What can I do? Everything in my home going mouldy

[AngeloMysterioso]

I live in a 2 bed flat on the ground floor of an Edwardian house. We’ve had problems with condensation for a while- we only have single glazed windows (double glazing going in this week after a 6 month wait) and we don’t have a tumble drier so until now, unless the weather has been nice enough to hang laundry outside we’ve had to dry it indoors.

We first noticed a problem when I realised that some of my shoes and boots which are kept on shoe shelves in the bottom of my wardrobe were going mouldy. Then it was the clothes which I keep in the drawers under my bed. I’m 6 months pregnant and DH and I have just checked the pram bassinet which was in its travel case under the changing table in DS’s room- mouldy. A cooler bag in the cupboard under the stairs- mouldy. Clothes of mine in a drawer in another wardrobe- mouldy. Stuff I’ve already washed once when it got mouldy has gone mouldy again.

I’m at my wits end. My shoes all stink because I’ve had to spray them with white vinegar. There’s piles of shoes and clean laundry everywhere because I’ve got the mould out of them but I’m too scared to put them away in case they go mouldy again (which they will, it’s already happened once). We’ve bought a bunch of those little disposable dehumidifiers that you put in drawers and on shelves which appear to have made no difference at all. I’ve bought a heated airer with a cover and plan to use that to dry clothes (with a small electric dehumidifier turned on underneath) but with things like the bassinet, I can’t put that in the washing machine so will have to find some other way of cleaning it.

What else can I do? We hoped that the new windows would help solve the problem but we spoke to our neighbour in the other downstairs flat the other day and it’s a big problem for her too, and she already has double glazing. I’m terrified that when I get out our next 2 me cot from under DS’s cir or the old baby clothes from his wardrobe that they’ll all be mouldy as well. Clothes can be washed, but how do I deal with the things that can’t? We can’t afford to replace everything.

Help!!

You need to bite the bullet and get a tumble drier- put it in one of the bedrooms if there's no room in the kitchen ( washer / driers are useless IME) and use it all the time. They're not very expensive to run these days , not like the ones of old and a lot cheaper than the laundrette. We used to have one in one of the bedrooms when we lived on a flat and had a throw for it when not in use.

Open windows every day and heat the place well too. Wipe down windows and keep the bathroom window open all the time.

Move wardrobes away from the walls.

Most important is to get a tumble drier- drying washing inside is like chucking a bucket of water at the walls and expecting it to dry.

Missing the point of thread but a solution for the slugs getting through the air bricks may be mouse mesh grills. Cheap and easy to fit so the slugs can’t get through.
mousemesh.com/colour-size-options-mousemesh-air-brick-grills/

Most of it is just establishing new habits and doesn't cost anything, OP. I've seen people asking to borrow powerful dehumidifiers on my local Facebook group so you could consider that - really good ones are amazingly effective.

90% of people on thread with experience of managing damp telling OP to buy a much bigger dehumidifier ...

OP ... no mention of buying bigger dehumidifier.

If you’ve no other way of cleaning the bassinet you might as well scrub it with a diluted milton solution and leave it in the sun to dry. it might bleach it or discolour it but if you’re going to have to Chuck it away anyway it’s worth a try.

Divorce these days. I have been researching this all day after having spoken to a friend who practiced family law but doesn't now just to get an idea . I'm the one whose husband who had the obsession with knives but is now out of the house. My friend said that I can go for divorce on grounds of unreasonable behaviour and have listed all points ready. I am awaiting a call back from a solicitor tomorrow about it but the person who took my details said they fidnt think it was as easy these days and that domestic abuse has to be well documented before its accepted and the only other way was sdultery or 3 yrs separation. That sounds like we've gone back to the dark ages. Can anyone help. I was hoping to get on with my life!!

Perhaps you can rent a large dehumidifier if you are not wanting to buy one. They really are worth it more than a tumble drier imo. I really think it would be the best help, yours is 100% too small.

www.rawstonehire.co.uk/Heaters-And-Drying/Dehumidifiers/

www.dehumidifier-rental.co.uk/

www.gumtree.com/air-purifiers-dehumidifiers/kent/dehumidifier

I would also run your heated airer or indeed dry any clothes in the bathroom.

Also buy a few humidity metres (relatively inexpensive from Amazon) to be able to assess which are the most problematic rooms. Humidity should be ideally below 50% to avoid mould

Also as suggested, a washer dryer although not ideal is better than drying clothes inside

Astonish is good to get rid of mould on ceiling and walls (I've only tried it on white walls, not sure about other colour paint)

To put it into perspective op your dehumidifier which is smaller than a barbie doll removes 300ml of water a day if it was on constantly. That's less than a can of coke.

Imagine putting a pile of dry washing on the floor and then tipping a can of coke on it. Most of it would still be bone dry.

You've massively underestimated the amount of water a load of washing produces. Jeans, jumpers, bedding, towels etc and massively overestimated the usefulness of your tiny dehumidifier.

That's not including showers, baths, cooking etc.

You might not have loads of money to throw at the problem, but, as everyone has told you already, you NEED to invest in a large, decent dehumidifier or the mould and damage will cost you much more in the long run and your family's health.

My Meaco cost £160 and it was worth every penny. It has a 'washing' setting and it tells you on the display the moisture % in your rooms. A small cheaper one just won't work for your requirements.

Even if you do get the airer instead of a dryer, you would need to run a large dehumidifier constantly while the airer is on. Yours isn't even worth the electricity used to run it.

As another poster said, use your Karcher in the bathroom after every shower or bath. In my hold house I would vac all the tiles, shower screen and even the bath itself. Getting rid of as much water as possible. Also leave the bathroom door shut but with window open so the moisture isn't going into the other rooms.

Not sure how effective it is but white vinegar is meant to be able to get mould stains off fabric. Or baking soda mixed with water.
You could ask a local dry cleaner if they would be able to clean the bassinet.

Are there air blocks (think that's what theyre called) round the outside walls - Do you go up steps to get into the house?
I have these metal grids (on the air bricks) round the side of my old house. That lets air to the underfloor area. You might have these but they have been blocked to keep the cold out (shouldn't do this) or covered by vegetation.

Just get your windows open and leave them open - we lived without central heating in the past. Better cold and wrapped in warm blankets and cardis than breathing damp air.
You'll have noticed your bedroom windows getting steamed up in cold weather - that moisture from your breath needs to get out - windows open.
Buy a tumble drier and put it in the bedroom. It might need an extension to put exhaust out the window.

We didn’t need to get a tumble dryer to solve our damp problem. Just using extractor fans and a good dehumidifier. Your dehumidifier is no where near good enough. I think ours removes up to 20l of water a day. Honestly we had the same problem as you in a similar flat, clothes and furnishings going mouldy. I set my dehumidifier to the right level of humidity (50% I think?) and then left it to run constantly. I was emptying the water compartment numerous times a day at first. But the mould cleared up quickly and never reappeared.
I would try soaking the bassinet in a bleach solution maybe Milton tablets to kill the mould, if not throw out.

@Elizabethr54 start a new thread, with a title like ‘Divorce & evidence of domestic abuse’ and you’ll get much better advice - not enough people will see your post on this thread about mould!

You definitely need a tumble dryer or a heated air we with dehumidifiers and windows open as much as possible. Drying laundry inside causes mould everywhere

@AngeloMysterioso

Ok this is a little weird but this is the floor plan of my flat- I’ve drawn in red where furniture is.

The sitting room and the main bedroom have been swapped round so both bedrooms are next to each other- made more sense that way as what is now the sitting room has an external door.

So in our bedroom (bottom right) we have going clockwise from the top - the main wardrobe (there is a radiator between the wardrobe and the wall on the right), the bed (it’s the kind with shelves in the headboard and a gap at the bottom so there is space between the main portion of the bed and the wall, but stuff in the under-bed drawers is still going mouldy), DH’s desk, a chest of drawers on one side of the fireplace and another small wardrobe between the fireplace and the door on the other. So I was wrong about my wardrobes being against an internal wall but there’s nowhere else they can really go as the only internal wall has the fireplace in the middle of it (the bit shaded in green is the front door and stairs for the flat above us).

DS’s room has built in wardrobes in one corner, then the changing table by the fireplace, DS’s cot bed in the opposite corner by the window, then a tallboy chest of drawers and the glider chair. Another very small set of drawers tucked in between the door and the wardrobes.

Kitchen- fridge by the door. Bin next to the sink- there’s a weird sort of ridge about a foot high which sticks out about 4 or 5 inches which I’ve drawn in as well.

Sitting room- bureau against the left wall, dining table in the top left corner, then the chimney breast which is where the radiator is now. Other side of that is a sideboard type unit with the tv on. Sofa against the opposite wall by the back door and a small side table next to it.

As you can see our kitchen is teeny tiny, so the only way of getting a drier in there would be to lose a cupboard- and we don’t have many to begin with- or buy a washer drier which we can’t really afford. There is the cupboard under the stairs but it is full of the stuff that we’ve no space for anywhere else.

We do need the double glazing, we were just burning through money attempting to keep the place warm last winter.

Just with regard to your last comment, your old windows will be helping to ventilate. New windows will keep more moisture in.

But in terms of feeling cold in winter- damp moist air makes it feel much colder so it's also part of the problem. It sounds wrong but it's true.

You need to tackle the condensation properly.

Are the replacement windows sash? Can you lock them open while out? (As an aside I'm surprised you got planning permission to change the windows in flats as found here the Council are very strict).

I’m sorry Angelo I didn’t intend to stress you out - of course you can’t leave the baby stuff mouldy.

As PP have said, scrub it really well with bleach solution like Milton, and leave to dry outside. I’d see if I could buy new cover or mattress, perhaps.

Get out all the stored baby things to see if there’s an issue with any of them. Try not to have things stored under beds and furniture, as I said.

And beg, steal or borrow a large dehumidifier. Yours at 700ml is tiny. You need to be thinking in terms of litres per day, not millilitres.

www.screwfix.com/p/blyss-wdh-122e-12ltr-dehumidifier/494gy

We’ve got similar to the above in the utility (no tumble dryer). One load of normal washing fills it in 24 hours. Towels, bedding, jeans fills it in far less and probably 1.5 tanks to dry, to give you an idea.

It really really is what you need. Plus trickle vents in your new glazing, that will be important.

Hi OP. I use cloth nappies and am on a Facebook group called Clean Cloth Nappies. People are always posting about bleahing/deep cleaning other items including ones with mould. It is killed by bleach so bleach is your best bet for cleaning the baby things. Recently a woman posted about dunking all her pram attachments in a bin full of bleach solution to clean it. Maybe you could take a look.

I would try to reduce the furniture and amount of stuff you have too @AngeloMysterioso. I know you probably think you need EVERYTHING you have but it will be contributing to the dampness being held in the room if you see what I mean. If I'm being honest I would cancel on the windows and use that money to move to a newer build if you can where you will have peace of mind.

Yes, these are PIV (positive input ventilation) systems and have been mentioned by a couple of people. Of all the advice given, installing a PIV system is most likely to completely solve the issue. A good quality unit is less than £500 and of course there will be an installation cost too.

Can I just clarify? are you saying you put a massive wardrobe actually in front of the radiator in your bedroom?

I've lived in old houses, and only once had slugs and damp, for the first ten years we didn't have a tumble dryer, so had to dry on radiators and clothes horses in the house. we didn't have a dehumidifier either.

What worked for us, bathroom window always open, bedroom windows opened a crack all night, kitchen window always open an inch at least, and wide open when cooking(we didn't have an extractor fan) all windows opened once a day for 10-15 mins with internal doors open too.

Heating not on a timer but by temperature, so when no body in during the day heating set at 15° and turned up once home, when going to bed heating again set to 15° again. it actually worked out cheaper to heat the house like this, rather then set times where everything in the house gets cold (furniture, floors, walls) not just the air.

The time we started to notice damp and slugs, we were baffled, until it we found that the washing machine pipe had been leaking and the wall behind the machine and floor boards under the lino were soaking. once fixed and dried out no more problems.

In your shoes, I would get a big humidifier (maybe rent one if cheaper) to get rid of as much moisture as possible now, then buy a smaller one to keep on top of it. Start opening windows regularly, fuck the creepy crawlies they won't be as damaging to your families health as the amount of mold and damp in your flat that you have right now.

if you don't change how you live, the double glazing will only make your problems worse.

if the wardrobe is in front of the radiator then get rid of it! it's the most stupid thing I can think you could do in any house. (if it is the case) you'd have to buy a clothes rail instead. until you have the money and time to rejig your bedroom.

Getting a washer/dryer is a good thing too, as people have said they are better made now, and even if you only use it to dry towels and bedding, it would make a huge difference.

Bleach doesn’t kill mould, it’s not as good as white vinegar and is not recommended to get rid of the spores, it just masks it but they are still there and will eventually come back. @Chocolatebuttercream

My DS had the same in his student house. I think it was due to airing clothes in his room. The landlord got him a huge dehumidifier and it's amazing how much moisture was in the room. I've encouraged him to open his window more and as others have said have the hearing on low.

I also have no other choice but dry laundry indoors, and also get condensation (though not to the extent you describe). I use a heated airer, and a decent dehumidifier which runs ALL the time, next to it. It does make a huge difference.

My husband used to live in a very damp flat, he found that hanging clothes on a rail instead of a wardrobe helped prevent mouldy clothes. He went round all the windows every morning wiping away condensation and opening them. He also was fastidious about ironing his clothes, absolutely everything, bone dry. Not sure if that actually helped though.

If you get double glazing and don’t keep the windows open the issues will be worse (from bitter experience)!