Black mould patches in main bedroom

sirmarcus

Hi all,

I live in a 2 bed bungalow in Southern England.

In my main bedroom, I keep getting black mould patches on the ceiling. The other bedroom and all of the other rooms are fine. I have cleaned the ceiling with detergent and washing up liquid and then repainted it. However, with a few months, the black mould is back again.

I would be grateful if someone could advise me of the cause of the black mould and hopefully how to stop it.

Many thanks.

dampdaveski

Hi Sirm,
sounds like you have a condensation problem, there has been a raft of info on this subject that both myself and David Aldred have posted.
do a search on either of our posts for a more info.
however whilst you killed the mould with detergent / washing up liquid this leaves no residue to reduce regrowth (as you've found out to your cost). Also of course you've not actually treated the cause of the problem.
It is possible that the insulation in your loft is uneven, it is more likely that you just have a bad condensation problem, exaccerbated by the fact that your house is a bungalow.
Do you have extractor fans in your bathroom and kitchen?
I suggest sterilising the affected area with a 'proper' sterilising solution and repainting the ceiling with an anti fungicidal paint additive added to it. More information on the products I use are HERE.
There are loads of others out there, a couple are (www.twistfix.xo.uk) (www.dampness-info.co.uk)
whilst these are very good you should remember that they arn't treating the actual cause of the problem, can you take a couple of piccies?

Hope this helps
DD

David_Aldred

Hi Sirmarcus,
I agree with the post of dampdaveski 100% and the products from his link are excellant for cleaning the area down / making the surface less prone to mould growth but as he says you really need to address the moisture source and the cold spot where the condensation is most likely to occur.

By far the biggest moisture source inside a well maintained property are the people within it and their lifestyle. When people sleep at night moisture from their bodies evaporates into the rooms, as a result of which the relative humidty goes up if not vented away, the temperature falls at night and consequentially the risk of reaching the dew point (the temperature at which condensation occurs) increases with associated mould growth flourishing.

Also as dampdaveski says check the upper side of the ceiling in the area of concern for patch areas of missing insulation which would create a cold spot prone to condensate - for mineral quilt the current recommendation local to me is 270mm deep laid in two layers perpendicular to each other ensuring that there is a 50mm air gap between cold side of insulation and underside of roof covering at the eaves in addition to ensuring that roof ventilation is adequate / increased as necessary given that it will be colder above the increased insulation compared to when the property was first built and therefore more prone to condensate.

If the property has modern sealed windows without trickle vents to the window frames / there are no open fireplaces / poor background ventilation / the heating regime is allowing the property to go quite cold at night / there is no mechanical ventilation (fans / PIV units) this will all impact upon the way the property is breathing / risk of condensation / mould. Have a back read through previous posts on here regarding condensation / mould growth issues for further helpful info - Kindest regards Dave

sirmarcus

dampdaveski wrote: »

Hi Sirm,
sounds like you have a condensation problem, there has been a raft of info on this subject that both myself and David Aldred have posted.
do a search on either of our posts for a more info.
however whilst you killed the mould with detergent / washing up liquid this leaves no residue to reduce regrowth (as you've found out to your cost). Also of course you've not actually treated the cause of the problem.
It is possible that the insulation in your loft is uneven, it is more likely that you just have a bad condensation problem, exaccerbated by the fact that your house is a bungalow.
Do you have extractor fans in your bathroom and kitchen?
I suggest sterilising the affected area with a 'proper' sterilising solution and repainting the ceiling with an anti fungicidal paint additive added to it. More information on the products I use are HERE.
There are loads of others out there, a couple are (www.twistfix.xo.uk) (www.dampness-info.co.uk)
whilst these are very good you should remember that they arn't treating the actual cause of the problem, can you take a couple of piccies?

Hope this helps
DD

Hi DD,

Many thanks for your help. I have just been into my loft and you are abosolutely right....I have got uneven insulation up there. In fact, there is almost no loft insulation in some places; including an area over my main bedroom.

I have always had condenation problems with my double glazing windows all over the bungalow; especially when I wake up in the mornings. I bought a dehumidier, which stopped the condensation but, as you have pointed out in your other posts, it won't fix the root cause, which hopefully will be the loft insulation.

If okay, could you please let me know a good place to get loft insulation from and, also whether I can lay it myself in the loft or do I need to get a professional person to do it. For info, a relative of mine is a qualified gas fitter (corgi registered or whatever it is called now); so could he get the insulation at trade prices ?

For info, I do not have an extractor fan in my bathroom or kitchen. Do you recommend that I get these installed as well ?

I just have one final query. I have a porch connected at the back of my house next to my kitchen. The door in my kitchen opens into the interior of the porch. During the winter, I get lots of condensation on the interior walls and windows of the porch. However, I do not get condensation on the kitchen wall that faces into the porch. I'm guessing that the external wall of the porch hasn't been treated to be waterproof ? Any advise would be much appreciated.

Many thanks again.:)

BrokeButWorkingOnIt

Hi, A month or so ago B & Q Depot were selling 3 rolls for a fiver, recycled too & only to non trade as i understand. Think i still saw it there last week, it must be subsidised at that price. I 've put some in my loft & it is ok, but unpleasant to hande, gloves & mask needed. As it come in a 3 pack its also pretty bulky.....

dampdaveski

Hi sirm,
As the Op suggests B&Q may well be the best place to go.
If you're a bit handy you can sort the insulation out yourself, wear a dustmask, gloves and disposable overalls though!
OR try your local council or electricity supplier, they may have grants or a cheapy cheap scheme going on where you can get it done for a token pound or so
I would certainly consider getting an extractor fan in the bathroom at least, I fit the continous duty type (work all the time to provide background ventilation), such as Nuaire Genie X, or envirovent filterless extractor fan. Loads of other manufacturers do them, these are the type I have the most experience with.
If condensation is still a problem, consider fitting a PIV unit such as the nuaire Drimaster system or Envirovent loft unit, these are a relatively inexpensive way to ventilate your house effectively.

Is your porch plastered intrernally? or is it painted brickwork?

DD

sirmarcus

dampdaveski wrote: »

Hi sirm,
As the Op suggests B&Q may well be the best place to go.
If you're a bit handy you can sort the insulation out yourself, wear a dustmask, gloves and disposable overalls though!
OR try your local council or electricity supplier, they may have grants or a cheapy cheap scheme going on where you can get it done for a token pound or so
I would certainly consider getting an extractor fan in the bathroom at least, I fit the continous duty type (work all the time to provide background ventilation), such as Nuaire Genie X, or envirovent filterless extractor fan. Loads of other manufacturers do them, these are the type I have the most experience with.
If condensation is still a problem, consider fitting a PIV unit such as the nuaire Drimaster system or Envirovent loft unit, these are a relatively inexpensive way to ventilate your house effectively.

Is your porch plastered intrernally? or is it painted brickwork?

DD

Hi DD,

Many thanks again for your advise and I can confirm that the kitchen wall facing into the porch is mainly plastered. The rest of the porch is just painted brickwork. I also have a UPVC window on the outside wall of the porch.

dampdaveski

Hi Sirm,
sounds like you have a couple of choices

1. Live with it
2. If there's space (and if it's worth it to you) have the painted walls dry lined with an insulated plasterboard
3. this is one of the very few instances where I would consider fitting a couple of airbricks, one at high level and one at low level and preferably on opposite walls

If the main problem is mould in the porch then I suggest cleaning it off with the mould killer product I mentioned earlier and repaint with some of the paint additive in it.
Good luck

tifo

dampdaveski wrote: »

sounds like you have a couple of choices

1. Live with it

I have this problem across all my bedroom ceilings and i've read that mould can be very dangerous to health and be the reason for all sorts of sickness. I don't think people can live with it.

savemoney

It will be condensation I had this in last house close to the walls at the end it was as a result of warmfront not putting insulation right to the end, I use to get water running down the walls. I got some more insulation an pushed it in with a stick in places I couldn't get too and problem was sorted once I cleaned the walls with bleach and let air get to the effected area