# Windows and water



## BiXLL (Apr 2, 2005)

I bought a house back in July that had been redone top to bottom. I mean EVERYTHING!!! Now that cold weather has set in, I am getting tremendous condensation(?), or water build up on the insides of all my windows, including the glass on the doors. The windows and doors are new, as well as the furnace. The windows came from Home Depot, and the furnace is a Reem Classic 90 Plus.

I also have a door in a hall way that opens to steps that lead up to a push up door for attic access. The bottom of that push up door is also soaked with condensation laying on it?????

Can anybody tell me what is causing this, and what I can do to stop it?


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## K2eoj (Aug 14, 2005)

Years ago we did a house and when we dug the hole we found we were in the middle of a natural spring. The engineers diverted the spring around the house. When the house was done there was a condensation problem much like yours and we assumed it was moisture from the spring. I don't recall what the people did to live with it. > It would be my guess you have an excessive amount of humidity coming into your house from somewhere or something. If you have a slab or a crawlspace I would check it for dampness. HS.


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## BiXLL (Apr 2, 2005)

There is a crawl space under the master bedroom that the guys that redid the house put on. There is like 8" gravel in there though, access to it from a 2 1/2' door, and the main basement is dry as a bone???????

This is the first house I have ever had that has 2 what looks to be 3" PVC pipes running from the furnace to outside.(I assume 1 is for intake air?) Could there be something wrong in my set up that I am getting too much moisture from my intake air??? (grasping at straws here)


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## K2eoj (Aug 14, 2005)

I would say one of those pvc pipes is your furnace vent if it is a 90% efficient unit. If the vent is not working properly you will get high moisture. You will also get corbon monoxide and that will be your more urgent problem.HS.


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## BiXLL (Apr 2, 2005)

Well , CO detectors have been in since last night, no alarms, but still plenty of condensation?????


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## K2eoj (Aug 14, 2005)

Glad to hear no alarms went off. Did you check your vent on the outside to be sure it actually is exausting. There has to be a source for this humidity and it has to be leaving some clues.HS


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## powrus (Nov 17, 2005)

BiXLL - Since you mentioned, "I bought a house back in July that had been redone top to bottom. I mean EVERYTHING!!!" ... is it possible the insulation and vapor barrier were overdone? Maybe the accumulated and normal vapor has no way to escape via the ceilings? Just a thought.

Also, did you already mention how your house was heated? Heat Pump or closed coil system? How does the air move through your home?

This has gotta be frustrating for you.


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## Mike Swearingen (Mar 15, 2005)

A high condensation problem like that can be caused by an oversized HVAC system, too. If it's oversized, it will do its thing too quickly to dehumidify the air in the house, and condensation will build up badly like that. (I had that happen with a new system one time.)
Have the HVAC system checked out. 
Mike


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## BiXLL (Apr 2, 2005)

powrus said:


> BiXLL - Since you mentioned, "I bought a house back in July that had been redone top to bottom. I mean EVERYTHING!!!" ... is it possible the insulation and vapor barrier were overdone? Maybe the accumulated and normal vapor has no way to escape via the ceilings? Just a thought.
> 
> Also, did you already mention how your house was heated? Heat Pump or closed coil system? How does the air move through your home?
> 
> This has gotta be frustrating for you.


Thats possible!! It was a father and son team that bought this place with the original plan for the father and mother to move in. Somewhere along the line, they instead decided they would go south. They spent almost a year on this place, and the quality and overdone is what attracted me to it. They ran new stringers in the roof where they really were not needed, in the new cielings, they not only screwed the header beams every 12 inches, but also ran lag bolts every 36". (examples of over doing off top of head.  There is combination of cellulose, and fiberglass insulation in the cieling total of 10 inches. (2 x 10 cieling beams) I have gas, forced air heat.

If it is overdone, what can I do to correct it?


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## powrus (Nov 17, 2005)

Hi Bill - Sorry for not replying sooner, but we were out for the weekend. 

Your home won't be the first that has been built by overvealous folks, believing that MORE is always better. The effort to provide excess insulation in your ceilings may be the culprit in causing your moisture problems down below. The 10 inches you mentioned doesn't seem all that extreme to me as long as that insulation can breathe. If they used paper-backed insulation up there that may be a contributing factor ... especially if that insulation was installed incorrectly. That stuff should be installed so that the vapor barrier is always placed towards the warm side of the insulated area. Plus, paper-backed insulation should not be stacked.

Check this out: http://www.powerhousetv.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/phtv_se_in_in_000577.hcsp

Not being an expert on the subject of moisturer reduction in the home, I went to Google and typed in "Home Dehumidifier" and noticed some of the web sites there. One of the first to pop up was this one: http://www.humidexatlantic.com/humidex_home just in case you were interested in a reference point. If the work up top was done improperly, the ensuing repairs might be more than you feel like taking on. No doubt you have already considered going the dehumidifier route. The fact that you have forced-air heating surprises me a bit since hot air usually is the cause for lack of humidity. Like Mike said eariler, another culprit may be the heating system forcing excessive moisture into the heated air.

Keep us posted.


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## BiXLL (Apr 2, 2005)

Reem, or rheem, however you spell it, is from what I understand a good name brand furnace. At this point, I am thinking the most logical step is to bring an autherized rheem man in to check out the install and settings. Well let you know what I find. Thanks for all your time and efforts!!!!!!


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## BiXLL (Apr 2, 2005)

Well, beings as this is a non emergancy, I can't get my furnqace guy in until after the holidays!! BUT.......since it has gotten colder as of late, (temps in 20s and low 30s) my problem seems to be disappearing on its own?I only have 4 windows that have any moisture at all on them, and that is just a light beading about 1/2 up accross the bottom of the window???? Do you think it is possible that the house just needed to dry out from the new constuction????


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## Bonus (Aug 25, 2005)

As the weather gets colder you're bound to have less moisture in the air, for the simple reason that cold air can hold less water than warm air. It could be that everything in the house was drying out and has now done so, but with the colder weather you were going to get a reduction in humidity inside regardless. 10" of insulation is definitely not overkill, in fact, I don't think you can put too much insulation in, you might not get a lot of benefit from, say, another 10", but it surely isn't going to hurt.(Except the wallet).The better the vapour barrier the better off you are, it cannot be overdone IMO, you do not want vapour making it's way into the insulation, it will condense in there, turn into water, and eventually fall through the drywall. Let us know what the hvac guy says, good luck.


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