Bubble wrap foil insulation on a cold wardrobe external wall

bandjxxx

Hi,
I have a built in wardrobe against an external wall.  There have been signs of mould on the lower part of that wardrobe wall.  It is cold to the touch and after carefully checking to make sure there is no penetrating damp or water ingress I'm sure it's caused by condensation.
It's not practical to leave the wardrobe doors open all the time so I'm thinking of lining that inside wall of the wardrobe with foil bubble wrap to prevent the warm air forming condensation against the cold wall.
Thoughts, advice and experience from anyone would be appreciated.
Thank you

Ebe_Scrooge

As long as you're sure it's nothing more serious than condensation then yes, this would be a cheap and easy fix.

It does raise the wider question of how much heat you're losing though the walls in general, if they're that cold?  Do you have cavity wall insulation / are your walls suitable to have it installed?  I'm not suggesting you rush out and do it now, it would cost rather more than a couple of sheets of bubble-wrap :-)   It was just a thought.

twopenny

You could try. It would cost little and give an oportunity to see if it worked or made the situation worse but you'd need to dry the wall throughly before you did it.

I used foil and card in the cupboard under the stairs in an old house and it worked a treat. But there was no damp.

I'm surprised that the wardrobe doors fit so tightly that warmth from the room doesn't get in through gaps. Have you tried putting pots or bags of some desicant in there to see if it absorbed moisture?

Wanderingpomm

You might be better with cork, you can buy it on rolls and it might be easier in a wardrobe 

greyteam1959

I had a similar problem years ago.
I drilled some large holes in the plinth of the fitted wardrobe, then in the base & top of the wardrobe.
This provided some airflow.
Tidy holes of course !!

FreeBear

Wanderingpomm said:

You might be better with cork, you can buy it on rolls and it might be easier in a wardrobe 

Cork would indeed be preferable to any impermeable layers of plastic - It would allow any moisture trapped in the wall to migrate out through the cork (depending on the type of adhesive used).