Mould in the house

rachiibell

I've lived in my flat for about a year now and recently I've noticed a lot of mould on the walls, ect and it's got all over some of my clothes and stuff and is really getting me down.

I live in a Victorian property with old sash windows so I imagine this is a fairly common problem. It's rented accommodation so I will be complaining to my landlord but in my experience they take forever to sort anything they don't class as urgent so does anybody have any ideas to reduce/ get rid of it/ make it less likely to come back?

Thanks in advance

lessonlearned

This is a likely to be a ventilation issue, leading to condensation.

Your best bet is to wash everything down with a good quality spray containing anti mould ingredients.

Then make sure you regularly air the place out, opening windows whenever you can, at least once a day.

You might consider buying a dehumidifier.

Think about lifestyle changes, don't dry washing indoors, keep the kitchen door closed when cooking, towel dry all surfaces in the bathroom after showering or bathing and always open the window to let the steam escape afterwards.

Once a week, open all doors and windows and get a good through draft blowing through the house. Try and do it for around 30 minutes.

In the meantime, next time you have a heavy downpour check that the guttering is ok, just in case.

However it's more than likely that its a condensation issue.

white-sage

I second that lessonlearned. We had a tenant who was drying washing in the house, not opening windows to ventilate the rooms and hardly having the heating on and had the same problems. We gave her advice on how to remedy things and the problem was resolved.

Charliex

Having battled with mould in our current home for 8 years, I can tell you we tried everything - the only thing which has helped the problem is buying a dehumidifier. It was around £150 but we use it every single day and it has made such a difference. We had black mould growing up the walls, it was awful
I regularly pull all our beds away from the walls and clean with a mould cleaner and wipe over all windows and frames.

Getting air into a room does help, but not if the weather is damp outside obviously.

dragonette

I've lived in places where I've done everything to solve condensation-based damp and it isn't always enough.

I've found that toweling the windows dry in the morning has helped quite a lot, esp with single glazing. Good luck with finding what helps in your current place

lessonlearned

Charlie. What age is your house. Does it have cavity wall insulation, if so,was this installed when the house was built or is it a retrofit.

Sometimes installing cavity wall insulation after the event can make matters worse, for all sorts of reasons.

Over insulating a house can be just as bad as not having enough. Buildings must be allowed to breathe.

We have just finished renovating an old property, we uncovered a mould and damp problem. We replaced some rotten floor timbers and then put in extra air vents to ensure adequate air flow to,the sub floor.

Problem sorted.

The previous owners had "improved" the pRoperty by sealing up.vents, putting in double glazing, blocking up fireplaces etc. The house couldn't breathe so hey presto damp and mould.

In the majority of cases damp and mould are caused by lifestyle, lack of ventilation and skimping on heat. Add over insulating or badly fitted Insulation into the mix and you end up with a cold damp house and mould.

Realistically we live in a cold damp country so our buildings are bound to be affected to a greater or lesser degree.

rachiibell

Hi everyone thanks for your responses. There is definitely a condensation issue at the windows are always damp when I wake up. I shall start towelling them dry when I get up. I've also bought an anti mould spray to give the place a good clean.

Could someone please explain to me the use of heating but opening the windows To air the place out as the two just seem like a contradiction to me. Sorry if I'm being silly.

VfM4meplse

I love the suggestions for addressing the problem, but surely in this case the expense must be met by the landlord?

I personally wouldn't hold off on action, the thought of breathing spores in...yuck!

SavingPennies_2

Yep, I have the heating on and open the windows, not all the time of course but for a couple of hours a day, mainly in winter, it might seem contradictory but it helps keep the house dry.

Try to keep the bedroom windows open overnight (if it's safe to do so), to help the air circulate and stop build up of moisture on windows. The moisture is just from your breath/ body overnight hitting the cold window and turning to liquid.

Don't leave clothes to try on radiators/ clothes horses - this is the biggest culprit!

When drying your hair keep windows open, the same when showering, boiling water, essentially anything that produces water.

Get a dehumidifier if possible, but keeping windows open is probably the best thing.

Give your stuff space for air to circulate, so for example don't have things pushed up close to walls or keep things packed together.

Also in my experience mould is very hard to get rid of, if you can't get the mould of of things completely then you will probably have to bin it.

rosie383

OP as far as the heating issue goes, air the place when the heating isn't on. What I used to do in the winter in my old house which had a lot of condensation, was to open the windows wide while there was only me in the house and while I ran around cleaning, hoovering etc. And I also had to towel off the windows every day. It really kept things under control.

I went to buy an anti mould spray today as this new house has mould around every single window frame. Dettol one was £3.50 everywhere but B&M had Astonish mould and mildew remover for 99p. I have tried it on a couple of windows and doors. There are still some black dots on the silicone seal but everything is much, much cleaner looking. I had tried lemon, vinegar, bicarb, bleach but they didn't do a lot.

SavingPennies_2

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I love the suggestions for addressing the problem, but surely in this case the expense must be met by the landlord?

I personally wouldn't hold off on action, the thought of breathing spores in...yuck!

It could be a problem with the house (landlords responsibility) but on the other hand it could be a problem with the OP - if for example they are drying clothes indoors, or not opening the windows and letting the air circulate, in which case if they follow the advise above it could be problem sorted :T