Mold in attic rooms - usually freezing in winter/hot in summer - a dehumidifer job?

superman909

Hi there.... Basically my mum lives in a huge Victorian house, mostly well kept, apart from the fact that there is a lot of mould in the attic rooms, mainly on the ceiling, but quite a lot on the walls also, with plaster coming away on the walls, etc, as the problem has become pretty bad over time. There is no heating up there, so I find that in the winter it can be a lot colder than the rest of the house, and in the summer it can be a lot warmer than the rest of the house. Both ceiling and walls are papered with a basic white textured wallpaper that you would find in any cheapish wallpaper stockist, and it's pretty much ahd it now because of the mold. A lot is peeling away. Anyway, my question is - is this a dehumidifier job (though the rooms aree very cold throughout the year, so maybe that won't work???)... I don't know where to start, any advice on how I should go about sorting this for my mum would be great.

tony6403

A dehumidifier(DH) will most likely sort this.
I lent my , now five years old , Ebac to a friend in a very similar situation . He returned it after a two week trial and has now bought his own . Don't know if all DHs have automatic setting but mine does and after running continuously to clear the problem , it only kicks in when required. So not that bad on power consumption. About the same noise as a fridge.

macman

Mould is a result of inadequate ventilation, not as a result of a lack of heating. It's simply more obvious in colder rooms because colder air holds less moisture in suspension as vapour.

superman909

macman wrote: »

Mould is a result of inadequate ventilation, not as a result of a lack of heating. It's simply more obvious in colder rooms because colder air holds less moisture in suspension as vapour.

So the use of a dehumidifier seems apporopriate in an attic with three separate rooms? I would have to maybe buy a couple?

smcqis

Can you not leave the access to the attic open a wee bit in the winter?

tony6403

superman909 wrote: »

So the use of a dehumidifier seems apporopriate in an attic with three separate rooms? I would have to maybe buy a couple?

Certainly not . One will suffice.

ariba10

One is quite sufficient.

http://www.harfordsonline.com/downloads/condensation%20info.pdf

And one of these.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=humidity+meter&!!!!!googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=7877369209&ref=pd_sl_1j1x59xrr_b