Condensation

[DanW13]

I think I know what maybe happening but would like to get a few other opinions on what is taking place in my home. I just recently finished residing my house this past summer which included 1/2" foam bd. unsulation wrapped with Tyvek house wrap and then vinyl siding. I also about 3 weeks ago decided to seal my combination storms windows by caulking them around the permiter as I noticed condensation on the inside of the storm windows so I thought caulking would stop this from happening. I have a total of 4 windows upstairs and I only caulked 3 of the 4 but it continues to have condensation even on the one window that is not caulked. Is this a cause of the house having too much positive pressure where the warm air is being pushed out thru the path of least resistence ? Or is my house too tight ? or something else happening I don't recall having this problem prior to residing and Foam bd. insulation, and the house wrap that I put on. The down stairs windows are the same as the upstairs and do not have a drop of condensation on them as well as both floors are within 1 degree as far as temp goes. Is my house telling me I need a HRV or more air exchange ? Anyone have a solution or an Idea or cause of what's happening ?

[git-r-dun]

where are you located at?

[DanW13]

located in Sheboygan, Wi

[heaterman]

Warm moist air making it's way into the area between the windows and storms. Up grade the windows.

[DanW13]

That could be true but why not the downstairs windows ? The windows are pretty good sealed, I even put extra weather stripping on one of the windows just to see if that was the case but the one wondow I did put the extra stripping on still had condensation.

[heaterman]

I still have some older windows with in the original portion of my home (circa 1899). I have noticed that my second floor windows "sweat" before the first floor. I suspect the first floor bleeds off moisture with the rising warm air to the second floor and that when it encounters the insulation barrier on the second floor it impacts those cold surfaces first. Just a guess. The windows that have been replaced don't sweat at all. I have also notices the the ones with a southern exposure are more prone to sweating than the others.

[teddy bear]

As homes are tighten, the fresh air flow decreases. This raises the dew point or moisture content of the air inside the home. When moisture condenses on the inside of the interior glass, you need more fresh air ventilation.
The sweating on second story storm windows and not sweating on first flow storms illistrates the stack effect. Warm air rises inside the home like a hot air ballon. The shape of hot air ballon is the caused by the pressure on the high side wall and ceiling. Negative pressure is low on the ballon. Ahouse with warm is similar. As warm exits via the upstairs windows, negative pressure sucks in fresh air through any leaks lower in the structure including the lower windows. High storm windows need small vents high and low on the exterior frame of the exterior frame. These small vents allow the moisture air that leaks through the interior window to escape without fogging the storm. Do your sealing on the inner window not the storm. Commerical storms have small vents or on purpose leaks to leak out the moisture moves from inside the home. Regards TB

[beenthere]

Whats your RH.
And at what outdoor temp, does this start to happen.

[DanW13]

My RH today was 38% and has averaged around 38%-a high of 46% but usully hovers around 40%-41% on average. As for what the outside temp is or was when this started happening I couldn't tell you that but I think it started when it dipped close to freezing or just alittle higher than 32*. I spoke with a gentleman who specializes in HRV's & ERV's as well as IAQ for homes for almost a 1hr today and told him my situation and he determination was from a couple of things happening. One is the stack effect, and the other was too much positive pressure in the home as well as having a new frunace that draws combution air from outside which reduced the amount of combustion air being drawn from inside the home. SO he suggested running my upstairs bath fan 24/7 and see if that reduces the positive pressure and also hlps to eliminate the condensation on the windows. I have only had the fan running for about 6hrs so far and is too soon to tell if it has helped but I will report back in a few days to let everyone kow if that has helped my situation. I think I will get a HRV soon rather than later to bring in fresh air and also to help dry out the air in the house as well as lower the co2 in the house.

[teddy bear]

Your home is dry enough for this time of year. As long as your windows are not sweating on the inside and the inside humidity is <50%RH, forget about more fresh air. By Dec., your home will be too dry and need to have humidification. This is a sign of too much fresh air. Excess fresh air cost money. Back-off and move slow. You are going waste money, energy, and comfort. Regards TB

[zimmy]

Hi, I'm new to this website but am logging in with the same problem:
- older house, 1865, with original windows (double hung) but newer storms on most windows
- condensation inside UPSTAIRS storms only that starts when the temperture lowers to about 32 ish and below.
- condensation comes over thenight and then slowly goes away (mostly) during the day no matter how cold it remains all day. We drop house temp to about 55 f at night.
- we've lived here 10 years, and this is a new problem -- unexpectedly started about 2 winters ago. Why all of a sudden?
- I drilled new weep holes in the storms thinking that would help (had the painters painted over the original ones) -- but it didn't help at all.
- the one window in which I keep a screen (no storm) does not have condensation.
- not a drop of condensation on the first floor.
- any ideas for help??? don't tell me, please, to get rid of the house's original windows because I won't -- they are lovely and just nothing new compares.
THANK YOU.

[propmanage]

No matter how you look at it it’s an insulation issue of heat touching the cold in a way that creates moisture. How you choose to solve becomes the issue of the day. 

[zimmy]

thanks for your post: clear and to the point!
I guess I'll try one window with the dreading plastic covering to see if that works. If so, maybe an INTERNAL storm that I'm now remembering my mom had in our house growing up -- I'm wondering if anyone knows about those? My mom spent hours putting those up in every window so that we essentially had three barriers: inner storm, regular window and regular storm.

THANK YOU

[DanW13]

thanks for your post: clear and to the point!
I guess I'll try one window with the dreading plastic covering to see if that works. If so, maybe an INTERNAL storm that I'm now remembering my mom had in our house growing up -- I'm wondering if anyone knows about those? My mom spent hours putting those up in every window so that we essentially had three barriers: inner storm, regular window and regular storm.

THANK YOU

I believe your case is just a matter of poor windows being that they are what I use to have in my house single pane double hung windows and I am sure your windows leak to no end which is why your mom would put the 3M widown insulator kit on them.