condensation damp in home opening windows isn't helping

nickcc

happy35 wrote: »

Hi does she use the flash spray with bleach or one of the other ones? I am looking for something to clean it off but didnt know what to use

My Wife loves bleach . She now buys the gel liquids, loves the Vacuum but unfortunately I don't have the same desires. When we go to bed after her cleaning all I can smell is bleach. I can understand her desire to remove the mould spores just as long as the bleach doesn't kill me off as well . Tesco bleach spray is useless compared with Flash, so I'm told.

PollySouthend

nickcc wrote: »

My Wife loves bleach . She now buys the gel liquids, loves the Vacuum but unfortunately I don't have the same desires. When we go to bed after her cleaning all I can smell is bleach. I can understand her desire to remove the mould spores just as long as the bleach doesn't kill me off as well . Tesco bleach spray is useless compared with Flash, so I'm told.

I would think that bleach and the gas it gives off is far far far more dangerous than mold! I'm pretty sure bleach is carcinogenic.

I have distilled vinegar in a spray bottle that I use to disinfect the mold, it may require more elbow grease, but its safe.

PollySouthend

lisa701 wrote: »

We really struggle every year with really bad condensation and damp so much so we are unable to put anything against any of the outside walls because after a few weeks tops its left covered with black mould.

Tried leaving windows open 24/7 and all the air vents are clear. We did have a dehumidifier up to a few years ago but despite it being pretty big in size and it being on all day and night it did little to reduce the levels of condensation & damp in the colder months.

What Ben84 has said strikes a cord with me. We rarely put the CH on purely because of the cost, but last year I got so fed up with it being cold upstairs that I switched it on at its lowest setting and left it like that for a month - levels of condensation & damp reduced dramatically and that was even with me having washing drying around the house.

Just go to weigh up the cost of doing the same again this year. With prices as they are it will probably work out cheaper to redecorate than have the heating on!

Are you the only one on your street to have this problem? I wouldn't worry if every other house was like mine, but no one else seams to have any condensation apart from a little bit on the bathroom / kitchen. I'm kind of hoping that they all have the heating on high

lisa701

PollySouthend wrote: »

Are you the only one on your street to have this problem? I wouldn't worry if every other house was like mine, but no one else seams to have any condensation apart from a little bit on the bathroom / kitchen. I'm kind of hoping that they all have the heating on high

To be honest out of the 80 houses there are only a handful who have bad condensation problems, one of which is ours.

When you look at the others you can understand why they don't have the same issues as we do. The residents are around most of the day so they have no problems leaving doors & windows open to ventillate the house. Being around during the day also means they tend to hang their washing outside more. Most of them also have large extensions with tumble driers to deal with the larger items and for drying on wet days.

If my next door neighbours are anything to go by they also have their heating on all day, every day, even when they go on holiday for a fortnight!!!

ANGLICANPAT

PollySouthend wrote: »

hello,

i have a 50's built house in a coastal exposed area. it was empty last winter and I moved in in the summer. I was aware of a damp problem but assumed it was just condensation from the old lady that lived here before and not opening the windows and using a gas fire. it did not smell of damp in the summer, but now does.

however now its got cold there is a considerable amount of water on the windows and walls and fabric are getting mold. i cant even use a salt mill as it just clogs up and my pepper mill has gold moldy on the bottom .

im pretty sure it isnt rising damp or horizontal damp as no plaster is cracking away.



could this be a problem with the caverty wall insulation? it was done in 2010 and I have the guarantee but it is not in my name.

any advice is welcomed, i have purchased a dehumidifier that should arrive today.

We have similar problems now, but like you, it was roughly a couple of years after we had cavity wall insulation. Prior to that we never had any trace of damp/mould at all ever, and we certainly havent changed our lifestyle
Im totally sure there has to be a link , I think once you get it - especially if you dont notice first if youve never been troubled before --like if it starts in a cupboard or something --once youve got it, youve got it, the spores are into the infrastructure.

PollySouthend

lisa701 wrote: »

To be honest out of the 80 houses there are only a handful who have bad condensation problems, one of which is ours.

When you look at the others you can understand why they don't have the same issues as we do. The residents are around most of the day so they have no problems leaving doors & windows open to ventillate the house. Being around during the day also means they tend to hang their washing outside more. Most of them also have large extensions with tumble driers to deal with the larger items and for drying on wet days.

If my next door neighbours are anything to go by they also have their heating on all day, every day, even when they go on holiday for a fortnight!!!

I never understand why people leave heating on when they go on holiday, worried it will damage the house if its off for a couple of weeks. People must be rich to have the heating on all the time, mine has only been on a couple of times this year!

Have you had cavity wall insulation? What zone on this map is your house in? http://www.which.co.uk/energy/creating-an-energy-saving-home/guides/cavity-wall-insulation/cavity-wall-insulation-damp-problems/

PollySouthend

ANGLICANPAT wrote: »

We have similar problems now, but like you, it was roughly a couple of years after we had cavity wall insulation. Prior to that we never had any trace of damp/mould at all ever, and we certainly havent changed our lifestyle
Im totally sure there has to be a link , I think once you get it - especially if you dont notice first if youve never been troubled before --like if it starts in a cupboard or something --once youve got it, youve got it, the spores are into the infrastructure.

Oh no don't say that! I'm hoping once the cavity wall insulation is removed, it will get a chance to dry out.

What zone in this map are you? Is your house exposed or sheltered to the rain?

http://www.which.co.uk/energy/creating-an-energy-saving-home/guides/cavity-wall-insulation/cavity-wall-insulation-damp-problems/

Did you get the insulation removed by the people that installed it?

ANGLICANPAT

We are zone 2 West coast and fairly exposed. However the part of the house affected , is not facing the the prevailing weather, although fails to get sun because shaded by the house next door.

We noticed this mould first in the kitchen , in a shoe cupboard I dont use a lot. Fetched out a pr of shoes, and they had a light dusting of green powder over them .

I just thought it must be just an old shoe problem as we'd never had problems before, and threw them away. When I subsequently looked through the cupboard, everything in it was affected , and the underside of the chipboard shelves were black with mould. I cleaned out the whole thing with bleach , cleaned up the least affected shoes (after slinging the worst)and hoped for the best. Couldnt really get rid of the blackness , it seemed to have insinuated itself into the woodfibre.

It reappeared again within a couple of weeks. It then started to appear in the bathroom above - under the flannel where I hung it over the bath, along the seals,shower curtain, shower shoes and then --on the spare toothbrush standing in a mug. Both these rooms are ventilated, the kitchen has a massive extractorfan, both have airbricks , and the house is kept at 19 degs 24/7 in cold months. We now keep the flannels on a towel rail, threw the toothbrush and shower shoes away, sprayed curtain with anti mould stuff, and in the kitchen we are scrapping the affected kitchen cupboard. I had planned a new kitchen, but it has to go on hold, |I cant risk new units getting infected.

I havent contacted the insulation company because if you look on the internet, people who have, get no-where because they always have professional evidence saying its NOT caused by cavity insulation, its householders fault because of life style -- so as we have so many other things on at the moment, it seemed a time consuming pointless exercise . Hope you find a solution for yourselves.

PollySouthend

ANGLICANPAT wrote: »

We are zone 2 West coast and fairly exposed. However the part of the house affected , is not facing the the prevailing weather, although fails to get sun because shaded by the house next door.

We noticed this mould first in the kitchen , in a shoe cupboard I dont use a lot. Fetched out a pr of shoes, and they had a light dusting of green powder over them .

I just thought it must be just an old shoe problem as we'd never had problems before, and threw them away. When I subsequently looked through the cupboard, everything in it was affected , and the underside of the chipboard shelves were black with mould. I cleaned out the whole thing with bleach , cleaned up the least affected shoes (after slinging the worst)and hoped for the best. Couldnt really get rid of the blackness , it seemed to have insinuated itself into the woodfibre.

It reappeared again within a couple of weeks. It then started to appear in the bathroom above - under the flannel where I hung it over the bath, along the seals,shower curtain, shower shoes and then --on the spare toothbrush standing in a mug. Both these rooms are ventilated, the kitchen has a massive extractorfan, both have airbricks , and the house is kept at 19 degs 24/7 in cold months. We now keep the flannels on a towel rail, threw the toothbrush and shower shoes away, sprayed curtain with anti mould stuff, and in the kitchen we are scrapping the affected kitchen cupboard. I had planned a new kitchen, but it has to go on hold, |I cant risk new units getting infected.

I havent contacted the insulation company because if you look on the internet, people who have, get no-where because they always have professional evidence saying its NOT caused by cavity insulation, its householders fault because of life style -- so as we have so many other things on at the moment, it seemed a time consuming pointless exercise . Hope you find a solution for yourselves.

Thanks for that, interesting to hear.

I'm in a very similar situation in that I want to do renovations on some of the rooms but it seams pointless unless I address the underlying issue that is very probably damaging the house each day.

I live in zone 3/4 and very exposed. As you say the insulation companies are good at saying it is not their fault however it has a guarantee and there are stories online of people getting it removed by the company that installed it, but not getting any money to repair the walls / rotten joists. I will continue until early next year to try to get the offending company to remove it, before I give up and just spent 2-3k to get someone else to take it out. What a con and a waste of tax payers money

Out of interest are you planning to get it removed by a private company or are you trying to live with it?

lisa701

PollySouthend wrote: »

I never understand why people leave heating on when they go on holiday, worried it will damage the house if its off for a couple of weeks. People must be rich to have the heating on all the time, mine has only been on a couple of times this year!

Have you had cavity wall insulation? What zone on this map is your house in? http://www.which.co.uk/energy/creating-an-energy-saving-home/guides/cavity-wall-insulation/cavity-wall-insulation-damp-problems/

Zone 2. We tried getting free cavity wall insulation a few times but no one will do it because we have a conservatory at the rear. To access the wall above it will require scaffolding which they say cannot be installed as there isnt enough space between the side of the conservatory and the fence (the gap is wide enough to put a ladder up).

Our house about half as much further forward than our neighbours. The wind seems to come down our road and hits our side wall as it sticks out further than the others. Our driveway is like a wind tunnel so much so we had to install a gate to the rear between the house and garage so that we could use the patio area without being blown away! They had a 2 storey rear extension built too which seems to have made the wind tunnel effect worse.

Had the heating on in the evenings since Saturday and so far I've not had to clear condensation off any of the windows and I've had my washing hanging inside.