Damp Behind Built in Wardrobes. Salvage or Remove?

Adamc

Hi all 

We had a wardrobe fitted within our bedroom two years ago (it was around £2,000). Yesterday, after finding an item of clothing taken from it was wet, we noticed that the wall behind the wardrobe was wet and a small amount of grey discolouration has occurred. We have been heating the house much more over the last couple of months and drying clothes inside which I imagine has contributed heavily. 

While we do get an inch or two of morning condensation at the bottom of the windows upstairs, I cannot find any other evidence of damp in the house. 

The wardrobe is built against an external facing (cold) wall and, in hindsight, doesn't have great ventilation. 

We have dried and cleaned what we can. My question is - do we dismantle and get rid of it? Or should we consider ways to salvage it?  I realise this is probably not an easy question to answer without being present and seeing it all in context.

Also, the base obscures the area of wall and carpet below it so I fear we may not be seeing the full extent of the moisture. 

I couldn't guarantee that the same wouldn't happen with freestanding unit but with gaps behind and laterally I should imagine it would be less likely? 

We've sort advice from the joiner who fitted it but he hasn't answered us. 

neilmcl

You probably would've been best to insulate the wall before fitting the wardrobe but now it's in place you could try insulating the inside walls of the wardrobe, once you've fully dried it out and washed it down with an anti-mould spray.

Doozergirl

He won't really have thought about it as they just deal with wood.  

You need insulation behind the thing to stop it from being a cold spot.  

Can it be dismantled and put back together again?  I'd suggest bringing it forward slightly and insulating behind anything touching a wall.  

tacpot12

I expect it can be salvaged. You need to ventilate behind the wardrobe. It might need the joiner to come back and remove the wardrobe temporarily and make some ventilation holes in the plinth and at the top of the wardrobe to allow air to pass from the room under the wardrobe and up behind it, before being exhausted back in to the room.  You should probably try to fit a silent fan at the top of the wardrobe to pull the air through the vents. Alternatively, a couple of small PTC heaters installed at the foot of the damp wall and controlled by a timer will setup convective air currents that will carry the moisture from the cavity into the room where normal ventilation can deal with it. 

Jeepers_Creepers

What kind of house is it - how old?

Proper solutions will require the removal of the units, insulation added and reinstallation. Or, the units moved forward to leave, say, a 2" gap between it and the wall, and vents added in the plinths and an open gap at the top to allow a free movement of air up behind the 'robes.

Meanwhile, it might seem counter-intuitive, but you might get away with it over the coming few cold months by leaving the unit doors open, making sure it isn't packed with clothes, and having the room door closed and its windows on trickle - ie. constantly 'air' the room, and try and prevent the warm moist air from the rest of the house getting in there. Leaving the 'robe doors open will allow it to vent and dry.

And, yes, try and avoid adding to the moisture in the house. Do you have a conservatory or porch where you could hang your clothes to mostly dry before finishing them off inside the house? Again, it might seem counter-inuit, but if you left your wet clothes hanging in a cold connie with opposing windows nicely open, they would dry. Not 'bone', but the majority of the water should be removed - then finish them off inside.

gozaimasu

Get yourself some of those hanging damp traps and hang them amongst your clothes. See how quickly they fill up with water.

jsmith9

Would adding an air brick inside the wardrobe on the external wall help, or is that just a non-starter?