lizardland

Dampness in buildings is usually a money making scam by liquid DPC contractors unless you have serious amounts of structural timber. Surface dampness (i.e. condensation) is usually a lack of ventilation or cold bridging (badly done insulation).

If you're sensitive to breathing disorders like asthma then airborne spores from mould can cause problems but for the vast majority of people then I'd doubt it. The air in your house (unless you have a swimming pool) won't be any damper than the outside air and if it's heated then the RH will be much lower. At the other end of the scale, having overheated, dry buildings is probably worse for the general health than dampness.

As for dehumidifiers, if the problem is rising damp (i.e. damp being wicked up from the ground into the structure) then all the dehumidifiers on the planet will do feck all. Condensation, you'd be better off either introducing some ventilation or looking at how you heat the place (condensation needs a temperature difference to form -- don't have cold surfaces in hot rooms). De-humidifiers, in my opinion, are just a waste electricity in the home.

Cheers,

Stuart

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