The metal door is durable and reliable, but has one significant drawback - the metal is easily destroyed by moisture. Particularly affected by condensation are the input iron doors, which are located in the zone of contact between warm and cold air, which contributes to the formation of moisture droplets on the surface of the door. How to avoid condensation on metal front doors? What should be done to protect the metal sheathing of the front door from premature destruction? We will try to answer these questions in this article.
Metal entrance doors: advantages and disadvantages
Input provide reliable protection dwellings from unauthorized intrusions, are distinguished by high strength, reliability and durability. They are allowed to be installed in city apartments and country houses, while metal door leaves perfectly isolate the room from drafts, low temperatures, dust, and precipitation. Metal door leafs reduce the noise level, serve as an excellent soundproof barrier. In the event of a fire, metal doors prevent the entry of smoke into the apartment and prevent the rapid spread of fire.
With all the benefits metal doors, the structures have one very big drawback - rapid damage to the metal lining of the front door with constant exposure high humidity. Even special compounds cannot prevent the development of rust on door panels when interacting with water.
Condensation on the iron door: causes of the phenomenon
Condensation - droplets of moisture on the surface of the door skin. Moisture appears when big difference temperatures when it is very warm inside, and outside the doors of the house the thermometer mark drops to very low values. Especially often condensation is observed in suburban or country houses, in which there is only a single Entrance door and there is no transitional vestibule (“cold” corridor).
When the air temperature inside the house rises, warm currents spread throughout the rooms. When heated air reaches a cold metal front door, it quickly cools down, turning into mist, which settles on the structural door elements. Accumulating, water dust turns into drops flowing down the metal door leaf. A similar phenomenon can be seen in window panes, especially if the glazing is made in one thread.
Often the reason for the formation of condensation is a sharp difference in temperature between the street and the room.
How to avoid condensation and save a metal door?
There are several reasons that exacerbate the appearance of condensation on the door during the cold season:
- The presence of gaps (cold bridges) between the door leaf and the frame of the box. When installing a metal door, it is worth carefully isolating possible voids and cracks, using special insulation materials: mounting foam, tow, mineral wool, mortar, polystyrene. Cold bridges appear in places where locks are tie-in, door peepholes, inside door leaf from metal in the area of strengthening the stiffening ribs of the spatial frame.
Advice! When purchasing a finished metal door, you should make sure that it is done additional insulation door leaf.
- Moisture can condense not only metal surface doors, but also on the slopes around the opening, which is possible if the tightness of the door to the frame is broken. In this case, the formation of condensate or frost is observed on the slopes (with a significant decrease in the outside air temperature).
The equipment of a special room in front of the door (tambour) or an unheated corridor can help to avoid the problem of condensation. When developing a floor plan country house it is necessary to immediately provide for the construction of such a room.
The equipment of entrance doors with canopies or visors will somewhat defuse the problem. In this case, it is possible to avoid the impact of precipitation.
Additional finishing of metal door panels with special protective compounds or panels with weatherproof impregnation reduces the risk of premature destruction of the door from condensation.
Insulation of the front door with sheet foam, followed by decorative trim will reduce the occurrence of condensation.
Causes of condensation on the front doors: video
Condensation on the doors: photo
Metal entrance doors have many advantages that have ensured their popularity all over the world. But hermetic iron doors, despite their excellent performance, have some drawbacks.
Condensation on the entrance metal door is one of the most common problems homeowners face. Iron doors sweat most often in the cold season. Hoarfrost or condensation become noticeable on door handles, peephole, cylinders, feigned part of an iron door. As practice shows, moisture can form not only on the metal elements of the input structure. Often, condensation is noticeable on the slopes next to the opening. The number of water droplets increases many times if the metal door leaf is not hermetically sealed to the box.
Causes of moisture on the canvas
There are several reasons for the occurrence of condensed moisture on an iron door.
High air humidity inside the apartment / house is the most important prerequisite for the appearance of condensate. Moreover, the more the air temperature differs outside and inside the metal sheet, the higher the likelihood of fogging the door.
Some components of the entrance structure made of metal (stiffening ribs, crossbars, duct details), when interacting with cooled air flows from the outside, instantly lose temperature throughout their entire thickness and, in contact with warm air inside the room, sweat.
Condensation on the iron door also occurs due to physical properties metal, especially because of its high thermal conductivity.
What is the harm of condensed moisture on the front door
Protecting doors from moisture is a task that requires an immediate solution. It is unprofitable for practical homeowners to turn a blind eye to fogging of the canvas. Soon this phenomenon will lead to corrosion of the metal. As a result, the door will not only lose its attractive appearance, but also their operational properties. When iron doors sweat, the functioning of their elements is disrupted: hinges, locking devices. Moisture, accumulating inside the web, significantly reduces the heat and noise insulation of the input structure. The above phenomena naturally reduce the operating time of even an expensive metal door made of high-quality materials.
Door models with high-quality seals
How to protect doors from moisture
To prevent condensation on the metal sheet of the entrance structure, it is necessary to reduce the level of humidity inside the house. To do this, they adjust the operation of the ventilation system in the room (sometimes new fans should be installed). It is useful to ventilate the apartment more often to establish good air circulation in the rooms.
Condensation on a metal door will no longer appear when installing a tambour door on the landing. Tambour will protect input structure from the direct influence of cold air currents.
Installing a vestibule is not possible in all cases. Another effective way to avoid fogging of the door - insulate the entrance block with polystyrene foam and further decorate it with weather-resistant materials. To do this, the metal sheet is coated with powder-based polymers or decorated on the outside with panels with weather-resistant properties. Optimal fill standard mounting foam all hollow metal elements of the front door.
Condensation on a metal door frame will not appear if an outdoor unit is installed. The metal elements of the leaf in such a door are characterized by increased thermal insulation qualities.
Naturally, it is better to purchase doors from reputable manufacturers that manufacture products in full compliance with the stages technological process. Input hardware of high quality are equipped with elements treated with anti-corrosion agents and equipped with reliable insulating materials. It is reasonable to entrust the installation of doors to professionals who always pay attention to the insulation of cracks and gaps between the frame and the leaf. To prevent fogging of the structure facing the street, you can order insulation, both for the door itself and for the box. Another measure to combat condensate is to purchase doors without a peephole built into the canvas.
Often this problem also applies to the front doors in private homes. But unlike windows, the problem is not insufficient air convection. What to do if the door is frosted over, condensation and frost form on it?
We note right away that the appearance of condensate mainly concerns metal entrance doors. For them, this is a very urgent problem, wooden doors are less susceptible to it.
Before dealing with the problem of condensation and frost on the front door, let's deal with possible reasons this unpleasant phenomenon.
The first reason for the appearance of condensate on the entrance metal door is quite clear and understandable - a significant difference between the temperature inside the house and outside. If it is -10 °C outside the door, and +23 °C in the house, you will agree how condensation does not appear here.
The thermal conductivity of metal is almost 300 times higher than that of wood. That is why, loved by many, popular metal entrance doors give off heat so quickly. They are cold to the touch, without proper thermal insulation they cannot protect the house from heat loss.
The second reason comes from the first: the doors are simply too thin and not insulated enough. Inside the metal front door there should be a layer that will help it keep warm inside the house and prevent condensation and frost from forming.
Reason three: cold bridges. In addition to the canvas of the metal door itself, cold can be carried out by:
- lock;
- door frame;
- metal ribs.
That is, all the metal parts of the door equipment that pass through the canvas serve as cold bridges. By the way, in a wooden door, the lock can also become a bridge of cold, like a box and fasteners. Therefore, it is not necessary to say that a wooden door is completely protected from all problems with the appearance of condensate and drizzle.
Condensation on the front door is unpleasant in itself, and in addition can cause the following problems - locks and other metal parts will rust under the influence of constant, high humidity throughout the cold season. Mold can appear on the door slopes, they will turn black, this is unattractive and unhealthy. In addition, a frozen lock is difficult to open.
You can deal with condensation and freezing of the front door in the following ways:
- Order a high-quality, multilayer door with effective insulation and insulation of all cold bridges. Yes, it will cost a lot, you will have to pay for the quality. But on the other hand, there will be no problems with retaining heat inside the house and water leaks on the inside of the door initially.
- Engage in insulation of a low-quality, empty metal door inside. You can use regular foam, but this is not a very effective option. It is better to choose a more modern insulation, which should be laid inside the door. There are specialists who provide such services.
- It is advisable to cover the metal sheet with powder polymers having weather-resistant treatment. It is also possible to trim the door from the outside with panels that have been impregnated with special compounds that protect against temperature extremes.
- Cold bridges can be dealt with by filling all hollow metal elements with mounting foam. Also, the place where the door frame fits to the door opening is carefully blown out with mounting foam.
- Install insulation tape around the perimeter of the box, it is simply glued to the canvas. The lock can be covered with a special sliding cover - it will not reliable insulation, but the direct access of cold air will block exactly.
- Insulate the slopes, for example, with foam plastic or mineral wool, and plaster and paint on top.
Most effectively, a vestibule or veranda will protect against condensation on the front door and the appearance of ice. Such a simple walk-through unheated room in front of the house becomes a layer that does not allow the coldest air to get to the front door. And even though it will be cold in the vestibule itself, it will still be warmer than on the street. That is, the temperature difference will be noticeably lower.
For the same reason, another entrance door, additional, helps to get rid of problems with condensate. Inside the house, it is advisable to install another door, preferably wooden or plastic, so that the metal is less exposed to temperature differences. The more layers, the warmer - this principle works not only when dressing in cold weather, but also when warming the house, remember this.
Never encountered such a problem as condensation on the front door, only residents apartment buildings and people who are lucky with the quality of installation, the device of the door leaf itself, and at the same time the design of the house. And what did you think: there are quite a lot of factors that need to be taken into account to fix the problem, so in search of a source of condensate, you will have to inspect and analyze the structure on several fronts.
Why does the canvas fog up and why is it dangerous?
Condensation on the entrance metal door, and not only, is formed due to the difference in surface and air temperatures. The same phenomenon can be observed on an aluminum can from the refrigerator or on car windows during the cold season. When the air in the room is relatively warm and the surface is colder, at certain readings of air temperature and humidity, it reaches the dew point temperature, when the vapor from the air changes into a liquid form and collects on this very surface.
For example, at a temperature in the dressing room of 21˚C and a humidity of 50%, the dew point for the door surface will be 10.2 degrees. Given the high heat, and in our case, the cold conductivity of the metal, at low temperatures outside, the door in a private house will be stably covered with condensate.
Dew or even frost on the inside of the front door does not add coziness to the atmosphere, but the most unpleasant thing is that iron doors fog up not only from the outside, but also from the inside, which can lead to a quick failure of the structure. When buying a front door, everyone wants to get high quality at a reasonable price, but if you decide to save money and buy a system without internal anti-corrosion treatment for a country house, be prepared for the fact that it will not last long. Unless, of course, you solve the problem of fogging before the canvas rusts.
The main thing is to understand why the door is sweating, and to identify weak side boxes, canvases or rooms adjacent to it.
How to determine the cause of fogging and what to do?
By and large, there is only one reason - the aforementioned temperature difference. But it can occur due to several factors.
- The fabric is poorly insulated.
Mostly entrance doors sweat due to poor insulation. If you bought a canvas without high-quality insulation, the ways to remedy the situation are to try to insulate it yourself or change the canvas. The cavities in the canvas can be filled with mounting foam, but it’s better to think about a high-quality insulation layer inside the door even before buying.
- The box is not well insulated.
In this case, condensate can form not only on the box itself, but also on the canvas along the perimeter of contact with it. You can insulate it with the help of the same foam, mineral wool or polystyrene, and since you still have to dismantle the box for this, check whether the doorway is sufficiently well foamed. If there were cavities between it and the box, the cause of fogging could lie in them, and the installers should not be blamed, but the manufacturers.
In addition to insulating the box and the canvas, you can also insulate the slopes from the outside, if exterior finish facades allows.
- Leakage
The door can become covered with condensate if the tightness between the leaf and the frame is broken, which can be quite easily checked by the presence of drafts. In this case, dew will accumulate mainly around the perimeter of the canvas and the box. In this case, the usual self-adhesive rubber sealant will help to fix the problem, which must be attached to the box and the canvas around the perimeter.
If a metal door is cheap and finished decorative panels, not the fact that the manufacturers properly carried out anti-corrosion treatment of the metal under them. If the panels are poorly attached and there are voids between them and the metal, then the door will begin to sweat under the panels, and you will only know about it when it fails.
- Bridges of cold
Another reason why the front door sweats even with good insulation, - cold bridges, which are in almost all doors. Cold bridges are through metal elements, such as a lock or stiffeners, which are not separated by thermal insulation or at least voids and perfectly conduct cold to the inner surface of the canvas. Even when foaming cavities in the canvas, local sweating in the area of such a bridge can only be avoided using the following method. 
Sometimes cold bridges simply cannot be avoided: usually it is a lock and a peephole, and this is already enough. But in the case of a lock, you can at least use a retractable pad or not choose models with vertical crossbars.
- It's too cold in the room
Sometimes the front door leads directly to the corridor, but most often the house has a vestibule. Unheated vestibule, in which the air is warmer than outside, the cold from which lowers the temperature inner surface due to the above reasons. What to do if the front metal door sweats in this case? Try to slightly equalize the temperature of the inner surface of the canvas and the air in the vestibule with the help of heating. The smaller the gap between these indicators, the greater the humidity required for dew to fall. If you heat the air to 24 degrees, then with an average humidity of 50-60%, you only need to heat the inner surface to 14-16 degrees, which is easy to achieve due to thermal insulation, tightness and, most importantly, warm air. But if there are 15 degrees in the dressing room, then at the same humidity, dew on the front doors will fall already at 4-7 degrees, and the temperature of the metal sheet without heating in frost will be much lower.
If the vestibule is not provided, isolating the inner surface of the metal door from warmer air with the help of a wooden door will help to remove condensate. Wooden door at the same time, it should be installed immediately after the metal one.
- The room is too humid
It's a shame, but the canvas can fog up even in a heated vestibule: recall that the higher the humidity, the smaller the difference in surface and air temperatures is required for the surface to become wet. For example, at 80% humidity and an air temperature of 24 degrees, dew will fall at a surface temperature of 20.3. That is, very warm and humid - worse than moderately warm and dry.
Of course, fogging doors will not be a problem for you if you buy expensive models with thermal break of cold bridges, heated frame, weather-resistant surface treatment or liquid insulation insulating metal from air. But you won’t have to remove this unpleasant phenomenon even with accessible doors if you take care of high-quality insulation and maximum tightness, and also understand a little about the table of humidity and air temperature indicators for the dew point.
The front door tends to accumulate condensation on itself. This problem is most often faced by owners of private houses. Iron or metal products can fog up. Many owners do not know why the front door is sweating, and how to deal with this trouble. Therefore, before you buy entrance doors, read our article.
The owners of city apartments do not face this. Never observe frost or water drops at the inlet. But, if you install the same design in a country dwelling, "sweating" immediately appears. Many still do not understand why the front metal door in a private house is sweating.
The door in a private house "sweats"
This happens only in winter or in the cold off-season. When it's cold outside, it smells cold from the entrance, and inside the room the air temperature is higher. There is a kind of "struggle" of heat and cold, an obstacle to which is the door. Drops of liquid are visible on its inner side. And, if the tightness is not sufficient, the liquid will be converted into a layer of frost.
It depends not only on tightness, but also on the quality of the product. In the manufacture of iron structures, this must be considered. If the product is made to order, or you are buying a finished product, always pay attention to quality. Ask your dealer if the product is suitable for the harsh environment where you intend to install it.
For frosty conditions, the appropriate product is needed. Many manufacturers are guided only by the fact that their structures will be mounted only in city apartments with entrances.
How to explain the formation of condensate
So why does the front metal door sweat? Conscientious manufacturers always provide for insulation and the absence of gaps (slots) between the box and the base. But, this is not yet a guarantee of the absence of condensate. This is explained as follows: iron products are excellent heat conductors, and, during the design, cold bridges always remain in the gaps, door frame and in the rib.
Distance between inner and outer cladding filled with heaters. But, no matter how hard the masters try, there are still many details in the design that conduct the cold temperature. Therefore, it is not possible to completely isolate the input. Frost will always get to inside over the bridges. The inner lining will sweat. Since the air surrounding the entrance is not able to retain moisture. She settles on the plane with dew drops.
The jambs of the doorway can be covered with a layer of snow. If the cold penetrates very strongly through the cracks. It is necessary to ensure that the base of the canvas is adjacent to the body. The temperature should not be allowed to drop below zero indoors near the entrance. In this case, frost formation can be avoided.
What to do?
If the front door sweats, what should I do? How to fix the situation? In order not to run into the problem of condensate, even when designing a private house, you need to think through some details:
- If condensation accumulates due to the difference temperature regime in front of and behind the entrance, then take care to equip a cool vestibule at the entrance. This will create a gradual transition from frosty air to warm.
- Mount a small canopy or canopy over the entrance. Due to this, there will be no exposure to the rays of the sun and precipitation on the canvas from the outside.
- Experienced craftsmen advise coating the metal sheet with polymer powders. They are weather resistant. They help to avoid the "struggle" of different temperatures.
- From the outside, it is better to finish the front door with panels that are impregnated with weather-resistant solutions. It will also serve as decoration.
- It is better to fill all cavities in metal parts with mounting foam. This will prevent the formation of cold bridges.
To represent visually how to properly equip the entrance to a private house, you can see step by step photos from the masters.
The distances between the walls and the box must also be filled with foam. And the box, which is a profiled pipe, must be drilled in the marked places. Foam is pumped in through the holes. It performs the role of a heater and does not let through cold air inside and warm outside.
There are times when all installation rules are followed, but the surface still sweats or freezes. What to do with it? This problem occurs due to the lining on the inside. If the canvas is covered with a material that does not allow warm air to pass through.
Results
So, there are several reasons for fogging the front doors in a private house. The main one is a poor quality product. So keep this in mind when buying. Otherwise, the front door installed in the house will not last long. Since "sweating" makes the product unusable. But, if you overlooked this nuance, then follow the recommendations presented. And the problem will be solved!
