How to get rid of this goddamn mold once and for all

Natbag

I sympathise. I rent an apartment that's only about 10-12 years old and the damp around the windows and on some walls is ridiculous and it is relentless. I have to have the window open during the day in my bedroom or all my clothes go foisty and mouldy, but it gets cold in winter. With the window open I can get it down to about 65-70%, with the window closed overnight it creeps up to 85% and the condensation is crazy. I clean the damp from around the windows regularly, I have a dehumidifier (it doesn't do much), I have damp catchers in my wardrobe and drawers (they fill fast!) and of course I don't heat the room all day because on electric-only it's far too expensive. That's probably the only thing that would help. It's a lovely flat, but I'm so glad to be moving out next week to buy my own place.

Murphybear

ProDave said:

I think you have reached a point where you have established the building is defective.

A HUGE amount of the UK housing stock is old, and well past it's use by date imho, lacking insulation and in many cases damp proofing.  Cold walls, condensation and damp are just what you get in these old buildings.  To fix them properly is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about.

My advice, find another property to rent, nothing older than 20 years old, newer if you can find it.

We rented a large property that was very, very old.  It was on a farm on the edge of Dartmoor.  The walls were 3ft thick.  It was very quiet, no mould whatsoever, cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  The only problem was poor mobile reception but as we only used a mobile for emergencies that wasn’t a problem for us.

[Deleted User]

Thanks all for your replies...just a quick update and I hope I haven't jinxed it but instead of spraying the area with vinegar like I did before, this time I saturated the entire wall/area of mould in the house with distilled white vinegar (opened the bottle and poured it over the walls) and I mean saturated.. God it stunk indeed! Done it again when it dried and left it overnight with windows in security lock to let air flow, then washed the walls down and aired the whole room out, had my dehumidifier on as well overnight the same day and fingers CROSSED it has not returned YET.. Black mould spots has always came back within a few days but it has been since I posted this Q on here and so far, so good. I have got distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle so I have just sprayed the same area down again before I went to bed, so I'm hoping this weekly treatment will keep it at bay. Temp has dropped again too and it has been raining, so we shall see. 

facemask

Bit late to the party but you say you left the dehumidifier on overnight. Does that mean you usually turn it off? Mine runs 24/7 from October to April day & night. One thing I also found when I painted was that silk emulsion attracted moisture & mould but matt emulsion doesn't. 

Elmer_BeFuddled

davidmcn said:

It's goddamn mould, unless it's American (or you're talking about the town in north-east Wales).

With you Dave!!

Thrugelmir

Natbag said:

with the window closed overnight it creeps up to 85% and the condensation is crazy. 

Vent the room a little when you go to bed. Just wear thicker jim-jams or a higher tog duvet or more blankets.  Breathing causes condensation. Hence why ventilation is so important. 

deannagone

The thing I keep banging on about is what are we/were we building when a building can't cope with humans breathing in a room overnight?  I'm obviously insane, I expect a house built for humans to be able to cope with humans doing terrible things like breathing within it.

Thrugelmir

deannagone said:

The thing I keep banging on about is what are we/were we building when a building can't cope with humans breathing in a room overnight?  I'm obviously insane, I expect a house built for humans to be able to cope with humans doing terrible things like breathing within it.

You cannot alter nature. When there's windows why opt for a more expensive option? That's the insanity.  

Doozergirl

deannagone said:

The thing I keep banging on about is what are we/were we building when a building can't cope with humans breathing in a room overnight?  I'm obviously insane, I expect a house built for humans to be able to cope with humans doing terrible things like breathing within it.

You're absolutely right. 

We don't build houses like that though.    It's usually houses that are older that have been bodged about a bit that develop condensation issues.   Old houses were meant to breathe.  Blocking up all the draughts, putting gypsum plaster and silk paint on uninsulated walls starts to create a problem.

With building regs, houses are designed not to have condensation.  Ventilation is specified in sensitive areas like kitchens and bathroom and in the windows.  I'm sure problems can occur, but it would be a much rarer thing with something going wrong. 

Doozergirl

Thrugelmir said:

deannagone said:

The thing I keep banging on about is what are we/were we building when a building can't cope with humans breathing in a room overnight?  I'm obviously insane, I expect a house built for humans to be able to cope with humans doing terrible things like breathing within it.

You cannot alter nature. When there's windows why opt for a more expensive option? That's the insanity.  

It isn't a solution.  Helping the walls to get cold exacerbates the problem because cold air can't hold as much moisture as warm air and cold walls attract condensation.  Ventilation should be in the background with the air easily able to get warm - not affect the temp so as to affect your warmth in bed and heating bills. 😬