Went to flip mattress over & it's covered in mold!

Tinwhistler

:)I like your avatar Eliz22, it reminds me of the guess who game which I love

bluebag

kizzie_nikita wrote: »

It's taken 2 weeks for the landlord to get back to me, and they're sending someone over so i'm now awaiting a time and date for that...

Lets hope that once the leak has been solved (if they dont tell me its my fault, which it's not) then this damp and mold will go away!

Sadly, my mattress is not salvageable, but i'm sure they don't care.

Is there any heating in the bedroom, and where do you dry washing?


I live in an old house with single walls, if I dry washing indoors and don't heat the place well I get mould problems really easily.

Because the walls don't have any insulation and we have double glazing and draught proofing, warm moist air condenses on the much colder outside walls.

I have to keep the moisture content right down and heat the room to about 18 in the winter it will get very damp.

For me the cost of using the tumble dryer and heating is offset by not having stuff ruined by mould.

anotheruser

I wouldn't put it back on the bed for a couple of days to air out under the bed.

Use a dehumidifier.

Also, when you put it back on the bed, jump around on it while leaving the dehumidifier on to try and push out some of the mould spores.
If it fails, at least you would have had fun

Maybe a picture would help us see the problem.

kizzie_nikita

bluebag wrote: »

Is there any heating in the bedroom, and where do you dry washing?


I live in an old house with single walls, if I dry washing indoors and don't heat the place well I get mould problems really easily.

Because the walls don't have any insulation and we have double glazing and draught proofing, warm moist air condenses on the much colder outside walls.

I have to keep the moisture content right down and heat the room to about 18 in the winter it will get very damp.

For me the cost of using the tumble dryer and heating is offset by not having stuff ruined by mould.

We tumble dry the clothes in the winter and the heating is put on after airing the rooms

anotheruser wrote: »

I wouldn't put it back on the bed for a couple of days to air out under the bed.

Use a dehumidifier.

Also, when you put it back on the bed, jump around on it while leaving the dehumidifier on to try and push out some of the mould spores.
If it fails, at least you would have had fun

Maybe a picture would help us see the problem.

We left it off the bed next to the rad for about 4-5 days, could try jumping on it though :P

Waiting until xmas in hope of some mattress sales, then will have to throw this one

bluebag

I hope your landlord can sort something out for you, it seems like you are doing everything and more to keep the place damp free.

John_Pierpoint

bluebag wrote: »

Is there any heating in the bedroom, and where do you dry washing?


I live in an old house with single walls, if I dry washing indoors and don't heat the place well I get mould problems really easily.

Because the walls don't have any insulation and we have double glazing and draught proofing, warm moist air condenses on the much colder outside walls.

I have to keep the moisture content right down and heat the room to about 18 in the winter it will get very damp.

For me the cost of using the tumble dryer and heating is offset by not having stuff ruined by mould.

This is the curse of student landlord homes:

Every room contains at least one sweaty overnight body.
The sash windows are never opened in winter, in fact they may well be "Sellotaped" shut to kill the draughts.
The fireplace has been boarded up.
There are clothes drying on every radiator.
The floors, walls ceilings and windows have never been cleaned, thus there is a build-up of dust and lint on these surfaces and any condensation running down the window goes round and round as it evaporates in the evenings when the heating is turned on.
In the bathroom used by (say) 5 adults there may be a noisy extractor fan but it will be gummed up with deposits built up over months and nobody had even a step ladder to get up to clean it.
The damp is so bad that the wall paper is starting to peel from the walls.

I grew up in an 1860 semi in the 1950s.
There was a strict routine:
Get up early.
Get half dressed and then visit bathroom fast.
Finish dressing.
Strip your bed.
Throw open the window (in some households you were expected to drape bed clothes over window sill - this may have been a throw back to the days of fleas and bedbugs).
Go downstairs and check the kitchen boiler that had replaced the range and heated a tank of water plus perhaps a towel rail in the bathroom. Hopefully it was still alight
Rake out and relay the open fire in the living room.
Have a cooked family breakfast.
Return to bedroom to remake bed and close window.
Go to work/school.

So the house was completely ventilated twice a day at breakfast and all evening/night by at least one open fires - the kitchen , where washing was done once a week, was ventilated by the 24/7 boiler.
As the rest of the home was unheated the condensation was not so severe because the inside temperature was not that much different from the external one.
Every room had a fireplace to vent it and new houses were built with an air-brick in every room without a fireplace.

Life was Spartan and the low temperatures damp external and internal temperatures (plus smoking and coal smoke pollution) made bronchitis "The British disease".

The modern mantra is "build tight - ventilate right" but first this 100+ year old housing needs insulating.
See current "ECO" fuss, with the government buying votes by postponing a lot of scheduled improvements. .

green_as_grass

Well said John_P!

We were hardier in the days before central heating!

You remind me of my growing up in the fifties in a pre-fab council house, although we did have the luxury of tiny radiators in two of the three bedrooms, heated by gravity circulation from the open coal fire directly below. I don't recall any heat from them; perhaps my Dad had them turned off most of the time to ensure the hot water tank took priority. The amount of hot water we could have in the bath was rationed so there was enough to go round. In fact when we were small we shared baths - family of seven children - though not all in at once!

Generally the living room was the only room that was warmed, and you got yelled at by everyone if you left the room without closing the door behind you!

I notice some have commented on the need to keep the house WARM to avoid condensation and mould growth. Actually this can make dampness worse if you don't also ventilate well. The warm air absorbs more moisture, so when the air cools (overnight) there is even more condensation. That moist air needs to escape, preferably before the house temperature drops. I like to keep the bathroom window open for this purpose after we go to bed (although others sabotage this strategy!)

Quote: See current "ECO" fuss, with the government buying votes by postponing a lot of scheduled improvements.

So short-sighted!
Energy bills are bound to go up steadily as world demand increases and fuel resources become increasingly scarce and more difficult to extract. The government can't protect us from this forever. The best protection is buildings that minimise energy use - primarily this means improving insulation, particularly for the large stock of housing which is hard to insulate (solid walls). The initial outlay gives benefits for MANY years to come, but it is exactly what they are cutting back on with the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in a vain attempt to reduce fuel bills.
This focus on temporarily trying to reduce bills actually disincentivises people from improving insulation, draught proofing and installing renewable energy solutions, HRV etc.
But our politicians can never see beyond the next election.:mad: