Sony Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 We have mould growing in the bedroom and living room at an alarming rate. I keep on top of it by washing it off with bleach every so often. Nearly every morning ( especially on cold days 5c or lower) our windows are drenched from top to bottom inside. I've got to look a right berk using the squeegee and wiping it all off constantly. A surveyor came round and told us it was condensation. He told us to stick more heating on and buy a professional dehumidifier. Which we've done. The dehumidifier collects a lot of water but hasn't improved things a lot to be honest. Does this sound like condensation to you or damp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annointed Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 We have mould growing in the bedroom and living room at an alarming rate. I keep on top of it by washing it off with bleach every so often. Nearly every morning ( especially on cold days 5c or lower) our windows are drenched from top to bottom inside. I've got to look a right berk using the squeegee and wiping it all off constantly. A surveyor came round and told us it was condensation. He told us to stick more heating on and buy a professional dehumidifier. Which we've done. The dehumidifier collects a lot of water but hasn't improved things a lot to be honest. Does this sound like condensation to you or damp? We used an ebac dehumidifier (The £189 one from Argos). We ran it for at least four weeks continously (2p per hour the manual says)It helped. In addition, have a good quality extractor fan installed in your kitchen and bathroom if you haven't done so yet. Ensure your drier vents to the outside. Don't dry any thick clothing like jumpers, blankets , floor mats,Jeans etc on your radiators. Infact , If you can , just dont dry anything on your radiators, all that water settles on walls and encourages mould. Drying Clothing on radiators is also expensive as it make the bolier work harder to raise the temperature in the house.If you have no extractor in your bathroom, try to encourage your family members to open the window fully after a bath or shower. Open windows in your kitchen as well when cooking . Hope any of this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Probably condensation. If it was damp, then although the walls would be wet (which would encourage the mould) the relative humidity of the air would not (necessarily) be very high. If you can buy a combined thermometer/hygrometer, do so. (Doesn't have to be accurate to forecasting levels, a household device with a digital read-out will do) The RH (in winter) should be below 60%. (The thermometer/Hygometer I got with my last house had an audible alarm which sounded when the humidity reached 60%) (You said you have a 'professional de-humidifier'. Is this a device (at least) 2ft high, 18" deep and 1 ft wide? (approx) or is it one of those silly little things about the size of a pint pot? Is your de-humidifier capable of extracting 5 litres (or more) of water from the air per day?) - You need one of those for each (affected) room - if the problem is severe. But there are ways of reducing the problem. 1. Do the affected rooms have adequate ventilation? (Are there air bricks and are they blocked off? Do you sleep with a window cracked open?) 2. Do you dry clothes on a radiator, or using one of those racks rigged above a small heater? If the air bricks are blocked off, open them (You can always rig something to stop draughts.) If the bedroom is small and you do a lot of breathing (fairly common ) consider opening a window (not wide!). If you do have to dry clothes on a radiator - do it in the bathroom with the door shut and a window open. If you've got one of those heated racks, use it in the garage, in a shed (with ventilation) or in the bathroom. Each morning, when you get up, open all the windows for a few minutes (unless it's foggy outside.) The temperature in the rooms will drop - but the radiators and the walls won't get significantly colder. It's only for a few minutes and when you close the windows, the fresh air in the rooms will soon warm up and the RH at room temperature will be much lower.) You will change the warm moist air in the house for cold (possibly moist) air from outside. - The RH of the air you let in might be close to that which you let out, but the air is colder and when it warms up, the RH will fall. Mould is not only unsightly, it can damage your carpets, furniture and (possibly) paintwork and can cause health problems - particularly if you suffer from allergies or have respiratory ailments. There's a product in the US called 'Tilex' which is a bathroom mould killer. The active ingredient is Sodium Hypochlorite. - If Tilex isn't available in the UK, there is almost certainly an equivalent. It doesn't kill 100% of spores (though it does remove the black stuff.) If you can whack the existing mould and keep the RH below 60%, you should be OK. Where I live, mould is a major problem - but usually in summer time, when the RH is very high and the temperatures are up there, too. When I am away from this house, I have to run the air conditioner (or a big de-humidifier) for a couple of hours a day. If I didn't, the mould would damage everything in the house and probably eat one (or both) of my dogs as we stepped through the door when we got back. Best of luck. Mould is a bugger to get rid of once it's got a hold, but it is possible and once you've reduced it, then provided you keep the RH below 60% you should be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annointed Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Probably condensation. If it was damp, then although the walls would be wet (which would encourage the mould) the relative humidity of the air would not (necessarily) be very high. If you can buy a combined thermometer/hygrometer, do so. (Doesn't have to be accurate to forecasting levels, a household device with a digital read-out will do) The RH (in winter) should be below 60%. (The thermometer/Hygometer I got with my last house had an audible alarm which sounded when the humidity reached 60%) (You said you have a 'professional de-humidifier'. Is this a device (at least) 2ft high, 18" deep and 1 ft wide? (approx) or is it one of those silly little things about the size of a pint pot? Is your de-humidifier capable of extracting 5 litres (or more) of water from the air per day?) - You need one of those for each (affected) room - if the problem is severe. But there are ways of reducing the problem. 1. Do the affected rooms have adequate ventilation? (Are there air bricks and are they blocked off? Do you sleep with a window cracked open?) 2. Do you dry clothes on a radiator, or using one of those racks rigged above a small heater? If the air bricks are blocked off, open them (You can always rig something to stop draughts.) If the bedroom is small and you do a lot of breathing (fairly common ) consider opening a window (not wide!). If you do have to dry clothes on a radiator - do it in the bathroom with the door shut and a window open. If you've got one of those heated racks, use it in the garage, in a shed (with ventilation) or in the bathroom. Each morning, when you get up, open all the windows for a few minutes (unless it's foggy outside.) The temperature in the rooms will drop - but the radiators and the walls won't get significantly colder. It's only for a few minutes and when you close the windows, the fresh air in the rooms will soon warm up and the RH at room temperature will be much lower.) You will change the warm moist air in the house for cold (possibly moist) air from outside. - The RH of the air you let in might be close to that which you let out, but the air is colder and when it warms up, the RH will fall. Mould is not only unsightly, it can damage your carpets, furniture and (possibly) paintwork and can cause health problems - particularly if you suffer from allergies or have respiratory ailments. There's a product in the US called 'Tilex' which is a bathroom mould killer. The active ingredient is Sodium Hypochlorite. - If Tilex isn't available in the UK, there is almost certainly an equivalent. It doesn't kill 100% of spores (though it does remove the black stuff.) If you can whack the existing mould and keep the RH below 60%, you should be OK. Where I live, mould is a major problem - but usually in summer time, when the RH is very high and the temperatures are up there, too. When I am away from this house, I have to run the air conditioner (or a big de-humidifier) for a couple of hours a day. If I didn't, the mould would damage everything in the house and probably eat one (or both) of my dogs as we stepped through the door when we got back. Best of luck. Mould is a bugger to get rid of once it's got a hold, but it is possible and once you've reduced it, then provided you keep the RH below 60% you should be OK. Great advise , way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodStar Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 have you got double glazing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Air flow, if you have not got good ventilation you will get condensation in the coldest parts of the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davyboy Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Probably condensation. If it was damp, then although the walls would be wet (which would encourage the mould) the relative humidity of the air would not (necessarily) be very high. If you can buy a combined thermometer/hygrometer, do so. (Doesn't have to be accurate to forecasting levels, a household device with a digital read-out will do) The RH (in winter) should be below 60%. (The thermometer/Hygometer I got with my last house had an audible alarm which sounded when the humidity reached 60%) (You said you have a 'professional de-humidifier'. Is this a device (at least) 2ft high, 18" deep and 1 ft wide? (approx) or is it one of those silly little things about the size of a pint pot? Is your de-humidifier capable of extracting 5 litres (or more) of water from the air per day?) - You need one of those for each (affected) room - if the problem is severe. But there are ways of reducing the problem. 1. Do the affected rooms have adequate ventilation? (Are there air bricks and are they blocked off? Do you sleep with a window cracked open?) 2. Do you dry clothes on a radiator, or using one of those racks rigged above a small heater? If the air bricks are blocked off, open them (You can always rig something to stop draughts.) If the bedroom is small and you do a lot of breathing (fairly common ) consider opening a window (not wide!). If you do have to dry clothes on a radiator - do it in the bathroom with the door shut and a window open. If you've got one of those heated racks, use it in the garage, in a shed (with ventilation) or in the bathroom. Each morning, when you get up, open all the windows for a few minutes (unless it's foggy outside.) The temperature in the rooms will drop - but the radiators and the walls won't get significantly colder. It's only for a few minutes and when you close the windows, the fresh air in the rooms will soon warm up and the RH at room temperature will be much lower.) You will change the warm moist air in the house for cold (possibly moist) air from outside. - The RH of the air you let in might be close to that which you let out, but the air is colder and when it warms up, the RH will fall. Mould is not only unsightly, it can damage your carpets, furniture and (possibly) paintwork and can cause health problems - particularly if you suffer from allergies or have respiratory ailments. There's a product in the US called 'Tilex' which is a bathroom mould killer. The active ingredient is Sodium Hypochlorite. - If Tilex isn't available in the UK, there is almost certainly an equivalent. It doesn't kill 100% of spores (though it does remove the black stuff.) If you can whack the existing mould and keep the RH below 60%, you should be OK. Where I live, mould is a major problem - but usually in summer time, when the RH is very high and the temperatures are up there, too. When I am away from this house, I have to run the air conditioner (or a big de-humidifier) for a couple of hours a day. If I didn't, the mould would damage everything in the house and probably eat one (or both) of my dogs as we stepped through the door when we got back. Best of luck. Mould is a bugger to get rid of once it's got a hold, but it is possible and once you've reduced it, then provided you keep the RH below 60% you should be OK. Sodium hypochlorite is the main constituent of ordinary bleach. Don't use the thick stuff that's for cleaning toilets. I think tesco sell it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sony Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Thanks very much for the advice!! We do have a dehumidifier capable of extracting 5L, bang on! We never do dry clothes on the radiators either- windows are open as much as we can in winter. I guess that means not a lot to be fair. We've never had mould issues anywhere else, even the walls are wet, what on earth is happening!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Thanks very much for the advice!! We do have a dehumidifier capable of extracting 5L, bang on! We never do dry clothes on the radiators either- windows are open as much as we can in winter. I guess that means not a lot to be fair. We've never had mould issues anywhere else, even the walls are wet, what on earth is happening!! What kind of property are you in ? Where about's, are you on or at the foot of a hill? I say this because we once lived in a house that suffered greatly from damp, after a loads of surveys from the council it turned out that there was a natural underground spring and they could do little about it other than put down new floors consisting of hardcore, viscquine and then concreted over. It did help somewhat but never really cured it completely. May not be this but If you have ruled out other things it is worth considering, if you are in fact on a hill, which is usually the case here in Sheffield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sony Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 I guess we are on a hill- and the flat is a 1930's block. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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