Damp problem in rental flat

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Don't underestimate how much water one person produces each day, opening one window at a time won't get good air circulation. Try opening all the windows daily year round, it can actually make the place feel warmer with the same amount of heating in winter.

Dehumidifiers can make a huge difference, if they are powerful enough and strategically located they can treat more than one room. You don't need to get rid of the fungal spores which are in every home anyway, if you don't have damp you won't have mould growth.

"The following is an extract of how much water vapour is produced:

General
Each person breathing – approx ½ litre a day
Paraffin Heaters – 2.5 to 5 litres a day or 5 litres of water from 5 litres of paraffin
Calor gas heaters – 5 litres of water to 1 kg of gas

Kitchen
Washing up – 1 lite a day
Washing clothes (if not in a washing machine) – 2 litres a day
Cooking per person – ½ lite per day

Bathroom
Clothes drying – 6 litre a day
Bathing/washing – 1 litre per day
The average family can produce between 7-14 litres of water per day."
http://www.irwellvalleyha.co.uk/content/1013/damp-and-condensation.aspx

Fire_Fox

sniggings wrote: »

My guess it is when someone first moves into a property and the LL hands them a bottle of mould stray :rotfl:

Many apartments suffer: more often than not the issue is a combination of tenant lifestyle and layout of the flat reducing natural ventilation. With many flats there are more 'wet' rooms than dry ones, kitchens are often within living areas, fewer unused spaces like dining rooms and spare bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens are often windowless, a single door that doesn't open to the outside but onto a corridor with no air flow, windows only on one side of the building, nowhere to dry laundry, useless extractor fans that are vented into ceiling spaces.

All that handing the tenant a bottle of mould spray proves is that the previous tenant experienced a condensation problem, it doesn't tell you whether the issue is the flat, the tenant or a combination. If the primary issue is rising or penetrating damp mould is often not the main 'symptom' because salts coming through the plaster inhibits mould growth. Many council websites advise that mould is primarily related to lifestyle and the first step is to increase ventilation.

anselld

Ella235 wrote: »

I'm currently contracted to this flat until January and then I'm looking to move to a new city in early March, so was hoping to stay here until then.
Thank you for all the advice, I will try all these things and hopefully it will help to reduce the problem!

I don't really understand dehumiderfiers and have just googled them and seen there are so many to chose from! What should I be looking for, and has anyone bought a good one they could recommend?

These are good.
http://www.ebacdirect.com/product.php?productid=27

And in my experience they do work, though you need to do the other stuff also. Not a cheap option I guess, but they are portable so you can take with you.