Condensation/Mould in the kitchen

Homely

Hello

I moved to this house 5 months ago and the kitchen has black mould on the walls for up to 4ft. I've had several different companies out to look at it and the most frequent diagnosis is mould from condensation rather than rising damp.

I've been quoted £2k to remove all the plaster work, and mount insulated boards onto wooden batons and plaster over them, the idea being the walls will be warmer and condensation shouldn't appear. The problem with that is they will stick out an extra 30cm form the walls and my kitchen is already small. They did mention that re-plastering and then tiling the entire walls would stop any condensation from settling and leading to mould and I prefer that idea.

I'm getting different ideas from each person that come to look at it and my head is swimming!

Any thoughts?

Homely

Has nobody had this problem? It's a Victorian house with double glazing and no ventilation in the kitchen other than opening the window, so I'm assuming it's down to the room not being able to 'breathe' ?
How can I sort this out? After lots of research online it sounds like just sticking insulated boards on the walls will just let the condensation form in the brickwork? I've read replastering with lime is the best thing.

I have no experience of this or know anybody that has so I was hoping someone on here might know.

charlestonjive

I live in an old Victorian house. The windows are old double glazing fitted into the old timber frames. We do not have mould in the kitchen, unless it is lurking behind the wallpaper (yes, wallpaper, put in by the previous owners). It didn't look like wallpaper as it had been painted over, but is now coming apart a little bit at the joins. However we do open the windows when we are cooking anything that is likely to steam up the windows and we keep them open a lot in the warmer weather. In fact our extractor fan died some years ago. Even in the depths of winter we open the window a little for a bit of ventilation while cooking, for a short while at least.

In an old house (even in modern ones, but especially in old ones) you need ventilation, so if you don't have some sort of mechanical ventilation system you will need to put in air vents or open the window. I prefer opening a window, as you can just have a quick blast of fresh air and then you can close it, minimising heat loss. After a while it will become part of your routine and you won't have to think about it.

mart.vader

Give this a try : http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=hg+mould+spray&!!!!!googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=27748658341&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15090467605108925558&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5wsk2rnmn2_e

lstar337

Homely wrote: »

They did mention that re-plastering and then tiling the entire walls would stop any condensation from settling and leading to mould and I prefer that idea.

Wouldn't count on it. Our shower gets mouldy quickly due to condensation and poor ventilation. The mould grows between the tiles and is much harder to remove than from a wall.

Unless you plan to wipe condensation from the tiles several times a day, I wouldn't bother.

Increase your ventilation and/or run a dehumidifier.

Gordon_Hose

We live in a Victorian terrace and suffer the same problem, we were advised to increase ventilation by adding a humidistat extractor fan in the kitchen as the humidity in the house was 60%.

It's bad behind the kitchen sink cupboard where all the pipework is, as there's no ventilation behind there at all.

This is the problem with solid brick outside walls.

Homely

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

We live in a Victorian terrace and suffer the same problem, we were advised to increase ventilation by adding a humidistat extractor fan in the kitchen as the humidity in the house was 60%.

It's bad behind the kitchen sink cupboard where all the pipework is, as there's no ventilation behind there at all.

This is the problem with solid brick outside walls.

Exactly my problem. I have it really bad behind the actual kitchen units and I can't keep any saucepans in there as they end up smelling of damp and going mouldy, it is really, really bad.

The thing is I will be getting a new kitchen installed soon so I need to get this problem on the walls sorted out pronto, I don't want to put lovely new units on to a wall that will just go mouldy again.

Are the insulated boards a good idea? I really don't fancy spending £2k on something that is going to have a marginal effect.

I'm living in kitchen chaos at the moment as I have all my pots etc on the worktops and barely any room to cook.

andydiysaver

what you ideally want to do is knock a hole through wall or ceiling put an extractor in - but if you can't, get a timeswitch from maplin for a few quid and a desk fan, set it to move and do 10 mins every hour you're at work. moving air ventilates. I know this as my house suffers from this also. when I put a fan wired up in the stuffiest room, the mould started to vanish. I also put a few vents in the doors and an extractor in the bathroom. Extractor is more involved but rest is easy steps that you can take to improve airflow

Homely

That's interesting!

So if I just removed the plaster, re-plastered and put an extractor fan in I should be ok?

Gordon_Hose

That is the theory. The best way to combat mould on the walls is ventilation.

What I would do personally is speak to whoever will be installing your new kitchen, and get their advice. I expect they come across this quite a lot.