Weird condensation issue...

[Billbill84]

Hi all,
Near Chicago area here, today I woke up with condensation only along the bottom edge of nearly every window in my house. I've done a ton of research on this in the past and I know that most say I need to lower the humidity in my house because that only obvious answer anymore, my house is incredibly dry both my hygrometers read 20% in basement, and 24% on main level and crusty dry noses every morning and the kids get bloody noses here and there.
I don't think high humidity is the issue.
On a side note if I'm right and high humidity isn't the case here, could this be an air leakage issue? My floors/baseboards all feel cold on exterior walls so i think there's air leakage in my walls up from the rim joist area. Basement is fully finished with nice Sheetrock so inspecting down there isn't an option.
Any thoughts on this condensation/possible air leakage issue?

 

[Snoonyb]

You need to raise the humidity level to mitigate the discomforts to the occupants.

The next thing to address is the window coverings, then the air circulation, and how they interact.

 

[Billbill84]

You need to raise the humidity level to mitigate the discomforts to the occupants.

The next thing to address is the window coverings, then the air circulation, and how they interact.

I think tonight I'll try an experiment and run all the ceiling fans on low to see in the morning if there's any condensation still. Then I'll know it's likely an air flow issue, possibly not enough return air to the furnace?

 

[Snoonyb]

If the fans are pushing the air down, reverse them so that the circulation is across the ceiling and down the walls.

Also, leave heavy draperies open slightly.

 

[Billbill84]

Incase anyone is still interested lol, so I think I have finally solved my window condensation issue by doing this:
I read an article on how heat cools at the window and this got me thinking about some things. My old problematic practice was keeping all shades and curtains open during the day and closing them partially leaving about 5" on bottoms exposed for "air flow" as an effort to stop the bottom edge condensation issue I had. This wasn't working AT ALL and the bottoms still got cold and condescend by morning.
I have been leaving all shades/curtains fully up/open and the windows seem a bit warmer on bottom. There hasn't been ANY condensation on any of my windows now
Hypothesis: leaving 5" exposed on bottom edges wasn't working because a cold air pocket was forming between the glass and the shades thus reducing the amount of heat that can keep the window warm enough to stop condensation. Now with shades fully up the window is naturally heated by sunlight and then during the even colder night with indoor heating the windows are able to help retain some heat as well as heating the entire glass surface. As the heat moves down the windows the warm air cools only slightly and not nearly enough to grab any humidity out of my home's air. Sounds like it makes sense to me

 

[RafeTold]

Does your home have external insulation?

 

[Billbill84]

Does your home have external insulation?

What is external insulation? Are u referring to insulation of the exterior walls? If so then yes, it's a 2001 house not very old. Nothing fancy as far as "external" stuff other than plywood under vinyl siding and brick veneer front

 

[RafeTold]

What is external insulation? Are u referring to insulation of the exterior walls? If so then yes, it's a 2001 house not very old. Nothing fancy as far as "external" stuff other than plywood under vinyl siding and brick veneer front

Moisture may appear somewhere under the siding from this and condensation

 

[Billbill84]

Moisture may appear somewhere under the siding from this and condensation

What do u mean?

 

[Billbill84]

Incase anyone is still interested lol, so I think I have finally solved my window condensation issue by doing this:
I read an article on how heat cools at the window and this got me thinking about some things. My old problematic practice was keeping all shades and curtains open during the day and closing them partially leaving about 5" on bottoms exposed for "air flow" as an effort to stop the bottom edge condensation issue I had. This wasn't working AT ALL and the bottoms still got cold and condescend by morning.
I have been leaving all shades/curtains fully up/open and the windows seem a bit warmer on bottom. There hasn't been ANY condensation on any of my windows now
Hypothesis: leaving 5" exposed on bottom edges wasn't working because a cold air pocket was forming between the glass and the shades thus reducing the amount of heat that can keep the window warm enough to stop condensation. Now with shades fully up the window is naturally heated by sunlight and then during the even colder night with indoor heating the windows are able to help retain some heat as well as heating the entire glass surface. As the heat moves down the windows the warm air cools only slightly and not nearly enough to grab any humidity out of my home's air. Sounds like it makes sense to me

Should also note that, as I stated earlier in this post that leaving the curtains open fully solved the problem, well, I was wrong lol. It definitely helped a lot but some windows still have a little bottom edge condensation and the very next morning sometimes it will NOT have any there. Doesn't really make much sense temps outside been roughly same so something is causing this intermittently. Idk weird. I guess ill look into a way to help heat the bottoms of the windows maybe use some foam tape along the bottom edge