Condensation and dampness – can you tell them apart?

CARMARTHENSHIRE County Council’s Property Services team is on a mission to raise awareness about the difference between dampness and condensation.

At this time of year, the council receives many calls from tenants reporting dampness in their homes, but 80 per cent of the time the problem is caused by condensation which is caused by the way we live, as opposed to a structural problem with a building.

To help people understand the difference, information postcards have been produced.

Cllr Colin Evans, Executive Board Member for Technical Services, said: “We spend thousands of pounds every year inspecting tenants’ homes when they have reported dampness, when the problem is actually condensation.

“We would love to use these resources elsewhere to reduce waiting times for genuine repairs, and that is why we are doing our best to educate people about the difference between dampness and condensation.”

A simple way to tell the difference is to look at the pattern of any damage.

Condensation – warm moist air trying to escape – often causes black mould spots to grow, especially on cold surfaces near windows and outside walls.

Dampness – when water gets in from the outside due to a fault in the building – usually forms a ‘tidal’ pattern with fluffy white salt deposits.

One of the biggest causes of condensation is clothes being dried indoors.

The moisture from the clothes will try to escape, but when windows and doors are closed, it will settle on walls.