A follow-up question to a post from last year. We have a recently built (2000) home in a maine coastal town. We installed Norco double hung alum exterior, wood interior windows. The problem is that they sweat wicked bad in the winter, its been cool here this weekend and the really started to puddle. I have posted in the past and hear that the house and materials have not dried out fully, any other ideas?
We have hot water baseboard supplemeted with wood, and typically keep the house between 60 and 65 degrees
Thanks in advance-
Replies
get a humidity reading on your interior... a sling psychrometer (wet bulb / drybulb) is best .. and the digital meters are good too...
a: if you have excess moisture, your windows will sweat.....
b: if you have drafts and air leaks your windows will sweat...
c: if you have poor heat circulation so the surface temp. of the windows is lower than a normal insulated window... your windows will sweat...
the cause is always the same... the glass surface is below the dew point.. .. what causes that is the real question...
however... it doesn't seem cold enough yet ... nor your windows to be inferior.. so there must be a different reason....like a, b, or c above
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
When I saw the title I thought about that old discussion, getting ready to recommend searching the archives for the wonderful thread. If you'll remember, one suggestion made was that the low temps inside the house could be a contributor to the situation. Cool air cannot hold much moisture so it needs to dump it quickly afteryou'ver added from showering, cooking and just breathing. It will condense on the coolest surfaces, which happen to be the windows.
I've been in closed, unheated cottages in winter or spring and seen water running in sheets down the cool plaster walls where it has condensed out of this coastal marine air.
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"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius
Your problem is exessive humidity in your house. The windows are the messenger of a much more serious condition. You need to consult an experienced heating and air conditioning contractor to improve the circulation in the building. What you see on the windows is also happening inside the walls and ceiling.
As mentioned before the source is usually day to day living (showers, cooking breathing!) but sometimes it is moisture in the crawl space or under the concrete slab. It is worth a look to rule that out.
Good luck
You have an interior humidity problem. Probably the house is too tight. Others who have suggested air can pick up and dump moisture at will would be correct if you were also experiencing fog inside the dwelling.
Rent a small dehumidifier (or borrow one) and you"ll be amazed how much water you'll collect. I installed new windows in a home last year and the owner wouldn't believe me or the supplier when we suggested he had a moisture problem. (the moldy cowboy boots in his closet was the smoking gun!). He finally ran a small Sears dehumidifier for several days and was getting several quarts of water a day out of it.