Flaking Paint, Cracking, Mould; is this a Guttering or Roof Issue?

Scorpion70

Hi there, hope everyone is well.

For the last few months, I've noticed an issue with paint flaking and marginal mould growth in my living room and bathroom, get slowly but gradually worse. It is generally in the corners of the room where the ceiling meets the walls.

The living room is the worst-affected room in this flat, which I moved into in Dec-Jan time. Living room is cavity wall-insulated and has modern PVC double glazing. On first floor with loft above. Much of the flat is an extension and the living room has three external walls and is a rectanglular-shape. There was excess mould on skirting boards and around old wooden window frames when I moved in, but I cleared that away with ease. Not much if any has grown since I've been here. The flat was not adequately heated (so I replaced and upgraded all radiators) and building survey also said poor ventilation, so I ventilate as well as I can by opening windows during day and after showers etc, and am having a broken extractor fan replaced. May buy a dehumidifer come autumn. I just think the flat was abused in the past. A couple owned it but let it out and from what I've heard, some tenants didn't ventilate it well.

Anyway, given the issue in the bathroom (on external wall) joins on to one of the external walls in living room, surely this is an issue with the guttering or up in the loft/roof?

Have a look at these photos and please advise:

First four photos are from living room, although the little crack in paint is near a corner. 1/4 corners is not really affected but other 3 are.

RE the 2 photos from bathroom - the crack has increased by inch or so along so i've been here but the paint is missing largely cos I peeled it off to look underneath.

-taff

Have a look at your guttering to see if it looks broken, then look at it again in the rain. Have a look at your roof to see if you can spot any damaged tiles

Fred_Bloggs

You may have some cement which had become loose from your roof tiles lodged in your drainpie if it has a bend/angle in it. Mine had this problem and the rain water would backup and would over flow but luckily the drainpipe could be loosened and the cement removed

Scorpion70

-taff said:

Have a look at your guttering to see if it looks broken, then look at it again in the rain. Have a look at your roof to see if you can spot any damaged tiles

Yeah good shout I've been thinking about this. Need a drone! There are a couple of loose tiles in the loft actually that I should sort, but in different areas. I'll have to get my binoculars out and look from neighbours garden. 

Scorpion70

Fred_Bloggs said:

You may have some cement which had become loose from your roof tiles lodged in your drainpie if it has a bend/angle in it. Mine had this problem and the rain water would backup and would over flow but luckily the drainpipe could be loosened and the cement removed

Ah, interesting, thanks for that Fred. Definitely food for thought. I'll get to the bottom of this I'm sure! 

chrisw

It could be difficult to spot with binoculars or drones as water can get in the smallest of cracks and travel some distance before dripping through.

There's really no substitute to somebody, preferably a reputable roofer, getting up there with a set of ladders and having a poke around.