Mould: Condensation or leak?

dutchcloggie

Hello,

I am having a bit of a difference of opinion with my landlord over the cause of mould and wet walls in my kitchen.

The kitchen is a single-wall extension (without any heating) and the bathroom is right above it. The top half of the kitchen walls is plaster and lower down, just above the worktops, are tiles.

The problem is that the tiles are constantly soaking wet. There is water running down them. Kitchen implements rust, chopping boards grow mould and salt and spices in the cupboards become hard from water inside the jars.

I would be willing to accept this might be condensation if it weren't for the fact that the top half of the wall (the plastered bit) is covered in black mould. But not in the corners where it joins the ceiling (where it would normally be) but in the middle of the wall. All this only happens on the section of the wall right below the shower.

On inspection, I noticed the shower has several cracks in the grouting. My theory is that the water leaks through the cracks and soaks the plaster in the wall in the kitchen, causing the mould as well as the excessive moisture in the air. There were cracks in the groutig a few months ago and after they were repaired, the mould in the kitchen went away and the wall dried up nicely. But this was in summer so there was no other problem with damp then.

The landlord however says it is all condensation from not heating the house enough and not ventilating the room. The kitchen has no heating, is single-brick and on average has a temperature of 12c. His advice is for me to turn up the central heating in the house and open the door to the kitchen so the warm air can get in there. Needless to say I am reluctant to do this as rather than warm the kitchen, I feel I will be freezing my lounge!!

I want the landlord to fix the shower tiles as I am convinced this contributes severely to the problem. There is no damp or mould on any other walls in the kitchen, only the wall just below the shower.

The landlord sent someone who agreed the problem is not the ventilation but the leak in the bathroom but he was unhappy with the quotes provided for the work so he says he is going to ask more people for quotations.

In the mean time, my kitchen implements are rusting in the cupboards, water is running down the wall and I can not keep anything in the cupboards unless it is in kilner jars.

My questions are this:

1) Is he right and could all this be caused just by condensation? It is only on one wall, directly below the shower with its leaky tiles.

2) What are my options? How long do I have to wait for the landlord to make up his mind about which quote to use?

3) What are my legal duties as tenant to keep the house warm enough to prevent mould? I understand in a single-brick wall, damp will be an issue so I do not put furniture against outside walls etc. The thermostat is in the lounge but right next to the kitchen so it always registers the house as being at about 12 degrees. This means I can not have the heating on low because it never registers the correct temperature in the lounge. The heating can only be either on full blast or manually switched off. And obviously I am not rich enough to run the heating full blast 24/7!

Sorry, bit of a long post but I didn't want to put my foot down and demand a solution when in fact it is my own fault :-)

Thanks.

phill99

Water from a leak manifests itself very differently from condensation. If the shower was leaking in some way, you would see tan coloured marks on the wall and ceiling. The tan mark would also tend to have a defined edge.

A lot of tradesmen are ignorant of the symptoms of condensation and the mould that goes with it.

The symptoms you describe are consistent with condensation. It is absolutely critical that when you cook you use lids on pans, but more importantly, you ventilate properly ie open a window as wide as possible and for as long as possible.

dutchcloggie

I guess that makes sense. I have seen stains from actual running water leaks. However, would the 'leak' manifest itself differently in this case? I mean, the water isn't running out of a leaking pipe as such but merely slowly seeping through the cracks, making the walls and plaster saturated? When they fixed these cracks last time, the mould on the walls disappeared?

Even if it is indeed caused exclusively by condensation, can the landlord demand I 'fix' it by leaving a window open in the winter (when the outside air is also damp) in a kitchen that is already freezing cold and has no heating? Leaving a window open will cause the lounge to become freezing cold? I already have to wear a coat just to make myself a cup of tea in the kitchen... Actually there is a small plinth heater that blows hot air across the floor but that is very expensive to run full time of course.

Also, there is no extractor fan, merely a filter hood so I can not really do anything about that.

I guess the point is that the kitchen extension was poorly designed to start with...

Robwiz

It would be worth regularly opening the kitchen window for a time (with the door shut) to reduce the humidity to the same level as the outside air. When you close the window again the kitchen will warm up but the relative humidity will be lower than if you hadn't aired it.

It's worth attacking the mould on the walls with something like HG Mould spray as the spores are harmful to your lungs and wellbeing generally.

You should make a case to your landlord for getting an extractor fan fitted to the kitchen (and bathroom). Do everything you can to reduce the steam input to the kitchen and ventilate.

It is usually cheaper to use a dehumidifier than to heat a room to reduce/eliminate condensation. Not cheap but better than living with mould on the walls.

dutchcloggie

Good points. I read somewhere though that a dehumidifier does not work in a cold room? The landlord did offer to get one for me.... I guess I should take him up on that offer :-)

I am saddened by my apparent lack of understanding of physics and that the shower-problem seems utterly unrelated to my plaster walls being so wet that paint peels off and chunks of plaster simply crumble when touched. I hate when landlords are right :-)

Robwiz

Dehumidifiers do work in a cold room – some have a 'low temp' setting which can be used when the room temperature is less than 16º.

cyclonebri1

Check this thread, I don't have time to repeat it here but this may help


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5143170