Survey was fine but having problems with damp in new flat

neas

We were getting the same problem every morning.... our flat is half on ground floor half on first floor (built into a hill)... our bedroom is on ground floor bit with a grass garden next door.

We have windows and vents etc... but we would find mould growing on our personal items.... I think we brought the mould with us tho as we had mould on the cupboard and we removed it.. but it grew back.

Either way... we would wake in morning with massive amounts of condensation on most of the cold window surfaces.

For last week we have stopped getting it by doing the following.

1. When having showers.. we use the extractor fan and close door to not spread humidity around as much
2. When possible we open all our windows wide to ventilate flat as much as possible
3. We've thrown items out with mould (esp wood items) and sprayed mould spray on other items + walls etc
4. before goign to bed we heat the flat for 1 hour with the windows closed... then we open a bedroom in another room to ventilate out this air... which should remove moisture.

So far we wake up with no moisture on window at all... and hopefully less or no mould. We hate the stuff and it was obviouslty majorityl down to our bad habits.

I think we:

1. Left door open to bathroom after using it and didnt close door/open window... meaning flat got 'humidified'
2. Same with cooking we didnt use extractor fan (even tho its not above oven it should help.. altho we did open window
3. We didnt heat the flat at all for last few months.

Try doing similar things and see if the condensation stops.. but in all honest ground floor flats are really hard to do because you prob contained in less space with a bathroom and kitchen providing plenty of condensation to the small space.. which forms on cold spaces and provides a perfect atmosphere for mould to grow.

Radsteral

My advice is that unless damp is severe and highly visible you should try your bit first before calling a damp proofing company.
Where i come from , opening windows in the morning for 10 mis or so is compolsory winter or summer.
If you see signs the advice is to put the heating couple of grades higher and see if it improves.
you get a fan for bathroom costing as little as 12 pounds.. but all it does is noise
give it a bit time with the above as even ifi come there and do this and that i will stil say ''it ll take 3-4 months at least to see any improvement''
air circulation is cruical when it comes to condesation

blckbrd

The dining room staining doesn’t sound like a condensation issue if it’s visible externally. Sounds like either penetrating or rising damp. If there are pipes running along that wall they may have leaked at some point. If there’s a gully it may have been blocked allowing water to rise above the damp-proof course. Which may itself be failing.
Staining on the ceiling may be from an old leak from above. Unless it’s properly sealed before painting with emulsion the staining will seep through.
What you can be certain of is that something is wet. Be that the air or residual moisture from a water penetration problem/leak. Was the flat freshly decorated when you viewed or before the survey? If so it might be that the vendor was attempting to conceal something as well as sprucing up to assist a sale. Fresh paint can also disguise the smell of ‘damp’. Unless a damp meter is used on the walls it’s difficult to tell if they are wet just by looking. Maybe ask what tests were carried out.
How do the rooms mentioned relate to each other in location? Are they all connected or rooms in between? There may be a common problem or you may have several separate issues to deal with.
And I agree with Radsteral about calling in experts/contractors - save those pennies whre you can!
Good luck.