Properly heating/ventilating a house

peterwalker1984

I'm a FTB just doing up a house before I move.

In my current rented house it has developed black mould around windows and on some walls, have seen this mentioned in plenty of old threads.

All these mention properly heating and ventilating houses to prevent this. Keen to make sure it doesn't happen in my new house.

None of the threads mention any key points or best practice for heating and ventilating houses though. Any tips for this? Seems to be a common problem.

Doozergirl

Water condensates on cold spots, so you want to minimuse water in the house and cold spots.

Trickle vents on your windows and good mechanical extractation to outside in kitchens and bathrooms. Bathroom extractors should be linked to your lights so they come on with the light and timed to go off a number of minutes after the light to get rid of maximum moisture.

Your window mould is because of the cold spots there, you can't (well, you can, but I'm guessing there is a budget) really insulate the area so it's about ventilation mainly and keeping the house warm in winter.

Insulate your cavities . If you don't have cavities, then insulating plasterboard on the outside walls is a good call if your walls need replastering. There's a layer of solid insulation attached as part of the board, available in a variety of thicknesses.

Bay windows often have very thin walls and it would be a good idea to insulate those with board. Insulation prevents particularly cold spots - it reduces what is called thermal bridging.