Central heating or damp proofing?

susieflinders

I have a pretty serious damp problem in my flat's bedroom, and I've obtained quotes to get a new damp course installed. However, the flat also has no heating, and I would like to get central heating fitted. I can only afford to do one of these things.
If I go with the central heating, is it likely to improve the damp situation? (I have just been scrubbing at the black and white mould with fungicide and it covers almost the whole room), or would it be more beneficial for my health to get the damp problem sorted properly?

southcoastrgi

chicken & egg situation, is your flat on the ground floor or 1st floor ? if it's the latter then normally there is no dpc as that is designed to stop rising damp, having no heating is making things worse & even if the dpc has failed or not there the prob is likely to come back, are you using a portable gas heater (with the bottle inside) as these chuck out loads of moisture, that said having that amount of mould is certainly not good at all for your health & if it's that bad in some cases to get rid of it the plaster may need to be stripped off & the room re-plastered, so whats the answer if you can only afford to do one, put your health first & then save up to install heating, after all if your health goes down you may not be able to work & save so the other job would be out the window anyway.

macman

Heating a house does not remove damp! Nor is damp cause by a lack of heating.
Heating just masks the problem, as warm air holds more water vapour in suspension.
Sort out the damp first.

HappyMJ

susieflinders wrote: »

I have a pretty serious damp problem in my flat's bedroom, and I've obtained quotes to get a new damp course installed. However, the flat also has no heating, and I would like to get central heating fitted. I can only afford to do one of these things.
If I go with the central heating, is it likely to improve the damp situation? (I have just been scrubbing at the black and white mould with fungicide and it covers almost the whole room), or would it be more beneficial for my health to get the damp problem sorted properly?

The flat must have some sort of heating. It'll be far too cold otherwise. Do you use electric heaters? I'd get the damp course fixed then save up for "gas" central heating. Do not install electric central heating. It's not worth it. You would be better off using portable electric heaters.

The freeholder of your block of flats should sort of the damp proof course for you as part of your annual maintenance fees and the cost of it will be spread amongst all the leaseholders in the block so you might find it hardly costs anything.