Heat recovery ventilation systems..?

[stevewestern]

OK, I know condensation has been done many times on here - I have had a busy few days reading as many threads on here as I can..!

My questions on this are as follows -
I am about to buy a 1930's house will solid walls and a very cold and slightly damp back bedroom and bathroom - both of which are downstairs. The front of the house faces south, and as a bungalow converted into a house the upstairs rooms get good and hot whenever the sun shines.
My thought is to get a HRV whole house system which will take some of the warm air from upstairs and use it to pre-heat air going into the back bedroom and bathroom. This I hope will reduce the damp problem which is only minor and may even be condensation - until we get into the house I cannot go ripping off the cladding so cannot tell if the damp is rising or not.

I am then planing to fix Celotex to all exterior walls the board and skim to upgrade the insulation.
Does this sound like a sensible way to go ?
I am part way through reading a thread all about the 'Lofty' whole house ventilation system which sounds interesting....

Many thanks for any help !

 

[stevewestern]

A small update - the damp is condensation as has been confirmed by both my survey and the current owners survey 12 years ago. The current owner has lessened the problem a lot.

Any thoughts ?

Also, anyone got experience of a whole house system and can offer any thoughts or suggestions of what to look at ?

 

[big-all]

the upstairs rooms are warm because the insulation is inefficient allowing the outside heat to penetrate the roof and walls this will translate in to very cold rooms in winter

 

[stevewestern]

A fair point big-all, but this is why I want to board over the walls/ceilings up there !

I was assuming that the top floor of the house will remain the warmest part just down to heat rising and also the big windows that face south and that I forgot to mention...

Oh, and thanks for the reply !

 

[big-all]

the best cure for damp is remove the source
is it penetrating damp/rising damp/condensation

try warming the room with the doors shut then ventilate window open door shut during the day for an hour or so

from the wiki section
//www.diynot.com/wiki/building:condensation_in_houses

 

[stevewestern]

Further investigation leads me to think it is condensation in the bedroom - the owners are an old couple, both sleep in late and keep the door shut. They rarely have the radiator on and there were clothes 'airing' when we went round to look.
As for the bathroom, there is no radiator in there and a concrete floor laid without insulation underneath, leading me to guess that the flat roof may not have much in it either....

As a family we rarely keep doors shut bar the front one and I do not like a cold bathroom so will be installing a rad or two so I am hoping that these factors will cure the problem.

Next on my list is hot water - megaflo-type tank run off the combi or what..?

 

[^woody^]

Condensation is predominantly a lifestyle issue caused by the occupants. There is no reason to suspect that you will have the same problems, and so think carefully about the expense and disruption of trying to deal with something that may not exist

If the damp has another cause, then you need to rectify that, as ventilation alone wont solve it