Reduce condensation at home this winter

Use this guide when windows stream every morning, sills stay wet or black spots start appearing in corners from October onwards. You need a notebook or phone, a cloth, and ideally a cheap digital hygrometer that shows indoor humidity.

Step by step

1. Map where and when it happens

   For three mornings, note which rooms have wet windows, cold corners or damp smells, and what happened the evening before (showers, cooking, drying washing, number of people sleeping there). Condensation that follows daily activity and appears on the coldest surfaces is different from a leak or rising damp, which usually shows as a tide mark, a patch that stays wet in dry weather, or damp at one fixed spot. If you see signs of a leak or structural damp, stop here and report or fix that first, because ventilation will not solve it.