KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Serendipitious

I've never seen orange mould, GQ, have you googled it?

Cold supper here too, MMF. It's very windy outside but very warm with it, so just had some pork pie made by my local butcher, and salad.

The paperwork is going well - another bag of shred, and while sorting the dross of miscellany, I discovered a mini pension that I've ignored all this time as valueless. Seems it will actually be worth a teeny bit on my retirement day in 4 yrs time, not much but it could certainly cover Xmas 2020, so that's a bonus. So thank you MK, silver linings and all that, as it was a tediously boring afternoon otherwise.

greenbee

Can you ask your landlord to provide you with a temporary dehumidifier to dry the flat out GQ? Or borrow one? It's not the best time of year to be trying to dry out a damp wall, but if you're growing mould it's a health risk.

I'm running a dehumidifier in my office at the moment. It got wet when the builders were fitting the radiator upstairs, but they told me there wasn't much water... clearly they were wrong as i'm getting a tank full a day out of there at the moment. I should have done it sooner, but the whole house was a mess and the dehumidifier was buried (and filthy) in the garage.

Mind you, the new thermostat has a humidity sensor on it, and the whole of downstairs is probably rather damper than it should be. So I might keep the dehumidifier indoors over the winter and try to stabilise things.

I have germs, so haven't been doing much work, housework, unpacking or cooking for the last few days. I really do need to get better and get some stuff done instead of sleeping or being fed up.

Dill

HG Mould Spray is good for getting rid of mould, but it smells a lot of bleach, so better to use it in a well ventilated area

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HG-186050106-Mould-Spray/dp/B000IU40HQ

GreyQueen

Heck, there is even a website called orangemolds.com. Who knew?:p

It's apparently harmless and more common outdoors than indoors. Goodness knows how long this wall will take to dry out, the leak was stopped 9 days ago now.

Ach well, I can't afford a pet and there's no room for potted plants, so I guess I can just watch my orange mold grow.

greenbee

I do think you should talk to your landlord about the mould GQ - partly because you don't want them to claim it was your fault if you move out. And partly because you shouldn't have to live with a damp wall all winter.

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

I do think you should talk to your landlord about the mould GQ - partly because you don't want them to claim it was your fault if you move out. And partly because you shouldn't have to live with a damp wall all winter.

I work for my landlord and know how they'll react (and they don't have dehumidifiers for loan). I'm contemplating getting a small dehumidifier of my own, there are times and places where it could be useful (wet laundry, even).

I will mosey along to the public library after work and look at the Which? reports to see if they've got any reviews - they have on their site but I'm not a subscriber. There are dinky little ones which could perch up in the cupboard and chunter away for a few hours a day when I'm home to keep an eye on them. Looks like it'll be some time before the party wall gives up all its soggy goodness to the air.

The orange mold is very small areas up the corner of the cubpoards where they are screwed onto the walls. The moldy odour (and I am accursed with a very acute sense of smell) is almost undetectable now, even inside the cupboards.

The housing officer has seen the issue in person, in my flat, the next door flat, and the flat above, so no question of me being blamed for it. They'd just tell me to clean the mold off, ventilate and wait for it to resolve. Even specialist damp remedial works are expected to take 12 months to resolve a damp problem.

The problem will persist until the wall gives up all its spilled water. I may get a small dehumidifier and see if I can speed the process by getting it to suck the area dry.

Goodness knows how those poor souls whose homes are flooded ever cope with the upheaval.

You know one good thing? When I thought I had kondo'd these cupboard (2 x 3ft wide wall units, pretty shallow) I found I could kondo some more once I had to take all the stuff out of them. And some more has left on another pass tonight. It's amazing how few things you need when it comes to falling over them.

greenbee

Well worth asking around for a loan, or even putting an ask out on freegle (even for a loan). I've lent mine out before, and also borrowed from other people. You can get ones that drain into the sink so work continuously, but smaller ones tend not to have that option as far as I can tell.

Mine cost about £50 from homebase around 10 years ago and has lasted well. It's a floorstanding one with a 5l tank - they have a small one with a 600ml tank, but you'd be emptying that very frequently.

Serendipitious

GreyQueen wrote: »

You know one good thing? When I thought I had kondo'd these cupboard (2 x 3ft wide wall units, pretty shallow) I found I could kondo some more once I had to take all the stuff out of them. And some more has left on another pass tonight. It's amazing how few things you need when it comes to falling over them.

Excellent point.

How much would we keep if we had no cupboards at all? I know how stressed I'd feel having to look at everything every day, let alone navigate it.

I babysat the other night and had forgotten my book so I picked up their Argos catalogue to flick through, curious as to what I'd been missing all these years. Answer = nothing. It actually made me feel quite unnerved - all that stuff in there.

PollyWollyDoodle

Ii bought a dehumidifier 10 years ago when I moved here, the house had been empty for some months and felt very damp. I passed it on to a friend who is in a small flat and has a baby (and therefore lots of washing), she uses it pretty much constantly and it's still going strong. Can't remember the make but it was a bog standard Homebase one.

Just don't start talking to the orange mould, GQ. Everyone needs a pet.

Mrs_VP

Morning. Lots of stuff left the house yesterday as eldest DD went back to Uni. Youngest DD has a day off work today and is planning to tackle the local tip aka her bedroom. I'll be surprised if she does but the signs are good because I've been downstairs and she must have put a load of washing in last night.

I've not managed much Kondoing but do keep putting the odd thing into the charity bag.

Mr VP is being admitted to hospital today which means no Kondoing for me for a while as I will be leaving the house for work at 7.30 am and going straight from work at 4pm to visit him until 8pm.

Now DD's stuff is out of the attic I can get to the last of the stuff in there that needs sorting. Hopefully I'll be able to find some time for that this weekend. Then will come the hard job of getting Mr VP up there at some point to sort through all of his stuff. I'll need all of my negotiating skills to try to persuade him to part with anything.