Damp and condensation in baby's room. Grants available for non homeowner?

Suz33

We have a significant damp and condensation problem in the room our baby sleeps in. The room ha a vent and the roof ha been repaired and wall repointed but needs more work.

We also have single glazing and serious condensation resulting in mould on the windowsills.

We keep doors closed and use a dehumidifier but the problem is too severe.

We rent from family members who are not willing to pay for repairs and qualify as a low income household.
Can anyone tell me whether we would be eligible for any grants as non home owners?

Thank you.

GwylimT

As obviously baby will no longer be sleeping in this room are you still heating it adequately? Single glazing will cause condensation, keeping windows clean and drying regularly will prevent mold.

If it is a condensation issue you need more heat and air circulation. Are there any visible damp patches on the walls?

Bennifred

As a temporary aid, get a decent de-humidifier for the room, should help a fair bit.

shammyjack

Bennifred wrote: »

As a temporary aid, get a decent de-humidifier for the room, should help a fair bit.

The OP clearly stated they use a dehumidifier !

Why post on a thread you obviously have not read properly ?

shammyjack

Heating and ventilation is the key . If you have an extractor fan in your bathroom try leaving the bedroom and bathroom doors open with the fan running for a few days, it will only cost about 20p a day if running all the time .

Mojisola

Bennifred wrote: »

As a temporary aid, get a decent de-humidifier for the room, should help a fair bit.

shammyjack wrote: »

The OP clearly stated they use a dehumidifier !

Why post on a thread you obviously have not read properly?

I was going to post what Bennifred posted.

If their dehumidifier isn't drying out the room, it isn't up to the job.

Try a better one.

Bennifred

Oh the irony, lol!

ariba10

You say you use a dehumidifier and keep the doors closed.

If the dehumidifie is not in the room with the problem it will be useless.

Seronera

Lets take it from the top. If you have a significant damp and condensation problem you need to accurately identify the cause, and that often takes somebody with construction expertise and knowledge to identify cold spots, inadequate or incorrectly placed insulation, bridged insulation or DPCs, leaks from gutters.....and on and on it goes. Just using a dehumidifier is masking the real problem and will only do any good once the source is identified and dealt with.

If you feel the baby's health is at risk and the landlord (don't care who it is frankly) will not act then you should ask the private sector housing team from your local council to come out and inspect. They will send out a technician free of charge and they will suggest what needs doing and if necessary write to the landlord. If nothing gets done they do have the power to issue a "Notice of improvement" on the landlord to render the room habitable, but clearly that is their last resort and most of these situations are dealt with economically and amicably by fairly simple measures or repairs.

I know its difficult with family.....its difficult with any landlord actually....but if they won't be reasonable and help I don't see that you have much choice.

And yes...my wife worked as a Private Sector Housing Manager for 25 years in three councils and dealt with oodles of similar cases. Good luck, hope you get it resolved

pd001

Seronera wrote: »

Lets take it from the top. If you have a significant damp and condensation problem you need to accurately identify the cause, and that often takes somebody with construction expertise and knowledge to identify cold spots, inadequate or incorrectly placed insulation, bridged insulation or DPCs, leaks from gutters.....and on and on it goes. Just using a dehumidifier is masking the real problem and will only do any good once the source is identified and dealt with.

If you feel the baby's health is at risk and the landlord (don't care who it is frankly) will not act then you should ask the private sector housing team from your local council to come out and inspect. They will send out a technician free of charge and they will suggest what needs doing and if necessary write to the landlord. If nothing gets done they do have the power to issue a "Notice of improvement" on the landlord to render the room habitable, but clearly that is their last resort and most of these situations are dealt with economically and amicably by fairly simple measures or repairs.

I know its difficult with family.....its difficult with any landlord actually....but if they won't be reasonable and help I don't see that you have much choice.

And yes...my wife worked as a Private Sector Housing Manager for 25 years in three councils and dealt with oodles of similar cases. Good luck, hope you get it resolved

Surely if a dehumidifier is used as intended then it will remove moisture from the air?
Surely if the house is heated to the recommended level that will also help?
Surely appropriate ventilation will also help?

We dry washing in a spare bedroom, which is not heated to the required level. The washing is on an airer, and the airer is next to the radiator. The rad is not hot.
That room is also not properly ventilated as its too bloody cold to open the windows!

However, we use a dehumidifier in that room. A normal one and not one of the newer desiccant types.
That room does not have any damp or mould patches in it at all, because we do actually use the dehumidifier, and we keep its filter clean.

The point I am trying to make is that a dehumidifier will certainly help with a damp and condensation problem.
However, you are indeed correct in stating that the underlying reasons for the damp and condensation need to be looked at.

My daughter rents out a property.
That property has a small mould growth/condensation problem, some of which may indeed be down to lack of action by my daughter. However within a few weeks she will have 'done her bit'.

However her tenant makes the problem worse by not using the dehumidifier provided by my daughter.
In addition, despite recent polite advice about not to use it, they continue to use a portable gas fire, which produces lots of water vapour which has to go somewhere.

I would love to see that tenant go to the local authority and report my daughter!

Seronera

Re read the first two lines of my advice.Until you identify the cause....whatever that might be, you are nowhere in trying to resolve it. You can ban tenants from using portable gas heaters and make them use electric instead.its not that much more than LPG.

As a gas engineer I hate portable gas appliances in a domestic setting anyway.