The build-up of condensation in the loft and roof spaces is one of the most common issues faced by households in the UK. Yes, it might seem like some harmless little water droplets. But if you leave condensation to develop over time, it can cause major issues like dampness, black mould, and wood rot.
All of these can impact the health of you and your family, your living environment, your bank balance, and the value of your property.
In this post, we’re going to explain the causes of loft condensation and, most importantly, how to stop it.
What is Loft Condensation?
Loft condensation occurs when warm air rises into your loft space and comes into contact with a cool surface. At this point, the water in the humid warm air condenses into beads or droplets of moisture. In loft spaces, the surfaces that this condensation forms on are typically your timber structure, lintels and the underside of your roof.
Is Condensation in the Loft Normal?
Yes, especially in the cold winter months. Loft condensation problems in households have increased as modern living habits have developed. Warmer homes mean more warm air rises up into the loft and condensates on the cold inside surface of the roof.
What Causes Condensation in the Loft?
Loft condensation can be caused by lifestyle factors, lack of roof ventilation, or blockages of existing ventilation.
Examples of lifestyle factors causing loft condensation include; using central heating systems, taking more hot baths and showers, drying your washing indoors, double-glazed windows, and cooking without an extractor fan.
When it comes to roof ventilation, your property may not have the appropriate infrastructure to passively take in fresh air from outside to circulate and exhaust any warm stale air in your loft.
Alternatively, your existing roofing ventilation may be blocked by attic storage boxes or new roof insulation. This is a common issue for homes with soffit/eaves vents.
Why is Loft Condensation Bad for my Property?
With modern lifestyles, it is inevitable that you will always get some amount of condensation in your loft. Whilst this unavoidable small amount is not harmful, if you do not have systems in place to circulate the air in your loft to expel the stale warm air and introduce fresh new air to the space, much more serious problems can occur.
A build-up of condensation in your loft space can develop into wet rot, dry rot and black mould. These can have adverse effects on your living environment and your health by reducing the quality of the air you breathe.
In addition to compromising your roof's structure and overall property value. Timber structures that are compromised by rot or mould will need replacing which can be very costly, especially as the build-up of condensation can be stopped.
How to Reduce Condensation in your Home?
Now that you know what causes condensation in your loft space, it is time to find out what you can do to reduce it. The good news is that there are many ways to reduce loft condensation. In this section, we provide you with helpful tips on how to reduce the amount of condensation in your home, if you want to find out how to stop loft condensation, go to the next section.
The first option is to slightly alter your lifestyle. This can include using the central heating less or taking fewer or shorter showers. Obviously, this option is the most intrusive on your life, but even small changes can help over time.
Dry your wet laundry outside rather than inside. This is obviously weather dependent and unfortunately, the UK climate doesn’t allow for this all year round. But, whenever the sun is shining, take advantage of it and hang the washing outside to dry.
Although these may not solve your condensation issues in your loft space, they can help to reduce the amount of condensation produced in your home.
How to Stop Condensation in the Loft Space?
Better roof ventilation allows for fresh cool air to enter your loft space to circulate and remove the warm stale air before it hits surfaces and its moisture converts into condensation.
It is likely that your roof structure already has some ventilation infrastructure in place. So the first point of call is to check on the health and structure of your existing soffit/eaves or roof vents to see if they need unblocking. This can be done by yourself using many of the guides or youtube tutorials online or by a professional roofer.
The other option is to add more roof ventilation to ensure that you have sufficient air circulation to prevent the build-up of condensation in your loft.
Yes, we’re biased at Beddoes Products, but we think our Roof Tile Vents are the best solution to enhance your loft ventilation. Not only are they discreet, but they also work passively to keep air circulating in your loft space, preventing condensation build-up.
They can also be connected to your bathroom extractor fan to ventilate the steam produced directly through the roof. You can read more about this in our post on How to Stop Bathroom Condensation?
In our opinion, combining these two solutions is the best way to stop loft condensation because you ensuring that your loft space has proper ventilation to allow warm air to escape, and you are removing one of the main sources of warm moist air in ventilating the bathroom.
How to Stop Condensation in the Loft is a Different Question
And the answer is better roof ventilation.
So whether that means unblocking your soffit/eaves vents or adding more roof tile vents, you or your roofer will have to figure that out.
Yes, we’re biased - we think our roof tile vents are the best option because you can use them for loft ventilation. But you can also connect your bathroom extractor fan to vent it through the roof. Check out our post on How to Stop Bathroom Condensation.
Combining these two solutions is the best way to stop loft condensation because you are removing one of the main sources of warm moist air (the bathroom) and also creating outlets for the warm moist air that reaches the roof space.
So take a look at our roof vents. We have a wide range of products for different profiles or roof tile. And we make everything in-house so we've got the best colour range on the market!
Why choose Beddoes Products Roof Tiles?
At Beddoes Products, we only sell roof ventilation products, that’s it. All of these are manufactured in-house and come with free delivery and a 30-day guarantee. As we specialise in roof ventilation, we have spent time perfecting our roof tiles design for maximum efficiency with minimal visible impact.
We have vented roof tiles that match all of the most popular roof tile brands and makes on the market and in sizes that will match your roof's layout. We also offer a wide selection of colours so you can get the exact visual match to discretely ventilate your roof to stop condensation in your loft space.