Mould in the house

fiftyeighter_2

I have lived in my house for 12 years and never had mould issues. That is until we had all our wood flooring done. (We live in a bungalow by the way) we sealed all around the edges with a wood sealer to prevent droughts.
We started to get damp almost immediately but it took me 4 years to make the connection. Since then I have picked out all the sealant around the edges and hey presto it's stopped. So I agree the house needs to breath. We tried to make the bungalow completely draught proof and that caused the problems.

Baby_Angel

We bought a condenser dryer (heat pump one) last year and the condensation problem vanished almost overnight. No more towelling down and worrying about furniture close to walls. We used to dry clothes inside and it was the culprit. We now only have a tiny patch in the upstairs bedroom corner cupboard where air isn't moving enough and for that I bought a £1 dehumidifier (a plastic container with some pebbles on top to absorb water) from poundland and it does a great job.

I know it is not feasible and affordable for everyone to get a dryer, but if you can somehow squeeze one in it is such a relief and the air feels much nicer at home now.

WestonDave

rachiibell wrote: »

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.

In terms of heating and opening windows. Fundamentally you need to start by understanding relative humidity (RH) at least to a basic extent. Condensation occurs when relative humidity hits 100% (or near enough) - however RH is determined by two things - firstly the amount of water in the air and secondly the air temperature. So if you take a given body of air and warm it up, RH declines, whilst if you take that same body of air and cool it RH rises. So this is why the warm wet air in your bedroom reaches 100% when it comes into contact with a cold window pane.


So in terms of managing RH in your home, changing the wet air (generated by breathing out moist air, showering, cooking and drying clothes) for drier air from outside is helpful. Bear in mind that the air outside at 5C on a rainy day might be near 100% RH, but if you bring that in and warm it up, the RH will fall considerably and will be a lower RH than the existing air in the house. And that is really the process - get rid of the wet air in the house, bring in drier fresh air from outside and warm it up.


(The real trick is to do that via a heat exchanger so that the warmth from the outgoing warm wet air is transferred to the incoming cool dry air so that it isn't as cold when it gets into the house. However that is probably beyond retro fitting in most homes although there are now some extractor fans that incorporate this).

lessonlearned

Thanks for the science Dave. . I couldn't have explained it that way but I just knew that opening the windows, even when it is raining outside, does indeed work.

And, as you say, it is easier and cheaper to heat cold dry air than cold wet air.

It really is quite simple, open the windows every day, come rain or shine, let the air circulate, leave a small gap between furniture and walls, mop up window cills as and when. If you have problems with fitted wardrobes smelling musty and clothes feeling a bit damp leave the doors open sometimes.

Those small non electric dehumidifiers and moisture traps help, try the £1 shop or Places like B&M. You can dot those little silica gel sachets around in drawers, cupboards etc.

There is a comoany called Dripak who specialise in all those kind of products, they don't cost much.

And yes, I swear by condenser tumble dryers. I hate washing hanging around - I can't stand the place looking like Widow Twankey's Laundry........:rotfl:

If all that fails, then invest in an electric dehumidifier.

Ches

The best and most efficient mould remover on the market is the one sold by Lakeland. Won't solve the reason why you have it in the first place though.

rachiibell

Thanks again everyone. I will try and make sure I open the windows more often as I almost never do that

I've also picked up a couple of those moisture absorbing balls from the pound shop. Hopefully all these things together should improve it and if not it'll be time to start getting on at the landlord!

pollys

fiftyeighter wrote: »

I have lived in my house for 12 years and never had mould issues. That is until we had all our wood flooring done. (We live in a bungalow by the way) we sealed all around the edges with a wood sealer to prevent droughts.
We started to get damp almost immediately but it took me 4 years to make the connection. Since then I have picked out all the sealant around the edges and hey presto it's stopped. So I agree the house needs to breath. We tried to make the bungalow completely draught proof and that caused the problems.

We have laminate in most rooms, my DH and I were wondering if this isn't helping the condensation/mould problem we have. We are having the laminate in the worse affected room removed (it's glued) and replacing it with a carpet. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of laminate/ wooden floors or carpet being beneficial to homes prone to condensation. We already air the rooms and have a dehumidifier.
Polly

GreyQueen

pollys wrote: »

We have laminate in most rooms, my DH and I were wondering if this isn't helping the condensation/mould problem we have. We are having the laminate in the worse affected room removed (it's glued) and replacing it with a carpet. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of laminate/ wooden floors or carpet being beneficial to homes prone to condensation. We already air the rooms and have a dehumidifier.
Polly

It could be that the laminate floor is cold enough for the air to condensate on it. Mould spores are ever-present, to the tune of several million per cubic meter of air. They will grow on surfaces where there is a bit of moisture, and where the air is still and they are out of direct sunlight. Bearing in mind the carpeted floor will be warmer than the laminate, it may well resolve the problem. In some scenarios, mould can even grow under carpeting.

Old-style housekeeping manuals had a really strong emphasis on airing out homes, a habit which has largely been lost. Plus modern homes are much more sealed than they once were, with double-glazing etc. And there is a tendancy to furnish rooms more densely, with solid bits of furniture inc areas such as underneath the bed being extensively used for storage. The air literally cannot move around the place.

I've had a surveyor at my flat about a damp problem (caused by a leak from another flat, long since resolved) and he commented favourably that I don't have anything stacked around my bed. He also told me that cross-ventilation, the opening of windows on the opposite sides of the building, is the most effective way or airing a place out, and should be done for a minimum of half an hour a day.

Keep the windows open as much as possible, and be particularly careful about airing out bedrooms, esp those used by children (when the children are in other parts of the home, if necessary). Infants and children spend proportionately more time in their bedrooms than adults and are breathing out a lot of water vapour, which has to go somewhere. You don't want their immature lungs subjected to damp and mould if you can avoid it.

Mistral001

The fact that the property has only got single glazing would not add to the condensation problem, but in fact the glazing can act as dehumidifiers if it is dried regularly. Most of the electrical dehumidifiers you can buy in Currys, Argos etc. have a series of plates inside them which are kept cold and the humid air condenses on them and drips into a container. Single glazed windows have panes of glass which are cool because of the air outside and the humid air condenses on them.

Linda32

We have this problem in one of our bedrooms. (we only have two and both have central heating and the windows opened every day).

In the bedroom which in the winter has water on the windowsill (if we do nothing) We use a dehumidifier during the night along with a windowsill one suitable for caravans. Central heating is on in the evening as needed with the windows shut. Windows opened each day every day, its part of my morning routine in all upstairs rooms.