Black mould in my flat, I am 32weeks pregnant.

Babybump12032013

Hello everyone!
This is going to be a long post, sorry no other way to explain my situation fully.
I am 32weeks pregnant with a baby boy, I live in a council flat in Cornwall. The flat has a very bad problem with damp and mould, I have mould growing up most walls and I have had to throw a lot of things away, including a moses basket, clothes, duvets, a mattress, food, there is mould growing on my bedframe desk ect... The council have been out now over 8 times, and change their mind on what the problem is EVERYTIME... firstly they said it was us causing it, then they realised it wasn't as we have the heaters all on full, we air the flat by opening windows, we use the fans they fitted before we moved in (they was fully aware of the problem before they moved us in but failed to tell us, we moved in about 7-8months ago) we don't dry clothes indoors, and our tumble dryer has always been the shed as we haven't long just got a cheap one so we can dry our clothes!! I have spoke to environmental health and asked them to come out and look at it but they said it's down to the council to sort it, I spoke to someone in citizens advice her response was "most places have this problem, and there isn't much you can do about damp and mould legal wise" well, I don't know anyone else with this problem in this area! I have asked homechoice to put our banding up so we could get moved quicker as we are only band E which is the lowest, and then once the baby is born I will be put up to band C which will take about 8 months or longer to move!! I have threatened with the newspapers, and sent the pictures to them telling them I will send them to the paper if they don't move us, they haven't even replied to me neither has homechoice or environmental health (I sent them all the same email with pictures) 3 days ago... they normally email back within 24hours. I had someone come out to look at it from the council again yesterday, they told me it is a problem with the pipes, before that it was the air bricks, before that is was something in the wall, before that it was something wrong with next door, before that it was a problem with the seals on the windows, I can go on and on. They just can't admit their is a problem with the building... I have spoke to my doctor as I keep getting ill all the time, he even asked me why my green pregnancy folder was damp! and he said that I know it isn't nice to live in a place like that, but their is nothing they can do. I asked him to write me a letter and he said no, I've asked a few doctors they all have the same response. I have spoke to my midwife (who is pretty useless, always busy) she said there is nothing they can do either, my family nurse has rang the council up but they won't listen to her, now she is writing them a letter for me. They keep saying they will fix the problem and NEVER do, I just want them to move me i'm so worried for my health, partners and unborn baby and even more worried about his health in 8weeks when he is due. I have winter wellbeing come out and look at it today, she said she is going to try and get them to move us but most likely they won't listen to her either. I can't afford to go private rented, and also have a dog and not many places accept pets no more. I don't know what to do no more, I know a girl who has just got moved who is around my stage in pregnancy she told me she had been spraying water on the walls to cause the damp so they would move her, she rang them up and they come out and looked at it and moved her! So you can understand why I am so angry and just feel like i'm hitting my head against a wall. My partner lost his job just before Christmas aswel, so we have big bills coming through which we can afford or pay. The electric is costing us to much aswel due to having the heating on all the time, we can't afford a dehumidifier let alone have one running all the time. Even the bloke who come around from the council said it won't help anyway. My partner cleans the mould off with bleach and sprays anti mould spray on it, within a week it comes back. Anyone got any advice on what I can do?! I need to get moved before the baby is here! and does anyone know the affects of black mould on a unborn baby, and of a newborn baby? Thanks everyone for reading, sorry for the long post but I needed to cover everything. Also could anyone tell me how to attached photos so you can all see for yourself how bad it actually is!

popeye2755

Any chance you could reformat the post? I got a headache after 10 seconds.

PasturesNew

You need to upload the photos to an image hosting website (e.g. photobucket, flickr, or any other you use) ... then there'll be a link to the image in there that you can copy/paste here.

Macca83_2

Your thread title summed up your post perfectly. The rest is just superfluous.

savemoney

It could be condensation which often is the problem with many building if they are not insulated, heated or vented properly. You could try a dehumidifier. If the problem persists with mould if can worse case be bad for your health, I suffered first hand from mould many years ago, in end the building was declared uninhabitable by environmental health. You could maybe ask them to take a look for you and give you some advise

Sorry but your post needs formatting not having a go but I do find it hard to read

Justicia

Babybump12032013 wrote: »

Hello everyone!
This is going to be a long post, sorry no other way to explain my situation fully.

I am 32weeks pregnant with a baby boy, I live in a council flat in Cornwall. The flat has a very bad problem with damp and mould, I have mould growing up most walls and I have had to throw a lot of things away, including a moses basket, clothes, duvets, a mattress, food, there is mould growing on my bedframe desk ect...

The council have been out now over 8 times, and change their mind on what the problem is EVERYTIME...

firstly they said it was us causing it, then they realised it wasn't as we have the heaters all on full, we air the flat by opening windows, we use the fans they fitted before we moved in (they was fully aware of the problem before they moved us in but failed to tell us, we moved in about 7-8months ago) we don't dry clothes indoors, and our tumble dryer has always been the shed as we haven't long just got a cheap one so we can dry our clothes!!

I have spoke to environmental health and asked them to come out and look at it but they said it's down to the council to sort it, I spoke to someone in citizens advice her response was "most places have this problem, and there isn't much you can do about damp and mould legal wise" well, I don't know anyone else with this problem in this area!

I have asked homechoice to put our banding up so we could get moved quicker as we are only band E which is the lowest, and then once the baby is born I will be put up to band C which will take about 8 months or longer to move!!

I have threatened with the newspapers, and sent the pictures to them telling them I will send them to the paper if they don't move us, they haven't even replied to me neither has homechoice or environmental health (I sent them all the same email with pictures) 3 days ago... they normally email back within 24hours.

I had someone come out to look at it from the council again yesterday, they told me it is a problem with the pipes, before that it was the air bricks, before that is was something in the wall, before that it was something wrong with next door, before that it was a problem with the seals on the windows, I can go on and on.

They just can't admit their is a problem with the building... I have spoke to my doctor as I keep getting ill all the time, he even asked me why my green pregnancy folder was damp! and he said that I know it isn't nice to live in a place like that, but their is nothing they can do. I asked him to write me a letter and he said no, I've asked a few doctors they all have the same response.

I have spoke to my midwife (who is pretty useless, always busy) she said there is nothing they can do either, my family nurse has rang the council up but they won't listen to her, now she is writing them a letter for me. They keep saying they will fix the problem and NEVER do, I just want them to move me i'm so worried for my health, partners and unborn baby and even more worried about his health in 8weeks when he is due.

I have winter wellbeing come out and look at it today, she said she is going to try and get them to move us but most likely they won't listen to her either. I can't afford to go private rented, and also have a dog and not many places accept pets no more.

I don't know what to do no more,

I know a girl who has just got moved who is around my stage in pregnancy she told me she had been spraying water on the walls to cause the damp so they would move her, she rang them up and they come out and looked at it and moved her! So you can understand why I am so angry and just feel like i'm hitting my head against a wall.

My partner lost his job just before Christmas aswel, so we have big bills coming through which we can afford or pay. The electric is costing us to much aswel due to having the heating on all the time, we can't afford a dehumidifier let alone have one running all the time. Even the bloke who come around from the council said it won't help anyway.

My partner cleans the mould off with bleach and sprays anti mould spray on it, within a week it comes back. Anyone got any advice on what I can do?!

I need to get moved before the baby is here! and does anyone know the affects of black mould on a unborn baby, and of a newborn baby?

Thanks everyone for reading, sorry for the long post but I needed to cover everything. Also could anyone tell me how to attached photos so you can all see for yourself how bad it actually is!

Hopefully that's a little easier on the eye (including mine!)

DevCoder

I am 32weeks pregnant with a baby boy, I live in a council flat in Cornwall.

The flat has a very bad problem with damp and mould, I have mould growing up most walls and I have had to throw a lot of things away, including a moses basket, clothes, duvets, a mattress, food, there is mould growing on my bedframe desk ect...

The council have been out now over 8 times, and change their mind on what the problem is EVERYTIME... firstly they said it was us causing it, then they realised it wasn't as we have the heaters all on full, we air the flat by opening windows, we use the fans they fitted before we moved in (they was fully aware of the problem before they moved us in but failed to tell us, we moved in about 7-8months ago) we don't dry clothes indoors, and our tumble dryer has always been the shed as we haven't long just got a cheap one so we can dry our clothes!!

I have spoke to environmental health and asked them to come out and look at it but they said it's down to the council to sort it, I spoke to someone in citizens advice her response was "most places have this problem, and there isn't much you can do about damp and mould legal wise" well, I don't know anyone else with this problem in this area! I have asked homechoice to put our banding up so we could get moved quicker as we are only band E which is the lowest, and then once the baby is born I will be put up to band C which will take about 8 months or longer to move!!

I have threatened with the newspapers, and sent the pictures to them telling them I will send them to the paper if they don't move us, they haven't even replied to me neither has homechoice or environmental health (I sent them all the same email with pictures) 3 days ago... they normally email back within 24hours. I had someone come out to look at it from the council again yesterday, they told me it is a problem with the pipes, before that it was the air bricks, before that is was something in the wall, before that it was something wrong with next door, before that it was a problem with the seals on the windows, I can go on and on.

They just can't admit their is a problem with the building... I have spoke to my doctor as I keep getting ill all the time, he even asked me why my green pregnancy folder was damp! and he said that I know it isn't nice to live in a place like that, but their is nothing they can do. I asked him to write me a letter and he said no, I've asked a few doctors they all have the same response. I have spoke to my midwife (who is pretty useless, always busy) she said there is nothing they can do either, my family nurse has rang the council up but they won't listen to her, now she is writing them a letter for me.

They keep saying they will fix the problem and NEVER do, I just want them to move me i'm so worried for my health, partners and unborn baby and even more worried about his health in 8weeks when he is due. I have winter wellbeing come out and look at it today, she said she is going to try and get them to move us but most likely they won't listen to her either. I can't afford to go private rented, and also have a dog and not many places accept pets no more. I don't know what to do no more, I know a girl who has just got moved who is around my stage in pregnancy she told me she had been spraying water on the walls to cause the damp so they would move her, she rang them up and they come out and looked at it and moved her! So you can understand why I am so angry and just feel like i'm hitting my head against a wall.

My partner lost his job just before Christmas aswel, so we have big bills coming through which we can afford or pay. The electric is costing us to much aswel due to having the heating on all the time, we can't afford a dehumidifier let alone have one running all the time. Even the bloke who come around from the council said it won't help anyway. My partner cleans the mould off with bleach and sprays anti mould spray on it, within a week it comes back. Anyone got any advice on what I can do?! I need to get moved before the baby is here! and does anyone know the affects of black mould on a unborn baby, and of a newborn baby? Thanks everyone for reading, sorry for the long post but I needed to cover everything. Also could anyone tell me how to attached photos so you can all see for yourself how bad it actually is!

Re-structured to make it readable.

Babybump12032013

The only reason why it is so long, is because I wanted to go over everything else I would just get people telling me to do things I have already done... I have spoke to environmental health they won't even come around to look at it, they said it is down to the council to sort it out. I have even send the environmental health pictures. Sorry everyone that it was a long post, I did put two warnings in.

DevCoder

Ok, Justicia's was better than mine

Babybump12032013

Thankyou, krisdorey. I am new to forums, so i'm not sure how you lay it out ect

DevCoder

It's no that it was long, it was that it was practically unreadable without paragraphs.

Do you have condensation In the house/rooms?

Also, as mentioned a photo of the mould would help as this would enable people to determine what type of mould it is (it does matter!)