We have a seasonal cottage that is approx 70 years old. We use it mainly May to September. When we do go up occasionly in the winter we find (when we arrive) that there is significant frost on the verhanda windows and ceiling....so much so that paint peels, mold grows and sheets of frost slide down the windows. The verhanda faces north and the rest of the cottage seems OK. There is a basement under the main part of cottage but not verhanda. The basement is wet in spring, but cleared with sump pump.
Answer:
Leave a couple of windows slightly open during the winter so air gets a chance to move about and the frost should stop. A sixteenth of an inch is all you need and one window per floor is enough too.
Courtesy of Ren Molnar, Construction Consultant at HomeFocus.com. I can also be reached at (613) 748-3003 and Home Focus phone-in is broadcast live 8 to 10 A.M. (Ottawa, Ont. time) on Saturdays on www.cfra.com.
