Help dealing with damp/mould in bedroom OS style

savemoney

Not sure why my picture got removed by imagshack

Its hard to keep on top of condensation assuming its not damp. I try to vent as much as possible and leave gaps behind furniture. We have some built in wardbrobes in two bedrooms and outside wall in the wardbrobes gets mould. I stripped the old wallpaper and cleaned walls with diluted bleach. I applied polystyrene wallpaper then 2 days later applied wallpaper and two coats of bathroom paint. Did same in both rooms it hasnt come back in 2 years I also open doors every now and then and always leave a gap between walls and clothes

If you have a warm room it can hold much more water vapours the problems usually start when room gets cooler at night and then you get condensation on outside walls/windows. Even breathing in/out creates water, certainly worth getting a dehumidifier we use on if its too cold outside, you do get a little bit of heat from one

ladylouise62

I found that wiping the windows each morning was surprisingly effective. I spent a pound on a squeegee from Wilkinsons and then got a couple of microfibre cloths from Aldi,. To try and prevent them picking up mould spores I regularly soak them in some cheapo brown vinegar.

sonastin

I'd be interested to hear OSers' opinions on this as it is a source of disagreement between OH & I...

would you open the window if its raining outside? do you think that would vent the room or increase the moisture levels in the house?


We bought a house which had been sitting empty through the two really cold winters we had recently. The mould was so bad in the dining room that it looked like it had flocked wallpaper. OH has got his hands on an industrial strength fungicide which we are using to treat each room as we turn it into part of the "habitable" house (serious renovation/building project going on!). It is more effective than bleach in the long term but really nasty stuff. And you need to use bleach to get rid of the stain afterwards anyway.

We're still without proper heating in the house (as I said, major project!) so the mould does creep back in in some places. Ventilating, dehumidifying and keeping on top of cleaning it away when it appears seems to be our only option until we get chance to heat the house properly and kill off all the spores.

thriftyniftyme

sonastin wrote: »

I'd be interested to hear OSers' opinions on this as it is a source of disagreement between OH & I...

would you open the window if its raining outside? do you think that would vent the room or increase the moisture levels in the house?

Ah, I'm glad it's not just my OH and I that have these ahem, discussions!

I open my windows 'on the crack' we call it, so that it is a little bit open but can still be locked from the inside. I do this even if it is raining, but not if it is absolutely hammering down. No rain water can get in, but air can still circulate. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I think it really does help!

I think it has to do with air movement as much as relative humidity.

365days

My local al*i has humidifiers for 6.99 at the moment. I cant afford a big electric one and had to settle for this. Have emptied it out twice so its definately doing something. Also threw all the windows open one day for 3/4 hours and that seemed to help with the condensation aspect too.

ariba10

365days wrote: »

My local al*i has humidifiers for 6.99 at the moment. I cant afford a big electric one and had to settle for this. Have emptied it out twice so its definately doing something. Also threw all the windows open one day for 3/4 hours and that seemed to help with the condensation aspect too.

Opening the windows will only help if the humidity outside is lower than inside.

GreyQueen

Hmm, don't know if this will be of any assistance to the OP or other readers, but I was talking to a specialist surveyor in my own (extremely small) rented flat and he told me some interesting stuff.

Apparently air flow is as important as opening windows i.e. having windows open on opposite sides of your dwelling to drag the air across and out.

He approved that I don't have stuff around my bed so there was airflow there, but did recommend that furniture be a little out from the walls as well.

Specialist emulsions for kitchens and bathrooms aren't a gimmick, apparently, they really do help.

I'm a fan of cool bedrooms and ideally would have my bedroom window ajar all night but the ambient noise of the city centre makes it impossible to get off to sleep if you do that. So I open the window when I wake at 6.30 am and it'll be ajar until early evening.

Apart from the moisture we all breathe out, even fishtanks and pot plants can add to the moisture in the air.

I take a lot of calls about damp and mould problems and it seems that wherever you have large pieces of furniture esp fitted wardrobes on outside walls, you're liable to have problems.

OS housekeeping manuals were absolutely mad-keen on airing and ventilation, I find. I do wonder if our modern homes are too tightly-sealed and densely-furnished to air properly.

sonastin

thriftyniftyme wrote: »

Ah, I'm glad it's not just my OH and I that have these ahem, discussions!

I open my windows 'on the crack' we call it, so that it is a little bit open but can still be locked from the inside. I do this even if it is raining, but not if it is absolutely hammering down. No rain water can get in, but air can still circulate. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I think it really does help!

I think it has to do with air movement as much as relative humidity.

Glad its not just me! I'm on the "open windows will likely help" side but I've given up arguing with OH and they stay shut. I just have to clean mould up more often. The one I won't relent on is the bathroom after a shower - the humidity in there after a shower is definitely higher than outside unless we've suddenly moved to the tropics! Always leave it open until the mirror has demisted.

bluebag

I think in the olden days, they had more natural ventilation. Big up draughts through chimneys, non sealed sash windows and a lot of houses had a coal hole. Single skinned front and back doors. Very few homes had loft insulation or carpets.

Now, every last little square inch is sealed, insulated, double glazed, draught proofed, furnished and carpeted. This makes a huge difference to heat loss, at the expense of ventilation, but I do sometimes wonder if we are doing more harm than good.

Maybe our Grannies knew a thing or two as they hurled the windows open in the morning.

WestonDave

Sonastin - its worth spending a few minutes on the web looking at relative humidity graphs. In short though, cold air outside on a rainy day might be 100% (or near) humidity, but it will probably contain less water in it than the warm humid air inside at 70% humidity. So if you bring in that air from outside and warm it up it will be a lot lower than 70%.

This is because relative humidity is determined by temperature - air containing a specific amount of water will decrease relative humidity as it warms and increase relative humidity as it cools. This is also the reason for condensation on windows - they are cold so the room air which hits them, cools, gets to 100% humidity and dumps the water it can no longer hold on the cold surface.

So in winter you are almost certainly right - in summer he could potentially be right (as the air outside won't be significantly colder than the inside air so you won't gain from bringing it in). Hope that helps a bit.