what causing this damp

atarisrocks

sorry about the long post im just trying to get as much details in.

i live in a ground floor flat with only one more floor above me.

the flat has developed mould and damp in 2 places of the house.

first the bedroom has mould one just one area (a corner free of clutter) this mould goes about 2 feet up the wall and then stops.
i clean this mould with a anti mould wash and bleach but it reappers after 2-3 weeks

In the same corner there is tidemarks from damp that gets darker when it rains. this wall is shared with the neighbours but the corner of the wall is connected to the guttering of their porch.

the only external wall to the room has tidemarks from damp that goes around 4 inches up the wall also the plug socket on that wall gets damp when it rains making the only free plug socket in the room unusable.
the mould on this wall is only in patches and stays mould free for about 2 months before it came back

the humidity of the room is around 62% and 68% first thing after waking but this drops when i open a window also i use a dehumidifier if the day humidity is above 65% which drops it to around 57%. the average day temp of the room is 16c and drops to around 13c at night. this is due to the electric radiator not working fully but as it turns on the landlord wont do anything with it.

i have one air brick that always open and trickle vents in this room.


the second problem is the bathroom.

today when i got home from work i found spots of water all over the walls,floor and even the toilet seat and a strong smell of urine and damp earthly smell. i noticed the ceiling was soaking wet and 3 large bulges have appear. i touched the bulge and it felt soft but no water came out and there is no signs of the bulge splitting though it clear the plaster is no longer attached to the ceiling it just seems to be the few dry patches that is holding it all together.

the humidity is higher in here as it around 78% and 99% after showers. the temp is much cooler around 9c as there is no heat. though it does get heater with a small heater before use to around 14c and is around 17c after a shower.

we have a extractor fan that has a run time of 20 mins after the light been turned off and trickle vent in the window.
we open the window to it first locking point so around 1/2 inch when showering and then open it full when finished.
i also wipe down the walls and ceiling with a sponge after a shower to try and keep the bathroom dry.
the dehumidifer get used overnight if the humidity stays above 80% after opening the window all afternoon.

the overflow pipe of the toilet which is outside leaks all the time and you can hear the toilet trying to refill all the time as it never fills up enough to stop the water.

here some information on the upstairs that i know in case this is causing damp.

they have single glazed window that i never seen open. the kitchen is above our bathroom and i think the living room is above our bedroom. they may have a cat as they have a cat flap.

also the walls of the building are just plasterboard for all the internal walls (no brick) and the outside walls have no known insulation as i tried to look for anything when i removed the cover of a airbrick and it looked like plasterboard, brick, 5 inch gap, brick.
outside i couldnt see any difference to the brick work to indicate damp proofing but im not sure what im looking for.


i try everything to prevent condensation so hopefully im not to blame
i dont dry clothes indoors as i have a washing line and a condense dryer(think that what it called)
i cook with lids on pans and open windows
all room have trickle vent that are open and air bricks that are open too
extractor fans are used in bathroom and kitchen
open windows when ever possible
dehumidifer runs 24 hours and try to rotate which rooms it in every few days focusing on bedroom and bathrooms

im not sure what kind of damp i have or whether i have caused it.

any advice on what it is or how to prevent it.

Fire_Fox

Trickle vents and air bricks are next to useless particularly in flats, you need to manually ventilate or use a dehumidifier. Don't use trickle vents in the same room as the dehumidifier or open windows, otherwise you are trying to dehumidify the entire world! Open more than one window at the same time to get air flow.

Extractor fans are not always vented to the outside they may only be into the ceiling void so not the best thing to rely on unless you are confident in them. Flats tend to have less effective circulation generally due to having fewer doors/ windows (not always) and sometimes more rooms with no windows, or more 'wet' rooms (kitchen, bathroom) compared to a house.

Use the dehumidifier regularly, before the humidity gets that bad you are liable for any damage caused by your lifestyle. Heating does not prevent damp because it does not make the water go away, it simply helps the air hold more water so it is less likely to settle, but unless you heat the place 24 hours a day this is not the solution, creating less water and removing that which you do create is. Don 't underestimate how much even breathing and cooking create, let alone showering (as you know).

Having said all that if there is a patch of damp that worsens when it rains you probably also have some sort of penetrating damp which you must report in writing to the landlord. Report the problems with the heating and overflow at the same time, ideally by recorded delivery and keep the receipt so you have a paper trail of your efforts to resolve matters and 'act in a tenant like manner'.

Ring the landlord urgently about the bulge in the ceiling and let the upstairs flat know too so they can turn off the water and inform their landlord. Sounds like the upstairs has a water leak in their kitchen or bathroom, damp caused by condensation and failure to ventilate would not normally affect your flat.

Follow up your report to the landlord in writing again for the paper trail, you may as well use one letter for the whole lot. If the damage has worsened because you failed to report any of the problems in a timely manner you could be held liable for some of the damage.

ETA if your landlord doesn't take action report all the issues to Environmental Health at the local council. You don't want the ceiling caving in, the plug socket should not be wet and you should not be living in mould these are all health hazards. They can push the landlord to repair but will want proof you did give the landlord the chance to rectify any problems first - copy of the letter will do fine.

atarisrocks

i open all the windows in the flat and all the doors to try get the air through the flat as much as i can.

the dehumidifier is on all the time but as the bedroom and bathroom are a few rooms apart i try to rotate which room it is in mainly bedrooms in the mornings and bathroom at night or after showers.

i have no direct contact with the landlord it through a letting agency who are aware of the damp yet never do anything about it.

i can not contact the letting agency until tomorrow until after they have opened around 11am as they close at 5pm and i found the problem at 5.15pm and they dont have a out of office number (dont know what i would do in a emergency) so hoping the ceiling hold out.

my upstairs neighbour never answers her door. ive only seen her once tried to say hi and she ran upstairs.

Fire_Fox

atarisrocks wrote: »

i open all the windows in the flat and all the doors to try get the air through the flat as much as i can.

the dehumidifier is on all the time but as the bedroom and bathroom are a few rooms apart i try to rotate which room it is in mainly bedrooms in the mornings and bathroom at night or after showers.

i have no direct contact with the landlord it through a letting agency who are aware of the damp yet never do anything about it.

i can not contact the letting agency until tomorrow until after they have opened around 11am as they close at 5pm and i found the problem at 5.15pm and they dont have a out of office number (dont know what i would do in a emergency) so hoping the ceiling hold out.

my upstairs neighbour never answers her door. ive only seen her once tried to say hi and she ran upstairs.

Check your tenancy agreement, you should have an address at which to serve notices on your landlord. If you have no such address write to the letting agent requesting it, you have a legal right and it's a very useful thing to have in case of any problems now or with the deposit at the end of your tenancy. Legally your contract is with the landlord not the agent so the buck always stops with them.
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/landlord's_address.htm

Put a handwritten note under the door of the neighbour and inform the letting agents you have done this when you report the problem tomorrow. Then follow up the telephone call with a letter as advised reporting all the issues, copy each to letting agent and landlord would be safest. Again if no action is taken contact Environmental Health who can enforce the repairs, having the address at which to serve notice on your landlord is helpful.

You must protect yourself here, you must be able to prove you are reporting these issues in case of any dispute about your deposit - this is 'acting in a tenant like manner'. Phone calls are fine in emergencies but nobody can prove what was or was not said so cover yourself with recorded delivery or proofs of posting. Trust me many tenants get scammed every year - see the 'House Buying Renting and Selling' board. The regulars always recommend written communication.

atarisrocks

phoned the letting agent today and they are claiming we at fault as we damaged the bathroom through showering.
when i said it might be a leak from upstairs they said ok well it not their problem so we have to sort it ourselves with the upstairs neighbour.
they still sending someone out wednesday as we wasnt happy with the responses of it our problem or the neighbours problem.

we will be sending a follow up letter but still expecting to be blamed as they always blame us when something goes wrong

for example we had someone throw a bottle through our window (random pick house not aimmed as us personally) and they were very reluncant to repair it even with crime numbers as they said windows are our problem though tenancy agreement said only our problem when we did the damage or someone visiting did. took almost 3 weeks so get anyone to sort it.

mart.vader

atarisrocks wrote: »

the overflow pipe of the toilet which is outside leaks all the time and you can hear the toilet trying to refill all the time as it never fills up enough to stop the water.

Also tell your LL (via LA) about this. in particular if you have a water meter. (and get them to fix it !)

Speedy100

atarisrocks,
Sound to me you need to find a new flat.

Good luck with whatever you do.

But as Fire Fox says, keep it all in writing.