Why does my walls sweat

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. In the winter, the reverse happens. The walls and floor are cooler than the heated air and when they meet, again, condensation forms. Don't forget that most of the moisture in your home is created by you - through showering, cooking, laundry and just breathing. You need to properly ventilate your home. And make sure that your dryer, if it's in the basement, is properly vented to the exterior; it gives off a huge amount of warm, moist air every time you use it.

You can also use a dehumidifier. You should insulate anything that gets covered in condensation - like cold-water pipes and ductwork. The only problem was that her walls had now started leaching!

Her concern was that this looked very different to the simple condensation water drops that form on walls after having a shower. Her hallway and bedrooms were equally affected. What should she do? What to do when your walls start sweating!

What is paint sweating? Why does it happen? 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.

After drying the spot with a fan heater, tightly tape a piece of foil over it. Check the surface of the foil after 24 hours. If it's wet, the problem is condensation. When that's going on, it's because there's too much moisture build-up in the air in a poorly ventilated space.