went overbudget enough as it was.

 

If you're only getting it in one room, the others may be onto something by suggesting there must be extra humidity in there

[DumbStick 13]

 

If only we weren't both so knackered this first week or two.....snoring probably helps!

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I didn't think you got that with double glazing

 

In my place here, I have secondary glazing, a double set of single windows, no condensation when the inner set are closed

[DumbStick 13]

Good to hear.

You'd think that a double set of double glazing would do a good job.

[snowdude 44]

We have not one drop of condensation anywhere in our house, all windows are bone dry.

The reason our walls have like a very thin egg carton type of breathing sheet behind the insulation which runs around all the walls this is then connected to a Kankisen (air circulation system) which circulates air all around the house and between the walls so it stops windows and walls from condensating, which we have running 24/7. Each room has a vent in it too.

 

Our windows are triple glazed so I think that alone is enough to stop condensation anyway.

And with our heating system running 24/7 which circulates air all around the house I guess that anyway is making the rooms/windows etc dry too.

 

When you have double glazing and with all the insulation you have in your house, you have a very warm house, but no where for the difference between the outside and inside air to go so it produces the condensation.

This is what we were told by our builder before we started building so we went down the ventilation route.

 

Not that you want to do this, but maybe just opening your window just a touch to allow a little air to escape may help in the short term, or if you have an air circulation system switch that on for longer periods if you are not already doing that.

If your builders recommend the extra windows to stop the condensation then that may be your best bet I suppose.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

True double glazing is meant to have a vacuum seal between the 2 panes, creating a barrier between cold (outside) and warm (inside) which, if they came into contact would produce condensation.

[DumbStick 13]

We're going to go with this as it isn't expensive.

The other benefits are good too, so will look forward to that.

Interesting how none of the other rooms have any.

We must just be extremely hot and heavy breathers that go beyond the capabilities of any man-made windows.

[snowdude 44]

Like TB said they should be sealed between the two panes snd the standard gap betwen double glazing is 22mm and 15mm for triple with a choice of gas or no gas between the panes.

 

 

Dumbstick is it just one room you have a problem with or all windows?

If just one window then may be a faulty window.

 

[DumbStick 13]

Our windows are fine.

They are good quality ones - actually the higher standard of the range - not some cheapo alternative.

As I have said it's the few windows in the same one room, our bedroom.

Don't unduly worry about it.

[pie-eater 207]

It's fairly obvious that you should knock your house down and re-built, DumbStick.

 

[snowdude 44]

We're going to go with this as it isn't expensive.

The other benefits are good too, so will look forward to that.

Interesting how none of the other rooms have any.

We must just be extremely hot and heavy breathers that go beyond the capabilities of any man-made windows.

 

Non of the other rooms have any.

Could it be that you have a faulty window in that room?

[pie-eater 207]

As for secondary double glazing, my family has some of that. It really does knock sound out and keep heat in

[DumbStick 13]

We're going to go with this as it isn't expensive.

The other benefits are good too, so will look forward to that.

Interesting how none of the other rooms have any.

We must just be extremely hot and heavy breathers that go beyond the capabilities of any man-made windows.

 

Non of the other rooms have any.

Could it be that you have a faulty window in that room?

 

No.

[777 0]

When my family built our house we had expensive windows fitted with the latest double glazing installed.

There was still some condensation there in the first year.

It got less.

I think you're going to find that most new houses will get it.

 

And it's obviously due to all of the circumstances your room is facing, so the only person who can 'diagnose' it is the builder/window guy.

 

The double double will certainly go a long way to reducing it and as you mentioned the other benefits. If it is not expensive and you get a deal, sounds like a good idea to me.

[mina2 6]

Interesting topic and actually we have noticed that since we put in our pellet stove, condensation in our main room in a morning has not been happening.

[NoFakie 45]

I seem to remember the calculations being difficult but the hotter the air, the more moisture it can contain. The more moist the air, the higher the temp at which condensation happens. If your air is very moist, condensation will happen at ten degrees and even higher. In that situation, blame your ventilation, not your windows.

 

With windows, condensation is a simple case of the inside of the window being cold due to the poor insulating property of the glass or the frame. The work insulation has to do is related to the square of the temp difference on both sides, not the temp difference itself, so double the difference and the insulation is one quarter as effective. In other words, the colder it gets outside, the much more likely condensation is to occur, especially if you do nothing about indoor humidity.

 

If you have condensation already with temperatures not that low in early winter, either you're windows aren't performing all that well (regardless whatever they are called or what they cost) or are faulty, or you have high indoor humidity. As 777 say, this may be due to the house just being built. We had a load of stink bugs during the first spring, but they must have got in during the build because they've not been back.

 

If I were you, I'd buy or get your builder to come along with a humidity meter and an instant read thermometer, a super cool gadget to have anyway and really good for cooking. If the frame of that window is significantly colder than the others, it's been improperly installed. Given the effort it sounds like you have spent on your interiors, it would be a shame to get an inside set of windows because they are a tacked-on solution. People with high performance windows don't use them and don't need them, regardless of that Hokkaido spiel. Do the apartments built for gaijin sans at Niseko have double sets of windows? I bet they don't.

[DumbStick 13]

Have asked them about that reader actually Mr Wiggles.

We'll see what it says.

 

Whatever we do, the building company have been brilliant about anything I have told them about. We even had our complete front door replaced because of some (very) hard to see marks on it.

There's no worries about replacing stuff if there's something 'faulty'.

 

[NoFakie 45]

Interesting topic and actually we have noticed that since we put in our pellet stove, condensation in our main room in a morning has not been happening.

 

We have the same thing with our woodstove. Low humidity can dry out your throat though and be uncomfortable. It may also cause wood in your house (beams, flooring etc.) to shrink and possibly crack. Whenever we go to a hotel somewhere, my missus always asks for a humidifier because we find the air in the rooms too dry.

 

Aside from humidifiers, you can raise indoor humidity with houseplants, drying washing indoors, and a kettle on your stove if it the body of the thing gets hot enough.

[634-maru 4]

Just talking from experience of my friend who had a house built a few years ago...... he said condensation was an issue the first winter but has become better.

Many new houses seem to suffer from it (not talking just Japan here) and if you read up you'll see that it is usually worse in the first year.

Obviously would be better/nicer to not have any at all.

[634-maru 4]

Interesting topic and actually we have noticed that since we put in our pellet stove, condensation in our main room in a morning has not been happening.

 

We have the same thing with our woodstove. Low humidity can dry out your throat though and be uncomfortable. It may also cause wood in your house (beams, flooring etc.) to shrink and possibly crack. Whenever we go to a hotel somewhere, my missus always asks for a humidifier because we find the air in the rooms too dry.

 

Aside from humidifiers, you can raise indoor humidity with houseplants, drying washing indoors, and a kettle on your stove if it the body of the thing gets hot enough.

 

Does that mean it is a good idea to perhaps have a humidifier if you have a stove?

[DumbStick 13]

Well, it seems that I was missing a trick with a little gizmo switch thing that I knew nothing of and can't remember being told about.

While it hasn't been quite as cold, the last few days we haven't had it the same.

So that's good.

>

 

I'm still kind of interested in the double double though, for the other benefits and with the special offer it isn't too much of an outlay. They are going to show me some photos of how it would look...