Damp in bedroom behind built in wardrobe

biranb

Hello

In the bedroom which has a built in wardrobe the room smells wet/damp

When I opened the wardrobe I saw white patches on the wood and when I removed some panels I can see the wall is black in some parts

Is this some form of damp?

I purchased the house a few months ago

As I am a new user I cannot add pictures so can you can PM me for pictures of the issue

Regards
Bobby

Snakey

My guess is it's black mould, which is caused by condensation, which is caused by humidity (showers, cooking, breathing, drying clothes) plus poor ventilation.

As I understand it, a property is either prone to this or it is not, and if you get one that is prone to it then you get mould in specific places, such as on cold (outside) walls and behind furniture that's shoved up against a wall.

On the upside, this is perhaps (I think - someone who has more experience than me might know differently) the least bad sort of "damp" type issue that you can have, a lot of the other sorts seem to involve structural shenanigans and serious money to treat.

Get the wardrobe off, there's stuff you can buy to treat the wall to get rid of what's there at the moment, and then you're looking at prevention - there are several possible methods, with varying cost, efficiency and practicality, and the internet is your friend in finding it all out.

If it's just this one wardrobe/wall, it might be a minor problem and easily sorted. Fingers crossed for you.

biranb

thank you for your response

The bedroom is upstairs and the damp seems to be around a old chimney, the gutters looks fine

Is it possible to check if the water is still coming through and not been fixed and the wardrobe ventilation is now causing issues?

I wonder if there is a some sort of device that can check for the damp level?

I really don't want to spend £000's on some genetic damp proof course

Snakey

Hmm maybe you do have something coming through the wall then.

I think a lot of the companies who deal with "solutions" for damp, mould and condensation will come out for free and do some sort of survey and give you their recommendations. What I don't know, though, is whether they give you a hard sell and/or try and scare you into having unnecessary work done.

andydiysaver

I'd rip out the back, get it cleaned up as well as possible, then get a hairdryer on it if need be to finish it, before you put in insulation and don't forget your vapour barrier, not expensive job, more time consuming than expensive


then after that you make sure room is as ventilated as possible