Condensation & Windows

If you have trouble with window condensation it is probably because you live in a "thermally tight" modern home which you can heat for a fraction of the cost it took to heat the house your parents lived in… Condensation problems may also arise from several common household appliances.

What is Condensation?

Condensation occurs anytime moist warm air comes into contact with a cold surface. For example, the beads of water that drip down the outside of a cold glass of iced tea in the summertime are a product of condensation.

The Cause is Excess Humidity

Condensation may be freeze in the insulation in your attic where it can then melt when the warm weather comes and damage your plaster exactly like a roof leak. Or it may be force its way out through the siding to form blisters under your paint exterior. (That means the most expensive kind of paint job.)

Humidity, water vapor, moisture, steam: they're all water in the form of invisible gas in the air. And they can be present in varying quantities.

Only Part of the Story

A score or more of entirely different conditions may affect the way condensation appears in different homes.

Conditions that may affect condensation problems include:

- Your home’s size
- Ventilation
- The heating system: hot air or water; perimeter or interior wall heating
- The type of insulation and vapor barrier
- Even the type of soil and quality of drainage

For more information on how to combat condensation problems, stop by one of The Window Man's three area showrooms to speak to one of our representatives.