How to moisture-proof/waterproof hardboard

magssummers

Hi everyone,
My friend has some hardboard drawers attached to the underside of her beds. She has had significant damp issues in her bedrooms for some time now due to negligence from her terrible freeholder and these have caused mould to grow on the hardboard drawers.
She lives in a small flat so has hardly any other storage apart from in these drawers for her clothes. She has treated them with vinegar and sanded 3 times to get rid of the mould. She has also applied two coats of MDF Primer to them. Should she now apply anything else to them to ensure they are well protected from damp? She has some Damp Seal Primer and Undercoat that she has used on her walls - would this be suitable for her to apply on the hardboard drawers as a top coat to help prevent moisture absorption?
Any advice welcome. Many thanks. 

born_again

TBH, best bet would be a dehumidifier to keep moisture levels down.
Need to tackle the root cause, as no matter what, cloths in a enclosed space will attract mould.

tacpot12

Good advice about a dehumidifier. 

If she is storing clothes in the drawers, then getting some of those vaccum bags would help protect them. I have some light clothing I only wear in summer and some heavy stuff I only wear in winter, so I could easily use such bags to store the stuff I won't need for six months.

She would be better using some gloss paint to seal the hardboard surface. Combined with the primer this should give a tough surface that any condensation should form visible beads on and so can be wiped away if they have decided against a dehumidifier. 

magssummers

Thanks both, she is already using a dehumidifier and the root cause is trying to be sorted but it's a leasehold flat and the management company has been negligent, so she's having to live with the damp in the meantime.

So it sounds like gloss paint over the primer is her best bet! I'll pass that on, thank you.

GDB2222

magssummers said:

Thanks both, she is already using a dehumidifier and the root cause is trying to be sorted but it's a leasehold flat and the management company has been negligent, so she's having to live with the damp in the meantime.

So it sounds like gloss paint over the primer is her best bet! I'll pass that on, thank you.

 If the flat is damp with one dehumidifier, maybe she needs a bigger one? I would sort out the damp, not the drawer.