Learning to walk before I run

powerspowers

Hi Ed, fellow LGer. It’s hard at the minute, no money and everyone being worked to the bone. So many LAs are on a recruitment freeze so jobs are hard to come by. I do think your department & line manager make the biggest difference, there are sunnier uplands out there. 

I’m in public health and there’s a bit more money about which takes the pressure off. Plenty of finance, commissioning, contract management type roles that need a good LA head not necessarily health knowledge. 

I’m also moving into a research career which isn’t an easy option at all but there’s a lot of opportunities for LA researchers currently. 

Best of luck x

edinburgher

@SuperSecretSquirrel - CCW007 has hit the nail on the head 

South_coast

I'm still in a sulk with that lot after they slashed my credit limit to £100 with immediate effect, so good to know others are able to rinse them for something! I shall live vicariously through you all 🤣!

DollyDabbler

@DollyDabbler - I graduated from both unis 17+ years ago, think they'd still help?

Yes, they are obligated to as you are alumni.  It's worth a telephone call and a conversation.

CCW007

@South_coast  I'll think of you when we max out the MT!  

edinburgher

I am torn on the dehumidifier. Yes, we have mould on our window frames and a small band on one wall. Our house, however, just isn't that humid. The dehumidifier has rarely measured over 50% since we got it. I emptied it today (was on for c. 7 hours yesterday and an hour or two this morning) and it wasn't even half full.

Treated DD2s windows with a clingy bleach gel thing, all gone now

Edit: we don't have trickle vents, worth getting them fitted?

South_coast

Trickle vents always good. You can get them fitted into your sashes fairly easily (I speak from experience). The thing with a dehumidifier is that it's only going to draw out moisture, but never deal with the cause of that moisture

Suffolk_lass

Is it definitely internal ed? the moisture, I mean. I'm not a fan of dehumidifiers, personally. Too many sit in motorhomes, sucking the moisture in to the vans (through the various air vents) in an attempt to dry out winter. If you have decent ventilation (and trickle vents might be that extra little bit needed) a dehumidifier risks sucking in cold damp air from outside to dry it. If you use it in proximity to clothes drying on an airer, that is probably fine, but personally, I prefer dry heat.

I thought of you this week when I watched the Panorama about Britain's mouldy houses. Faulty external insulation boards fitting, then clad with render was top of the recent causes. Lack of maintenance was the main thing on poorly looked after social housing. We are considering the external insulation for our village hall refurbishment. It is way downstream of replacing the single skin kitchen extension and making the toilets and front entrance truly accessible and less fridge-like, in my view

badmemory

At this time of year the inside of my house has less than 40% humidity.  The dehumidifier in the bathroom now keeps that mould free, but you have to get rid of the mould for that to work.  Put another way, you can get rid of the humidity but you need to get rid of the mould to keep the mould away, it cannot get rid of existing mould.  Window open/extractor fan never managed that.  I am talking new bathroom & extractor fan on 24/7 & I got ever increasing mould.  Dehumidifier an hour a day (so way cheaper than extractor fan) keeps it mould free.  That is after 30 min showers.

edinburgher

My thinking is the problem is lack of ventilation and the fact that we have shutters over our large front window (maybe 10' wide). The shutters create a moisture trap. They're relatively warm and provide a high degree of privacy but I wouldn't get them again. Quite "clunky" and hard to keep clean.

There is a small amount of pitting/damage to part of a window surround that suggests this has been going on for some time. A 4:1 bleach solution led to the mould coming off very easily. We've opened the windows to aid drying and I'll go over the affected areas again tomorrow. 

My thinking is we'll get our local Cloudy to Clear franchisee out. We've got 5 windows that could use trickle vents, a misted pane to fix, and 2 handles that no longer work. I'm guessing that's IRO of £500