What is this on my walls?!

[CandaceStone]

We regularly have black marks on the walls and I'm not sure what is causing it. Today I've noticed black marks in the kitchen, as well as above the radiator in another room. It's driving me crazy!

About 3 weeks after we moved in we noticed black dust had gathered inside the cupboards, and around the boxes that hadn't been unpacked so it's nothing new.

Any ideas?

Soot?

Pic?
Could it be mould spores?

its mould... probably due to damp or condensation...

Is it soot? Do you have a coal fire or are any of you smokers?

Annoyingly I can't post pics as a new user!

We don't smoke, house is very clean & I open the windows every day to air the house. I do light candles but doesn't explain why we had it everywhere only 3 weeks in (no candles at that time). It looks like a black dust but where would the soot be coming from?

Have you been in and out of the loft a lot?

Is it an older house?

We live on a very busy, main road with a bus stop only a few meters infront of our windows! The windows facing that road get a fine, black, soot like powder if we leave them open. Do you live on a busy road? We have since bought an air purifier due to concerns over this dust.

House is relatively new, have been in the loft recently with Xmas and what not.

Interesting about the roads Elouera, the house is very close to railway tracks. Could that be the culprit?!

Hoping these links might work to show what it looks like - although not as bad!

i0.wp.com/www.inspectorhelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSCN1678.jpg?resize=570%2C350

images.app.goo.gl/xgNao3YHMraGzquSA

Does look like mould to me

Doesn’t look like mould. I reckon it’s dust or diesel soot from the trains

Get the boiler and gas fire serviced as a matter of urgency.

I second the PP re service boiler and gas asap

Is it damp?

Walls are a bit cold but not damp or wet.

Someone from British Gas is coming round next week so I'll ask about it, but we do have a carbon monoxide alarm so not too worried about that.

I'm starting to think it might be the trains, but afraid to ask neighbours in case they think I'm a slattern. If so, is there any way of reducing it or do I accept my fate and add cleaning the walls to my TOMM schedule?!

I think the marks above the radiator could be dirt that gets trapped behind it and when the rads are hot it rises and attaches to the nearest surface. It happens a lot so not saying you're dirty Op.

And I agree it might be to do with the trains.

Thanks somany I did read it could be that, I will get the hairdryer out on them again to free any dust that could be lurking!

Hi again, in addition to living on a busy main road with a bus stop, there is also a train line nearby!!! I've always assumed the soot stuff is from busses but might be from trains?
We painted recently and when I took paintings off the walls, many in the front rooms had a halo effect of black around the wall, similar to your pics of the radiator. When we cleaned the walls, the front rooms also had that black sooty stuff all over the walls. We dont smoke BTW.
We were so concerned that we have purchased an IQ-AIR swiss air purifier. It wasn't cheap, but the difference in air quality is amazing and hopefully less toxins for us to breath in. We keep the front windows closed now and no more soot!

Elouera maybe you are onto something. We have noticed black when blowing our noses TMI (usually only see this when I'm on the tube) so perhaps there's a lot of soot floating about. The house is parallel to the tracks though so keeping one set of windows shut won't work

Going to have a browse of air purifiers!

There are lots of cheap air purifiers on the market, but we wanted something to do the whole, 2 bed flat, and actually reduce toxins and chemicals. We got the I-Q air multigas one which seemed to be the best. Expensive, but its hard to quantify your own health.

I was looking at those purifiers but £400 per filter change seems

I think it must be from the trains. We have the same radiator as you with the vents on the top and we don't get it. It doesn't look like mould to me.