Why do walls sweat

If you are noticing an increase of condensation in your basement, the easiest things you can do are:. It is common for homeowners to wrap insulation around their hot-water pipes to preserve the heat, but they ignore the cold-water pipes. Putting insulation around the cold-water pipes will help control the condensation. For insulation around your pipes, you can purchase foam sleeves that slip over the pipes. These foam sleeves come with an adhesive strip that allows them to stay on.

For even more protection, you can wrap the joints and gaps in a compatible tape. There are different sources of basement moisture that may be causing the walls to sweat. Knowing these may help you understand how and why basement walls sweat sometimes. To correct a moisture problem within a basement, you should first understand how the moisture travels to the basement. There are different ways moisture can move through your basement.

Understanding if moisture is coming from the outside or inside of your house will help you solve and prevent the problem from happening. Moisture that is coming in from outside will be from melting snow or rain that is seeping its way to your walls. Moisture that is from the inside is caused by humidity. An easy way to figure out where the moisture is coming from is to tape a piece of foil to the wall of the basement for two to three days. If there is high humidity in the basement, moisture will show up on the outside of the foil.

If the moisture shows up behind the foil, it indicates that the moisture is coming through the walls. Once you have figured out where the moisture is coming from, you can take the steps that fix the specific problem.

Sweating basement walls is a sure sign that there is warm air coming in contact with the cold walls. Because this can cause mold and mildew to grow, it is an issue you want to take care of immediately to prevent any health problems, which frequently affect the respiratory system and cause sickness and allergies.

There are several causes of basement walls sweating, and luckily, they can be easily discovered and fixed. The most common causes of sweating basement walls are: Inadequate grading Problem with gutters and downspouts Improperly designed window wells Structural cracks Improper drainage with under slab ducts Poor drain tile or sump pit Home not adequately ventilated or insulated Interior water leak When you begin to notice your basement walls sweating, you should immediately fix the problem to prevent further damage, mold, and health conditions.

Why do Basement Walls Sweat? Basement wall sweat can also be caused by indoor and outside sources that cause an excess of moisture: Rain or groundwater that makes its way inside Dryers Humidifiers Showers Cooking appliances Letting outside, humid air into the basement Signs of Your Basement is Sweating There are different ways basement sweat can make itself present.

Other signs that your basement walls are sweating include: Standing water on the floor Humid air in the home Deterioration of wood or carpet Wall staining Ring of dampness on the wall Odor Why Your Basement Walls Sweat There are many reasons why your basement walls sweat.

Inadequate Grading When there is unsatisfactory grading, rain and groundwater can easily make its way into your basement. How to Fix The best thing to do to fix a grading problem is by creating a slope that goes away from the house. To do this, you will: Find the low and high points, — This will be where the water starts draining and where it ends up.

Figure out the rise and the run of your property, — The run is how far apart your high point and low point are. The rise is the inches or feet the ground slopes from the high point to the low point. Get some soil. Pour the soil at the lowest point to turn it into the highest point.

Smooth the dirt. Pack the dirt. Plant new grass. Problem with Gutters and Downspouts Gutters and downspouts are designed to direct rainwater away from your house. How to Fix To fix an issue with your downspouts or gutters, you can: Purchase a downspout with an extender. It is beneficial to have one downspout placed every 50 feet. Check for any leaks or damages in your gutters and downspouts. Clean the gutters and downspouts regularly.

Buildup debris in your downspouts can make them ineffective at properly dispersing the water. How to Fix If you know your window well has a drain and is just now beginning to have leakage, then most likely, the drain is clogged. You should: Unclog the drain to allow it to do its job correctly. Get a window well cover to help prevent future clogs. This will help with drainage and also help prevent frost in the winter. Structural Cracks Concrete foundations eventually develop cracks for several reasons — foundation settlement, storms, extreme heat, too much moisture, and flooding are just some of them.

How to Fix It is possible to drain water from the cracks, but the problem will reoccur and eventually get worse. If hydrostatic pressure is the issue, then: The exterior drainage should be repaired You should have proper gutters, downspouts, and grading. You want the water to flow away from your house. A concrete foundation can be filled with an injection of: An expanding urethane sealant Epoxy However, foundations made from stone or brick cannot be injected.

Improper Drainage with Under Slab Ducts Under slab ducts are air ducts that are installed for heating and air conditioning. How to Fix It is essential to check any heating ducts that are placed beneath the basement floor. Poor Drain Tile and Sump Pit A drain tile is a system that makes sure groundwater does not enter your basement. How to Fix If you believe the sump pump, or the lack of one, is the cause of your water problem, then this is most likely a situation you should hand over to a professional.

Your Home is Not Adequately Ventilated or Insulated Because basement sweat occurs when warm air comes in contact with the cool walls, the issue is often caused by you and what you do in your home. How to Fix To check if your house is adequately ventilated or insulated, you should: Make sure that anything that can create condensation is insulated correctly.

This would be your cold-water pipes and ductwork. If you have a finished basement, the floors and walls should also be insulated entirely. When you shower, there should be a fan running, or a window opened to help decrease the buildup of steam in your bathroom. If your laundry room is in your basement, or above your basement, make sure the dryer is properly ventilated to the exterior of your home.

An Interior Water Leak This cause is a very obvious but common problem. How to Fix When you have an interior leak, all you need to do is repair that leak.

To fix your leak, follow these steps: Identify where the leak is coming from. Water leaks typically have to do with a problem in the plumbing. Shut off the water supply and allow for water to fully drain Make sure the area is clean and dry Figure out how much epoxy putty is needed for the leak Soften the epoxy putty between your hands Use epoxy putty to cover the area of the leak If it is a simple leak, you may be able to fix it yourself. How to Reduce Basement Condensation Having condensation in your basement walls not only can create mold and mildew, but it can also damage any belongings you have stored down there.

Add Insulation If there is an abundance of warm air getting into your basement and causing condensation on your walls, the best thing to do is to add insulation to those cold surfaces. It will grow and feed on anything organic in a basement - like wood, carpet, drywall, ceiling tiles, cloth, cardboard - the list goes on and on.

Mould will send spores constantly into your indoor air, which will circulate inside your house and possibly affect your family's health. The homeowner says, "…what I see are wet spots on the floor where the exposed concrete wall and floor meet, and behind the plastic barrier the insulation is wet. We thought it was a foundation problem, but have since been told it's condensation.

But I thought insulation was supposed to stop condensation. Yes, that's true - if the insulation is installed correctly. Condensation occurs when either warm moist air in the house makes contact with a cooler basement wall or floor, or cool, air-conditioned air makes contact with a warmer wall - like the top part of your basement wall where it's above grade.

In a basement, probably both situations are happening, depending on the season. The lower part of a basement - where the floor and wall are below the level where soil is affected by surface temperature - generally stays about the same temperature year round. But above that, it gets warm in summer and cold in winter. The concrete in your basement walls and floor will absorb the heat from the exterior temperature in the summer, which makes it warmer that your conditioned air.

When the air in your basement meets the concrete wall, the moisture in it will condense and your walls will sweat. And drip. And puddle. And soak carpets and wood and lead to musty smells and possibly mould.

But one of these things is not like the other: Can you guess which? Sweating walls inside a home aren't harmless or natural. This phenomenon occurs when water beads on the surface of a wall or trickles out of the wall itself, often leading to damp patches and, if left alone, possibly extensive water damage.

If you have sweating walls, you might notice additional symptoms in your home like humid air, standing water on the floor, mold and mildew, rot, and more, according to the University of Minnesota Extension. And problems like this don't fix themselves, so get ready to make a call if you're not able to remedy the problem on your own. There are various causes that could be causing your walls to sweat, so it can be tricky to diagnose the source of the excess moisture.

Here are some of the most common culprits for those dreaded sweaty walls. To determine the cause of sweating walls in your home, try the aluminum foil test on a damp spot, suggests Reader's Digest.