So you have just built a brand new home or replaced all of your windows and they seem to be broken. There is condensation forming on the inside of all your windows and you’re not sure why. Don’t be alarmed; your windows are not defective!

Many variables control condensation forming on the inside of your windows. When building a new home or undergoing a major renovation, the new products and materials that have been brought in have higher moisture levels than the outside air. Condensation always forms on the warm side of your vapour barrier and the greater the separation in temperature, the greater chance of seeing moisture content.

It is always a good idea to run a dehumidifier at the start of your winter season. In Alberta where extreme cold strikes fast, this quick temperature change will produce massive amounts of condensation on your windows. Throughout the humid summer months, your home will actually absorb moisture from the outside air, and when colder, dryer winters start, this humidity will try to escape. The new homes that we build are sealed far better that the older homes in your city. Older homes allow the moist air to escape through leakage and minimize the condensing air on your windows.

To help control humidity levels, always make sure to run your exhaust fans for an extra 15 minutes. These include leaving your bath fan on for 15 minutes after showering and your kitchen hood fan on for 15 minutes after cooking. Make sure your furnace is equipped with a fresh air or make up air vent in order to bring outside air into your home. This will help to balance the levels from outside to inside.

Another problem area that I have been noticing lately is water coming out of bathroom fans. Again this is a condensation problem, but there may be an easy solution for this. A bathroom fans use insulated ducting to exhaust the warm moist air out. The reason for this is so that when in winter, the humid air doesn’t condensate inside your attic. Another culprit could also be your roof vent. If you are running into this problem than make sure first that your piping is insulated and secondly that your vent has a flapper built into it. Running your fan for an extended period after showering will allow all of the moisture to escape from the bathroom and vent line. If this doesn’t happen then the moisture will condense at the cold point and run back down into your bath fan causing potential ceiling damage. The flapper vent will close itself as soon as the fan is off to prevent any cold air from entering the system and causing potential damages.

Condensation is natural and not a reason to be to concerned, but make sure to control it so that further damage is not caused.