Damp Cold Bedroom - What Can I do?

Rosemary7391

Is there any pattern to the mould? Down one line, up in the corners of the room..? Maybe snap a picture. Might help with establishing the cause, or eliminating some possibilities.

You can get masks and extending poles for decorating - these might help when you're cleaning it to stop your asthma flaring up?

FBaby

Yes, cold is a part of life, but being unable to get warm in your own home for weeks/months on end is no fun, believe me. Additional heating will help solve that issue, even if it's not directly connected to the mould situation.

As already said, keeping warm on an ongoing basis is rarely best achieved by cranking up the heating.

Jackieboy

FBaby wrote: »

As already said, keeping warm on an ongoing basis is rarely best achieved by cranking up the heating.

Particularly when money is tight because you're living on benefits.

Jackieboy

Bossypants wrote: »

The OP also said she was extremely cold. Yes, cold is a part of life, but being unable to get warm in your own home for weeks/months on end is no fun, believe me. Additional heating will help solve that issue, even if it's not directly connected to the mould situation.

But if she's wasting money trying to correct a problem that isn't caused by lack of heating then she'll have less money to heat the living room and make everybody's day to day life more pleasant.

Unless somebody's spending a lot of time in the bedroom because they're ill or if there's a young baby involved, there really isn't any need to heat a bedroom except in the most extreme weather.

misswoosie

Is the building traditional construction ie brick, or is it of "non-traditional" construction ie concrete panels that may or may not be rendered and painted. Often these buildings ahve flat roofs too.We lived in a 1950's non trad construction block. Was (like yours) N/S facing with proportionally large windows and night storage heaters. The LR/kitchen was unbearable hot on a sunny summer day and the bedrooms in the winter were freezing. I think there was a lack of insulation in the walls and, maybe because of this, when they'd fitted the UPVC windows the cold air was getting into the frames which were freezing(always colder than the actual glass). At night in the bedrooms we used to get condensation on the window frames and, because there weren't any window sills, the water would run off the frames down onto the wall under the window.We used to wipe the water of the ledges sometimes 3 times in the morning. Many people (who I assume weren't realising this was what was happening) did have mould in the bedrooms, but only under the windows. We did open the windows daily but we didn't have an extractor (or window) in the bathroom or kitchen.The local council (who were our landlords as it was a leasehold property) told everyone the same as you've been told. "It's your fault" If a dehumidifier didn't work then not sure what else to suggest, apert from demanding a new, correct sized properly functioning radiator for the rooms that are very cold. If you turn the radiator in the LR down or off, do the ones in bedrooms get any hotter? Do you have and use the extractor in the bathroom?

Bossypants

Jackieboy wrote: »

Unless somebody's spending a lot of time in the bedroom because they're ill or if there's a young baby involved, there really isn't any need to heat a bedroom except in the most extreme weather.

Spoken like someone who has never been in a room so cold they are unable to sleep for it, even with flannel PJs and a pile of duvets and blankets.

I'm not suggesting they crank the heating up to a balmy 20c all night, but an hour or two of decent heating to take the chill off the air before going to bed isn't going to cost much and can make all the difference.

Anyway, from my perspective it was just a suggestion that, if she is feeling the cold that badly, an oil heater will serve her better in every way than a plain electric one.

PixelPound

Whilst the advice on where to complain etc is good, maybe for your own health you could look at what you can do to improve your current situation? I suppose if you are getting council inspections then it maybe counter productive to try and improve things if it is possible they will re-house you, but TBH if I was living in substandard accom but could try and make it tolerable to live in, as the wheels of authority can turn slowly.

So, regarding the mould. First thing you need to do is kill the mould spores to stop it. Household bleach is fine and will kill spores and get rid of it - after all mould can release spores in the air which can affect health conditions like asthma.
Mould often grows where there is condensation, and condensation occurs on the coldest area in a room/flat etc when there is a steep temperature gradient from elswhere. Off-shooting to the "four yorkshireman" reference, if you lived in a house with no central heating, badly insulated, badly fitted windows, etc then the house was probably uniformly cold with some air flow, hence no mould.

I understand that you have had windows open a lot, but it can be about airflow rather than just having the windows open. If you have furniture up against the cold walls then that restricts airflow and so you may get mould behind. It may well be a case of seeing which windows to open to help air circulate.

In the cold weather you probably don't want to open the windows, but blocking all holes up could be counter productive. As to dealing with cold walls, you can buy insulation, but you are talking something about minimum of 40mm to be of any use (that thin stuff on a roll is of no use) and do you want to spend those costs. I would inquire with the council about possibility of external cladding as they should have plans to do this on old non-insulated maisonettes to bring them up to regulation.

Jackieboy

Bossypants wrote: »

Spoken like someone who has never been in a room so cold they are unable to sleep for it, even with flannel PJs and a pile of duvets and blankets.

I'm not suggesting they crank the heating up to a balmy 20c all night, but an hour or two of decent heating to take the chill off the air before going to bed isn't going to cost much and can make all the difference.

Anyway, from my perspective it was just a suggestion that, if she is feeling the cold that badly, an oil heater will serve her better in every way than a plain electric one.

Except you missed my earlier reference to my own bedroom when younger.

To hear some people talk, you'd wonder how anybody survived the days before central heating when nobody except the very rich had any heating whatsoever in their bedrooms!

By all means heat your bedroom if you want and can afford to but don't talk as if it's a necessity or a priority if you're on a tight budget.

Bossypants

Jackieboy wrote: »

Except you missed my earlier reference to my own bedroom when younger.

To hear some people talk, you'd wonder how anybody survived the days before central heating when nobody except the very rich had any heating whatsoever in their bedrooms!

By all means heat your bedroom if you want and can afford to but don't talk as if it's a necessity or a priority if you're on a tight budget.

I don't believe I did, I just said if the OP felt it necessary, it would not be unreasonable and this would be the most cost effective way to do it in the short term.

kinger101

Jackieboy wrote: »

Except you missed my earlier reference to my own bedroom when younger.

To hear some people talk, you'd wonder how anybody survived the days before central heating when nobody except the very rich had any heating whatsoever in their bedrooms!

Anecdotes and evidence are not the same thing. What you lived in isn't what OP lives in.