Damp has ruined our new bed, what can I do?

purplegirluk1

Hi,
We have suddenly got a massive problem with damp in our basement flat. We moved in February and this is the first time we have had a problem. I found black on one of the bedroom walls last week and some green mould on a toy box. I washed it off and thought that was it. I then went to use one of our under bed drawers earlier and found that all four are completely covered in green mould. The bed is 7 months old and is ruined, everything inside the drawers smells. The walls are damp and so is the carpet. Our 6 month old son sleeps on there with is and I am extremly upset. To make matters worse I cannot get hold of our landlord and we don't have insurance. I am not sure what to do now. I don't want to clean it up as I am not sure if the landlord will want to see it etc.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Purplegirl

m1ntie

In order to take remedial action, you need to establish whether is is rising damp, penetrating damp or condensation. Being a basement flat I would guess it is a mixture of both penetrating and rising.

To cure this could be a big and expensive job involving removing all wall plaster below ground level and replacing with special water proof plaster.

You need to get hold of your landlord urgently as this could have serious health implications for you and your family.

Captain_Mainwaring_2

Or a leak.

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

OP, can you take some good photo's or get a video of all the damage and get some witnesses. Make sure you include within the images a copy of that days newspaper so that the date can be authenticated.

Do you only deal with the Landlord or do you deal with a Letting Agent? You could get onto them.

Does he own the whole building or just your flat. Other tenants might have other contact details for him.

Good luck.

sooz

Or it could be condensation....and the cures are a little less drastic

Where is the mildew? Is it just in areas where there is little airflow - like behind or under large items of furniture? Another place where condensation frequently occurs is next to windows. If it's a child's room, I guess it's well heated, but do you venitilate it regularly? Are the windows wet in the morning?

Take lots of photos, & the clean it off with dettol mould & mildew remover. Follow the instructions on the bottle carefully - wear gloves & a mask & ventilate whilst doing it. It contains, amongst other things, bleach, so don't spill it, & wear old clothes. The stuff works wonders, but you don't want to breathe it.

Write (or email) your LL, enclosing the photos. You want to keep proof that you have informed him. Whilst cleaning, check to see if the walls feel wet, or if there is any evidence of water under the carpet (easiest place to lift a bit is by the carpet divider at the door)

purplegirluk1

Hi,

Thanks to you all. We managed to get hold of the LL and he came round last night. He basicly said he had never seen anything like it before and he was not sure what it was. He agreed it looked like damp. He bought us back a small dehumidifier (sp?) which has been on since last night. It has gathered a pretty large amount of water which I have not removed so LL can see it.

I have not cleaned the drawers yet but have taken pictures. I am not sure what the LL is thinking of doing next, I think he needs to investigate what the problem is but I am not sure what he will say. I am going to call him tonight. He lives next door and says he has not had any similar problems. I think its likely to be penetrating damp as we are the basement and we have a drain area outside our patio windows that are in the bedroom.

We are worried about the health implications and have moved our bed and the cot into the living room for now so we are in a right old mess! Just hoping this isn't going to go on for ages!

TrickyDicky

We have a problem with condensation in our ground floor flat. There isnt much in the way of ventilation other than the windows. We are out at work from 8am-6pm, then away most weekends, so there isnt much opportunity to get the windows open. with combination of us and drying clothes indoors we started to get mildew on the walls at the start of last winter (with it slowly building up till then) after about 6 months of being in the flat. We noticed it getting into draws and theres a little bit of damage to the matress (was 6 months old when we noticed)

Luckily we got hold of a couple of pretty hefty dehumidifiers for free (one was fiance's parents old one, and another was an xmas present). After leaving them on for a few days we really noticed a difference, the main one being that clothes dry in a day rather and 3-4 (and smelling a bit damp). And we've noticed the difference in air quality. At first we were emptying the containers (2 and 3 litres) about once every day or 2, but now it takes about a week or two fill one of them up

We now normally have at least1 running most the time, often in the spair room with the drying laundry. We'll often leave the 2nd running while we're out.