Dampness

Bryando

Hi.

I've got dampness in my bedroom, flat is council. A guy is coming on Friday to do a survey of it.
I wrote to the council asking if they can help re decorate. There reply was no. I will need to re wallpaper two walls.
Anybody able to give advice on this? I live in Scotland.

Thank you

Fire_Fox

Do you know what the cause of the damp is, condensation/ rising damp or penetrating damp? You might be able to get the property partially redecorated IF it can be shown that the damp is the councils fault and not down to your lifestyle. Where is the damp in the property?

Bryando

The person below me has it, same wall. Outside wall in bedroom. The mould is in the corner of the walls, if that makes sense.
She has never reported and had it for years.
My windows are always open during the day, as two people inc myself smoke.
The council weeks ago came and filled in a crack on the outside wall, yet that has made no difference.

poppysarah

Might take a while to dry out ...

Write or go and see your local councillor. If the damp is down to a fault in their building you should be able to get some help with redec costs surely? Worth asking anyway.

Point out you're not asking them to wallpaper for you, just some financial contribution towards your costs because of their building fault.

Bryando

yeah going take pictures on my mobile to show, incase they come and they wipe to mould away

Fire_Fox

Bryando wrote: »

The person below me has it, same wall. Outside wall in bedroom. The mould is in the corner of the walls, if that makes sense.
She has never reported and had it for years.
My windows are always open during the day, as two people inc myself smoke.
The council weeks ago came and filled in a crack on the outside wall, yet that has made no difference.

All the flats is my block have mould around the windows - partly due to lifestyle and partly the metal window frames creating a cold bridge. An outside wall will be colder than any other, corners have less air flow and bedrooms have people breathing out water vapour all night. Thus it's not uncommon for these areas to suffer with condensation and mould. Have you tried a dehumidifier?

Bryando

Not tried a dehumidifier, reackon it be costly? Somebody is coming out this week. I just hope he goes and looks at flat below me. As I can see the paint getting applied in my room, then months later it re appears as below has not been addressed.

Fire_Fox

If the problem is condensation then, yes, the problem will reappear every winter unless you address the source and/ or ventilate and/ or dehumidify. Dehumidifiers are not cheap and not expensive to run, but they are better than a chest infection (as a smoker you are already at risk) and cheaper than a ten a day habit!!

Bryando

The guy was out today to look at my dampness.

He said that in the 80s old phone books were used to provide cavity wall insulation!! Found this strange. Any road. The meter he used went off the scale. Plan is... to bore a hole into the wall to look at cavity. also put in a dehumidify vent in. Says I can use my heating just the same. I take it its just a hole in the wall with a vent panel on front?
So if it turns out its the cavity, would this not mean council are at fault. Therefore I can get funding to re decorate?

princess275

Invest in a dehumidifier until you get the problem fixed. Keep windows open as much as you can and keep the kitchen and bathroom doors closed and let the humid air escape from their own windows. You can clean up damp/ mould effectively by spraying the mould with malt white vinegar. That actually kills the mould and then wipe it clean.

Bryando

thanks for that