Mould / Children / Rented house

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Hi, hoping someone can help.

I rent a H.A 2 bed house. It was a bit of a dive when i moved in but gradually the H.A have made improvements - One of these was having new Double Glazed windows.

Now, a year on, the windows condense ALOT in the bedrooms. No other windows. There is also green mould around the edge of the window and I've tried everything to shift it. Water also pools on the window ledge in my childrens room which i wipe up every day. My youngest child has lung problems and he H.V has advised i need to get the mould shifted and reported to Landlord.

Landlord attended and said that I need to have my heating on constant (I live in a 4 block. House is never colder than 18 degrees - Heating is set so that if it drops below 18 degrees the heating will kick in but that isnt very often) and that i need to open the windows in the bedrooms to air it.... not very ideal!

I have the vent flap at the top of the windows open, and the bedroom doors are usually open during the day (but not the windows!)

Landlord wont do anything else other than advise the above and there is nothing in my contract about it.

Is there anything else i can do... or anything they can do?!

Thanks!

Dumbe

Maybe think you will need to open the bedroom windows in the day..even if it isn't ideal

You could try a dehumidifier which should help by taking some of the water out of the air.

peachyprice

You need to get fresh air circulating regularly, so when you are in you need to leave the doors open and open the windows to get a good through flow of air, the little vents at the top won't be letting enough air in. You also need to avoid drying laundry indoors.

Putting the heating on higher for a few days to get rid of the extra moisture is probably a good idea, once you're on top of the condensation you can turn it back down and opening windows should be enough to keep it under control.

There really isn't anything the LL can do, it's your lifestyle that is the cause.

Dunroamin

If your child has lung problems, surely you have the window open at night anyway?

Gigglepig

Basically you want to create less moisture, ventilate, and take steps to reduce condensation.

i'd make sure never to dry clothes indoors, as this causes humidity. a really good tumble drier may help, very expensive to buy but the top ones are cheap to run. Also open bathroom window to air after a shower.

There are more tips here

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/05/10103020/30217

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

No windows stay closed and doors stay open, Was told to do this.

I don't dry washing inside anyway - Tumble Dryer is rarely on and when it is, its vented straight outdoors.

Have been looking into a dehumidifier - don't really want to leave the windows open if i can help it when I'm not in (Not a nice area and we don't have any "small" windows - they are all the larger ones. usually leave them on the latch in summer)

Will leaving them on the latch be any good ? as well as a dehumidifier?

Find it odd that it's only in the bedrooms - There's none anywhere else lol

thanks!

peachyprice

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Find it odd that it's only in the bedrooms - There's none anywhere else lol

thanks!

Do you close the doors at night?

WestonDave

There is a fundamental conflict between energy efficiency and humidity. Energy saving causes people to block up every draught and stop any cold (fresh) air coming in from outside. However human activity generates humidity - everytime you breathe out, the air contains moisture absorbed from your lungs etc, if you shower or cook you put steam into the air, and if you dry clothes on radiators you are evaporating moisture into the air.

Air has a finite capacity for holding moisture which decreases as temperature decreases. So if you seal everything up, get the humidity in the house soaring by creating moisture, and then have a few odd cold spots in the house, it is inevitable that as warm moist air hits those cold spots, it will dump the moisture it can no longer hold as condensation. That does tend to be worse in bedrooms because you are in there all night breathing out moisture often with the windows shut.

The landlord is right that increasing the internal temperature will increase the air capacity to hold moisture, and replacing your wet air inside with drier air from outside will also help. Its worth bearing in mind that although it seems counter intuitive, the air outside on a cold rainy day will contain less moisture than your warm stale air inside. Bringing that cold air in and heating it up will drastically lower the humidity inside.

The other alternative is to run a dehumidifier which creates a cold spot within itself to condense off the moisture - but that requires some electricity to run. Whether you prefer that option or opening windows and running the heating to compensate is a personal choice.

[Deleted User]

If you look on the In My Home thread theres a lot about condensation. Condensation in a bedroom is normally caused by the hot air from your body/breathing hitting cold surfaces, ie.windows and walls. I keep my bedroom window open just slightly on a latch and the bedroom door open during the night, which lets the air circulate. During the day, when im not at work, in colder weather i use a dehumidifier in the room to draw out the cold air, rather than have the window open, which draws damp air in the room. I dont have heating on in my bedroom as i like a cold room. I havnt had any problems with condensation at all through this winter. If you use a dehumidifier close the window in the room otherwise your just sucking the damp cold air in from the outside. I dont use the dehumidifier at night in the bedroom as it can dry your throat out. It doesnt cost much to run either.

peachyprice

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Have been looking into a dehumidifier - don't really want to leave the windows open if i can help it when I'm not in (Not a nice area and we don't have any "small" windows - they are all the larger ones. usually leave them on the latch in summer)

Will leaving them on the latch be any good ? as well as a dehumidifier?

Won't buying a de-humidifier and it's running costs be pretty much the same as putting your heating on for the last few months of winter?

kirstypark

i have a dehumidifer as have terrible damp in our house. There was orginally a lake here that was drained and houses built, so all the houses are damp here. I open my bathroom window and a bedroom one every day for a couple of hours, and this does help. We installed heating as the house was cold, and it did make a differance at first, then the problem returned. We use the dehumidifer in the conservatory, which is not as well insulated, it costs about 4p an hour to run. I was told to buy the best one i could afford - ours was about £100 and sucks a bucket of water out in a day. It also helps dry clothes on the days i cannot get them out to dry, i just put the drier next to it. It does get depressing seeing the mould grow in yet another patch, behind my wardrobes got so bad that some clothes had to be chucked out.