Dehumidifers?

right- so perhaps a mute point for this winter- but next winter i'll need to get a dehumidifer b/c the excess moisture in my house has caused a bit a mold on the window seals & slight "weeping" on the outside walls up near the coving.

can anyone recommend a good dehumidifer?  also- i have a small 3 bed mid-terrarce.  is (1) sufficient?  where do i put it?

also- i don't have a extractor fan in the kitchen or bathroom.  would it be a better idea to put one in each of these before resorting to dehumidifers? 

i usually rely on which? for this type of thing, but they don't have any best buys.

I would install extractor fans first yes. Also have your guttering checked to make sure it isn't clogged up as the mold near the coving is a little worrying.
Also might be an idea to check the sealant on the windows. This does need replacing from time to time. You said you live in a mid-terrace. Is it an old one? The insulation is different in old houses then in new houses for sure. I open my windows every morning for an hour even in winter as this also helps with my sons dustmite allergy.

Definitely check for leakage problems around the guttering and eaves if you have a specific mold problem near the upper reaches of the outside walls. 

would it be a better idea to put one in each of these before resorting to dehumidifers?

I would say so.  It's better (more efficient for a start) to just forcibly vent the moist air to the outside in the first place.  Even if you still resort to a dehumidifier to completely solve your condensation problem, the exhaust fans will reduce the duty cycle of the dehumidifier by removing much of the water vapor before it has a chance to condense on cold surfaces. 

Make sure you install appropriately sized fans though.  A common mistake is fitting a fan which is too small.

paul- who fits extractor fans?  electrician?  how do you size the correct one?  (this is really something that i should have done when the bathroom was completely torn apart 8 months ago, right?)

paul- who fits extractor fans?  electrician?  how do you size the correct one?  (this is really something that i should have done when the bathroom was completely torn apart 8 months ago, right?)

Probably But no matter it can still be done meggles. Just make sure whomever you get to do it actually vents it OUTSIDE! Some people are prone to venting to the loft space (if the bathroom is on the top floor) and that should NEVER be done.

thanks for the tip! 

how much should the whole thing cost?  a plumber is coming to fit a shower pump (finally!) and perhaps he could do the work at the same time? 

thanks for the tip! 

how much should the whole thing cost?  a plumber is coming to fit a shower pump (finally!) and perhaps he could do the work at the same time? 

You would need a qualified electrician to do it. Might be helpful to ask the plumber if he knows someone. They sometimes work together on bigger jobs ie where a whole bathroom needs doing. Be sure to get a few quotes though! I can't suggest how much it would cost We had it done when we had our old bathroom completely redone so it was all in the price. It might have been itemised but I cannot for the life of me remember how much it was.

Hi again Meggles!

As already mentioned by Mwyn and Paul and what I've already done in my Rental apartment - Get extractor fans fitted in the Kitchen and Bathroom and ensure they're used to expel the most amount of moisture before using the dehumidifier.

if you have an average 3 bedroom house, maybe 2-3 people living in it, 'ideally' you have one upstairs and one downstairs - a bigger type place and that becomes more required. Any smaller, and you'd probably easily get away with one unit.

In 'most' circumstances, water vapour occurs in the morning and evening - times of usual property occupancy. In the morning you'll 'probably' shower, cook, maybe do some handwashing of clothes, getting ready for work and 2 people means quite a bit of water vapour - opening windows is a easy free way to lose that vapour, not always practical for weather and heat loss considerations! extractor fans will remove most of that vapour.
Same for the evening, cooking washing baths/showering again and potentially alot of vapour.

I replaced the glass (single glazed) and got the glass company to cutout 2 holes to accept the extractor fans I bought from a local electrical wholesaler. The glass cost me £35 and £55 respectively - the bathroom one was obscured so cost more and the 2 fans were £30 each. I was lucky in that I did the bathroom wiring whilst I had it renovated - so it didn't require an electrician - I just got the builders to wire it into the pull cord switch - very easy job. I wasn't allowed to drill a hole in the walls as it's a rental property and management company wouldn't let me.

The dehumidifier is then only used during the 'off peak' times when new water vapour isn't being generated - during the day and/or night time.

The other suggestions are good too, get windows sealed up to prevent water ingress from the outside - I even went one further and treated the external brickwork with that clear sealant type stuff so the water would 'fall off' and not ingress into the brickwork.

Overall, once you feel the difference of having 'drier' air - the extra costs will seem relatively well spent.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

paul- who fits extractor fans?  electrician?

You would need a qualified electrician to do it. Might be helpful to ask the plumber if he knows someone. They sometimes work together on bigger jobs ie where a whole bathroom needs doing.

This is one of those things where there's a crossover of labor, and it can depend to some extent upon the type of fan installation, for which you have several options: 

1.  The method Dennis described; the fan fits directly through a hole in a window.

2.  The fan is located against an outside wall, with a very short duct passed horizontally through the wall to a grille on the outside wall.

3.  A ceiling fan which is then ducted either through a roof vent or to a grille in the soffit.  The fan may be part of a unit which fits into the ceiling or it may actually be located in the attic with another short length of duct to the inlet grille.   In a two-story house you could also have a ceiling fan in a downstairs room which is vented to a grille on an outside wall by a duct run in the void between floors.

Personally, brick and tilework is not my strength at all, so I find that anything which involves a roof vent or making 6-inch holes through brick walls it's easier to simply sub-contract that part of the job to one of the local builders, where it will probably only take him an hour and I can be getting the wiring ready while he's making good.   Also, if drilling a large hole through the wall results in chunks of brickwork falling out (as sometimes happens in old places), he's much more skilled at repairing the damage.  Cutting holes in the ceiling and soffit for a ducted fan is much easier, so I'll do those myself.

paul- who fits extractor fans?  electrician?  how do you size the correct one?  (this is really something that i should have done when the bathroom was completely torn apart 8 months ago, right?)

It would have been easier to do it then, but it's not the end of the world.  You might have to touch up the paintwork or accept some small white trunking running down the wall for a cable though, if you don't want to start ripping off tiles again to bury everything.

As for sizing, here's a calculator which will provide you with some recommended minimums for a given type and size of room:

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Ventilation/Ventilation4.html

I tend to be a little liberal with flow estimates though.  It's better to slightly oversize than to do all the work and then find that the fan you installed really isn't up to the job. 

we had an electrician install our extractor fan, think it was less than £100


You can pick up small non-electric dehumidifiers to sit on the window ledge at pound shops or in Lakeland

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/SearchResults.aspx?kw=dehumidifier

thanks for that link.  i think i'll get one of those ceramic ones until we get our proper one fitted!