Moving house - what to do about the mould?

Arthien

Hi there! Hoping someone here can advise me on what to do.

My OH and I are hopefully going to be moving into our first home in the next couple of months (:j) but our current rented place has an ongoing problem with damp and mould in the bedroom wardrobe, to the point that we have barely been able to use the space at all.

We've done our best to contain the mould, and we've bleached it etc., and even tried a dehumidier, all to no avail. It now turns out that our intial suspicions were correct and our ancient roof is in a terrible state, and this is why the damp and mould kept returning.

However, as I'm now looking to start gradually packing things into boxes for the move, I'm worrying that we might end up taking the mould spores with us to the new house :eek:

Is there any way of de-moulding things which can't be put in the washing machine? For example, we still have files of paperwork, and some books and dvds in the wardrobe. I also suspect that most of our bedroom furniture (including the rug) has been exposed to the mould over the past two years.

Will a large bucket of Dettol to wash things down with be enough? Or should we just give it up for lost and replace things when we move?

Any advice will be appreciated

honeythewitch

Arthien wrote: »

Hi there! Hoping someone here can advise me on what to do.

My OH and I are hopefully going to be moving into our first home in the next couple of months (:j) but our current rented place has an ongoing problem with damp and mould in the bedroom wardrobe, to the point that we have barely been able to use the space at all.

We've done our best to contain the mould, and we've bleached it etc., and even tried a dehumidier, all to no avail. It now turns out that our intial suspicions were correct and our ancient roof is in a terrible state, and this is why the damp and mould kept returning.

However, as I'm now looking to start gradually packing things into boxes for the move, I'm worrying that we might end up taking the mould spores with us to the new house :eek:

Is there any way of de-moulding things which can't be put in the washing machine? For example, we still have files of paperwork, and some books and dvds in the wardrobe. I also suspect that most of our bedroom furniture (including the rug) has been exposed to the mould over the past two years.

Will a large bucket of Dettol to wash things down with be enough? Or should we just give it up for lost and replace things when we move?

Any advice will be appreciated

I think a steam cleaner might be the best bet if you can buy or borrow one. Most things can be steamed (I have even de-moulded books this way) but do a patch test first.

Fruball

Mould spores are everywhere, in the air etc but they can only grow if the conditions are right.

I can see why you don't want to bring them with you though. You are lucky that the weather has been very dry - can you hang the rug outside and beat it, then pack it in a bag, somewhere dry?

I had a similar problem but it was with fleas and their eggs. I moved many of them to our new house, and every single year when we brought the xmas decs down, the fleas would be back! Not quite the same I know, but moving a problem from one house to another is a complete pain in the a***.

Make sure you keep your new place as dry and well aired as possible so the mould can't grow

Arthien

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm hoping I can clean the books and other bits and bobs, and a steam cleaner could be just what I'm looking for. I think it will be a long job though as I can tell the spores are floating in the air constantly and re-infecting everything, partly because it just stinks in that room and also because we've both suffered breathing problems from it.

What makes it worse is that the landlord has known about it for months and just tried to say that it was obviously our fault, rather than his for providing a house with barely any heating, a roof full of holes and no ventilation :mad:

ETA: the flea issue sounds like a nightmare! At least mould doesn't bite back!