Ten-Minute Wet-Window Triage

• Step 1: Which surface is wet?
• Step 2: How many windows?
• Step 3: Look for damage
• Step 4: What changed?

Not every wet window has the same cause. Before you buy gear or change five settings, spend about ten minutes working out what you are looking at — ideally first thing in the morning while the problem is visible.

§Step 1: Which surface is wet?

Touch the water with a dry fingertip or tissue.

• Inside surface (wipes off from the room): ordinary indoor condensation. Most of this site is about that.
• Between the panes of a sealed unit (you cannot wipe it from either side): the sealed-glass unit seal has failed. Humidity tweaks will not fix it.
• Outside surface only: can happen on well-insulated windows when the outer pane stays cold. Not a sign of a problem inside the home.
• Water after rain or snowmelt, or running down from the top of the frame: may be a leak in the window, wall, or flashing — not condensation.

§Step 2: How many windows?

Walk the home and note room, wet/frosted/dry, and how much of the glass is affected (edge, lower third, or whole pane).

• Almost every window wet: whole-home humidity is too high for the outdoor temperature. Measure and cut moisture sources first.
• One or two rooms wet: local moisture, poor air movement, or a colder window in that room.
• One window wet while similar ones nearby are dry: look at that window — curtain tight to glass, furniture blocking heat, draft, or a damaged unit.

§Step 3: Look for damage

Check sill, frame, corners, and the wall below: mold spots, peeling paint, soft wood, stains, musty smell. Damage tells you how long this has been going on and how urgently you need to act.

§Step 4: What changed?

New humidifier, new baby, more people home during the day, indoor drying racks, renovation, new windows, a fan that stopped working — the cause is often the thing that changed.

Copy a simple triage row for each wet window: room, surface, wet area, damage, recent changes. One pass beats guessing.

Originally published at https://dry-glass-notes.surge.sh/articles/ten-minute-wet-window-triage.html (AI-assisted, sources cited). If this helped, zaps go to hollisvarrow3753@coinos.io.