Damp, damp and more damp - girl in dire need of advice please

GemGem1987_2

Hello

I’m in a bit of a fiddle, i have had a look on the forums for damp and mould, and although they are very useful, it is not really what my damp is like lol.

Ok so I live in an old flat, there are 3 floors and we are on the second, it is a very old brick building. We have damp and black mould in nearly every room, and it looks and smells horrible! My living room has a balcony coming off of it and this is where we first noticed the problem in the corner by the door, around 6-months ago, so we cleaned it off, but it has just got worse. We went away for 2-weeks over the x-mas period and when we came back it had spread everywhere! It is not coming from the ceiling, there is no mould on any ceilings in the home but is what i think is called creeping damp, it is coming from the bottom of the walls and going upwards, and in some corners almost to the ceilings, it is in the living room, our bed room, our bathroom (although only a little bit in there) and our little boys room. Our little boy also suffers from asthma and it stinks most of the time in his room! The worst affected places are the living room and our little boys room.

Its getting me really down, we are a hygienic family, the house work is done everyday, we air out the flat every day and leave the vents open, we also have the heating on in the cold weather.

I hate my home looking so disgusting, and we have not washed it off as we do not know what to do with it. I really want to spend this year redecorating our home and making it ours as we are a young family and this is our first home, I have redecorated my little boy’s room, but it looks like it needs re doing because of this mould.

I work full time, but i have very very little money spare, i have heard to clean it off with detol mould and mildew remover, I cant afford a dehumidifier, are there any other suggestions that you can DIY instead of costing a fortune, also once I have cleaned it off i would like to redecorate, but I do not see the point if it just comes back! can i but the mould preventing paint from highstreet stores as I cannot buy online as no ways to do so.

Sorry for the ramble, i could really do with anybodies help please as it is beginning to get me really down.

From A distressed 22-year old

GemGem1987_2

Please if you could help let me know x

terryw

Hire a dehumidifier in the first instance to see if this helps.

Asker

Gemgem - I had this problem. It sounds like a humidity problem rather than a structural damp problem. IF it is then this will help:

1) There's this stuff you can buy from DIY stores - I can't remember what it's called but it's a liquid thing you paint on the walls after cleaning the damp off - it kills the mould and makes it harder to grow back

2) TO PREVENT you have to make sure that a) furniture is not really close to the walls b) you NEED VENTILATION which you can either do by ideally swapping a a brick out in each room for a ventilation brick OR always leave windows slightly open.

If you clean it up and make sure there's good ventilation it should help a lot.

27col

I am guessing that you did not leave the heating on while you were away. Do you have any insulation or double glazing. If the flat is cold there will be condensation and then mould will develop. Cleaning up the mould is treating the symptoms, what is needed is to treat the cause. I suggest that you read some of David Aldred's excellent posts on the subject.
In the line at the top of the page.
Go to Search.
Type in David Aldred
Read his posts.
There is a wealth of information about causes & solutions of damp, mould and condensation.

GemGem1987_2

Thank you for your messages.

I cannot afford a humidifier, any other old wife tale type suggestions. IE something about salt?!

Also i do not think the council will appreciate me removing a brick from the flat, plus im 2 floors up, we always air out the flat and we always keep the vents open.

I like the idea of the stuff from the DIY store, any one know what it is called please?

Please any other useful tips are welcome anything to help

olias

If it's a council flat, then why not call the council out to rectify the problem, or at least look at it and advise you as to whats causing it? Won't cost you anything then.

Olias

Pigget

As someone who is in the midst of dealing with what sounds like a similar situation we have done the following;

Made sure that all air bricks are open and unblocked. This has meant rearranging furniture to ensure that the affected walls (which for us are the outside walls) don't have any furniture against them, or at least furniture that allows a certain amount of airflow.

We were fortunate enough to be able to borrow a dehumidifier from a friend, if you can't afford one, maybe ask around if anyone has one lying about a garage that you could borrow?

We have been treating the walls by wiping the mould with mould and mildew remover and then using the anti-mould paint that has been mentioned in this thread already. It is worth bearing in mind that this paint dries white, so you may need to re-decorate over the areas you treat.

I've heard a tip about using cat litter, but we've not tried that yet.

Now we've treated the symptoms we are addressing the cause, ie. how we dry our clothes washing etc.

Good luck

GemGem1987_2

olias wrote: »

If it's a council flat, then why not call the council out to rectify the problem, or at least look at it and advise you as to whats causing it? Won't cost you anything then.

Olias

Hiya, I tried this and they send us a leaflet, which was really really crap lol

WestonDave

I'm guessing the sudden mould explosion while you were away might be because you did the money saving thing and turned the heating down or off while you were away and inadvertently created perfect mould growth conditions (nice increasingly wet air - cooling air becomes higher relative humidity).

Solutions aren't generally cheap and I'd be a bit wary of buying cheap paint etc which might not do the job properly.

Firstly make sure you are really cutting down the amount of moisture in the flat - sleep with a window ajar, vent the bathroom outside when you finish and close the door into the rest of the flat. Likewise with the kitchen - keep the door shut and window open whilst cooking. Don't dry clothes on radiators - use a dryer - either your own or a launderette's (finances might not allow this long term but whilst it is really cold this would be a good time to do it just for a couple of weeks if that's all you can stretch to). Basically cut out anything which increases moisture.

Next keep the flat warm - if you are out all day its tempting to leave the heating off (which is the cheapest solution) but allowing it to cool allows condensation on which mould breeds. For now get it warm and keep it warm - that will dry out the existing mould so that as you clean it off and use a quality mould killer like Cuprinol Fungicide on it, it won't come back as easily.

Anti mould paint can have its place, however even the best stuff has its limitations. I've just bought some Zinsser Perma White which supposedly is guaranteed for 5 years if applied right - however it is white (although you can tint it slightly) and they warn against over painting it because mould can apparently live on things in normal paint. Its also not cheap (about £40 for 5litres - you can get a small 1litre tin for about £17) and its generally only available in specialist merchants. However you probably have a Crown decorator centre or a Brewers store fairly nearby and they will sell it to you over the counter. International do an "anti condensation" paint which is cheaper but no guarantees on mould proofing. We've got a stubborn one inch strip along the wall edge of the bathroom ceiling which just won't cure so I'm going for the paint solution having tried everything else!

marshallka

Hi GemGem, we have had a hell of a problem for years in our house and although we run a dehumidifier 24/7 its still a problem. We are in a bungalow and a few months back I thought that our problem was actually rising damp and not condensation but if there is "black" mould you can usually tell that this is a condensation problem. We are having a whole house ventilation system fitted later this week as this year is the worst year I have ever experienced. My daughter is sleeping with black mould in her room, my clothes are all RUINED in my wardrobe and also my bags and shoes and we have black mould and also my sons room has black mould. Everytime I take clothing from my wardrobes they smell awful and feel damp. I really sympathise with you. We are going to try to get a damp course done again if this does not work as we are confident it needs redoing also but got no money to do it as yet. It will get better though if you heat the house more and take precautions when bathing, showering, cooking etc. I have lived like this for 13 years now and hopefully it will get sorted once and for all when we ventilate the property. We have tried everything else without solving so this is a last resort really.

xx

As regards the anti mould paint etc I have used it so many times and it still penetrates through. May work for you though but did not for us....we also had all the soffits and eaves done last year but its not helped either and they are really well vented.