Condensation On Internal Walls

Sneefx26

Hi!

Just recently moved into my first home with my fiance and we moved in the summer so didnt really have this issue until now, the house is 90+ years old and is single bricked, we noticed a musky smell one day in the middle of winter and the back wall where the bed was, was covered in white mould so i stripped the wall paper and cleaned the wall with mould spray and that fixed the issue as we then moved the bed to another wall, but we have now noticed that inside the fitted wardrobes, each morning the walls are dripping wet with water and we have to wipe them down with a towel,
both walls which this issue is occurring are external walls, there is no insulation in the loft but i plan on fixing this over the coming days,

just wondering if any one has had any issues with single brick houses or encountered this problem before?

Thanks in advance

neilmcl

Yes, and that's why I no longer place a wardrobe against the external outside wall. Unfortunately, with walls that have no cavity and without adequate ventilation you will get this sort of problem. What's the back of the wardrobe made of? If it was solid wood you can get away with it. At least move the wardrobe away from the wall to increase air flow.

FreeBear

Sneefx26 wrote: »

just wondering if any one has had any issues with single brick houses or encountered this problem before?

Are you sure it is a single brick wall (around 100mm thick) or a solid double thickness wall at around 215mm thick ?
If your wall is only 100mm thick, then it needs quite a bit of work to insulate it to a high enough standard to be compliant with current building regs. Adding 75mm of Kingspan/Celotex type boards to the internal surface of the walls will make a huge difference - You would need to leave an air gap between any insulation and the brickwork to avoid a build up of damp. Not a simple job, as attention needs to be paid to the detailing to avoid cold spots & thermal bridging.

FYI - Currently dealing with a cold room that has two external solid brick (215mm) walls and the loft insulation around the edges leaves a lot to be desired.

MX5huggy

Do you own or rent?

Sneefx26

The back is just bare no backing to the wardrobe or anything which is why I'm wanting to rip them out,

Sneefx26

MX5huggy wrote: »

Do you own or rent?

We own... Previous house owner only lived here in the summer months so never had these issues.

neilmcl

Sneefx26 wrote: »

We own... Previous house owner only lived here in the summer months so never had these issues.

My second bedroom has fitted wardrobes along the same external wall but has a foam/polystyrene type backing and I don't get any damp/mould in these.