damp and mould housing problem

eliviajen

Hello!

We have a terrible problem at the moment with damp and mould -to the extent that we have a "mushroom farm" and a "water feature" at the back of our understairs cupboard!!!!

We live in a council association home and we had the assesor here this morning - he refused to look at any of our problems, just took out a gadget and declared the humidity level was too high and said buy a dehnumidifyer - I believe there is water coming i under the stairs

we have 2 children, the youngest has asthma and constant chest infections, and has been hospitalised twice with broncolitis. we are on the housing list but are classed as adequatly housed until our daughter turns 10. We were starting to discuss a home swap with a family friend, but they wont be interested until the problem is resolved

who can i speak to now that will do something to fix this, or how can i sort it?

Ravenlady_2

Most councils are brushing off repairs as the better homes scheme that is due to start either next year or 2014 will force them to renovate most properties so they are saving the budget up for that.

At least thats what I was told when I asked them to replace 3 rotted window frames, along with the mushroom farm on all the wooden sills and a crack in an absbestos panelled ceiling and will replace the window frames if a dehumidifier doesnt work or a coat of anti mould paint but its not a priority to them.

This was last year.

WestonDave

Why do you think there is water coming in under the stairs? Can you describe the house layout and construction a bit.

An alternative theory is that you are running your whole house at high humidity levels - often caused by keeping all the windows tight shut, whilst also drying clothes around the house as well as the usual like showering and cooking - all of these generate humidity as does your exhaled breath. If you have high humidity levels in general (as indicated by the "gadget"), then it is very likely that in a cold spot with very limited air circulation (i.e. your understairs cupboard) you will get condensation of the water out of the humid air. That sits on the surface and grows mould.

What are your windows like first thing in the morning (particularly in the bedrooms) - are they clear or misted up. The latter would suggest high humidity. Do you sleep with a window slightly open or everything closed up tightly?

Sa-ra-ra-ra

Also, if your cupboard holds something like a water tank with piping that isn't lagged, water will definitely condense on there and drip onto the floor, causing further damp...

I do second the comments from WestonDave, whilst there are cases where slow leaks are causing damage, it is surprising how much condensation is caused by normal human living without adequate ventilation.

merlin68

My council house was mouldy when we first moved in. One of the reasons why the previous tenant moved. Two years on there is no mould in my house. I cleaned and stripped everything with bleach and a steam cleaner, repainted and replaced the shower room and toilet. I also have the heating on a lot and the windows open.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

And my council flat was bleached and steamed and never had the windows closed. It was freezing cold to have the windows open all day and night 365 days a year, but the very act of my daring to breathe in the place was enough for it to be riddled with mould.


They told me it was their responsibility, even sent round professionals to quote for it, planned to fit extraction facilities, kill the fungi, line the walls, but then never did it, saying they would wait until I moved out as they would have to do then for the next person, whereas there was no law forcing them to do it in any particular timeframe for me, as my tenancy conditions predated the Fit Homes Standard and it wasn't illegal to have a child with asthma (and a medically confirmed allergy to the stuff) sleeping in a mouldy flat if they had been there since before the Standard.


I moved out. It took months for them to treat the problem before they could let it to someone else. They waited until summer before showing anyone around.


According to my old neighbour, the family that moved in have found the mould again, coming out from behind the linings.

LisaB85

Environmental health....

They will investigate, help you with things you can do, instruct the council to do the work then check back to make sure it has been done.

Peater

I agree with WestonDave's comments. Clean the mould areas and try to think more about ventilation for a few weeks and see if it improves at all.

My parents rent out a bungalow and have done for over 20yrs. All of a sudden a new tenant complained about damp and threatened to take us to court because we had 'provided a damp environment that was harmful to her child' (who was 18...). Anyhoo, it turned out that she A: Dried her laundry on the radiators because she didn't like using the tumble-drier. B: Never opened the windows because she did'nt want the heat (albiet damp air) to escape and C: She had furniture placed hard-up against the external-facing walls.

Once you start to think about air movement etc, things become easier to remedy (I have worked in ventilation engineering in the past....).

Hope that gives you some food for thought and goes some way to help. If it shows no sign of improvment after you have taken these steps then there is likely a bigger problem.

psychopathbabble

Make sure you take photos as evidence.... I lived in a damp flat for 6 months and the landlord replaced the windows but it still didn't do anything. We moved out and someone else moved in, I doubt he did much else to remedy the problem. Me and and my flatmate both had chest infections and no ends of colds. The heating was storage heaters, which wasn't very helpful to keep it warm and dry. Get in touch with environmental health, the landlord has a responsibility to keep the house free of mould and damp if it's really bad and not caused by yourself.

DeeDee74

aww hun i had exactly the same problem for 12years in my flat every year from october til feb my carpets were soaking and mushrooms would grow i complained council property, got no where for 12years had hospital letters,doctor mp the lot thay were all useless.
the only place that helped was housing-ombudsman. google them u can complian online or phone them up thay are brill cant praise them enought thay got me compensation every year for damp ruining house hold stuff and even though thay havent got the power 2 make them move u thay have to make them do repairs,replace goods and the council dont seem 2 keen on them so will make things easyer, x

Gigglepig

I think there is some really good advice here regarding how to improve the ventilation in the flat. Most likely it will help if you try to kill the existing mould and take all the above mentioned steps to prevent it from recurring...

If however it doesn't help at all my suggestion would be to look into how you can afford to move out and into a privately owned or rented home which would provide a healthier environment and where you would not be reliant on waiting for someone else to fix this problem.

Edited to say - sorry if this is pessimistic, but if the assessor just told you to buy a dehumidifier it doesn't sound like they will be that helpful. Anyway, hopefully it improves if you are super careful about ventilations, never dry clothes inside etc.