Wibu to ask for a reduction in rent so I can buy 'stuff' due to mould damage (sorry, long!)

[extremepie]

I'm fully prepared to accept I may BU, just thought I'd gather some opinions.

I live in a flat that was recently renovated after being left empty for 18 months. When I moved in the landlady told me that because it had been empty for so long and with all the wet weather we had over the winter it was likely we might have a lot of moisture in the walls etc so might expect some damp issues, but that as the weather warmed up and if we were good about keeping windows open, ventilation etc it should be fine.

We've been living here about 4 months now and the damp problem is pretty bad - in my bedroom there will be pools of water on the windowsill and floor from the condensation, which doesn't seem to improve much whether I keep the windows open or not. The only time it does improve is when I have the window open constantly which, being a ground floor flat, I can't really do!

There are areas of the hallway near the bathroom where there is horrible, furry black mould growing on the walls - this also grows on the wall in my bedroom, on the windowsill in the kitchen, the living room and the kids bedrooms. Ds's bedroom has a big built in cupboard thing in his room and it grows in there too. It grows on the wall behind the sofa and on the back of the sofa itself, it grows on my tv unit and the legs of my table and chairs. It has even grown on the underside of Ds's mattress! It is everywhere!

When the flat was being renovated the landlady said I could choose my own paint for the walls, so I did and painted virtually the whole flat myself. She also let me choose the colours of carpet so I could make it feel like my own (she is lovely :) ). However, since this mould is constantly growing on the walls I have had to scrub it and bleach it so many times that every single room I took considerable expense and time to paint has now got damaged paintwork and in some of the rooms the carpets have marks on from the mould which I cant seem to remove :(

I do feel like it may be partially my fault as I have a tumble dryer, but I have no way to vent it, where the cupboard is for the dryer there is no way to access a window to vent it with a tube, the radiators are electric so I cant dry anything on them and I have no outside space at all (garden, balcony etc) to dry things so I have to use a tumble dryer.

Wibu to ask if I could have a reduction in the rent temporarily to buy a condenser for my tumble dryer and buy new paint to repaint the walls? The only room which is pretty much unscathed by the mould is Ds2's room because I indadvertedly painted his room with bathroom paint (I liked the colour :D), which has an anti mould thing in it so despite his bedroom being right next to Ds's, his room has no mould and Ds2's does. Ideally I'd like to replace Ds's mattress too as I really don't want him sleeping on a mouldy mattress!

I know it isn't her fault about the mould but I'm just getting so fed up with it now, I've gone through bottles and bottles of anti mould sprays and cleaners, keep the windows open as much as I can but it still just grows back within a few weeks!

extreme Watchdog did a piece a few years ago on how insulation does not suit all homes. I cant remember the exact date otherwise I would tell you in case its on youtube.

Could you attatch one of those airers that goes on the outside exterior wall at the back?

There really is no where else to put it Lady, I currently have a chest freezer in my living room because there is only enough room in the kitchen for a fridge/freezer and I have a separate fridge and freezer, between the sofa, table and tv unit there is no room for it - no room in the kitchen (plus the window in there doesn't open anyway, we just have an extractor), no room in my bedroom (barely room for wardrobes and a bed) and I can't put it in the kids' bedrooms (especially since ds2 is autistic and will play with it if it's not shut away somewhere!).

I could get a super long pipe but it would have to run all the way along the corridor, around 2 wall and doors and through the bathroom to run out the window, meaning you couldn't shut the door if you needed to use the bathroom! Not ideal :/

My flat backs on to the other people's flat so if I put an airer on the back wall it would be in their garden :D

I wouldn't mind that as such but I think they might a bit :s

Can you put it on top of the fridge or something?

You'll probably be better off using an airer/heated airer (lakeland thing but you don't need a heated one), then you can fold them away when you're not using them. Best place is the bathroom with the window open.

Hmm, can't really do on top of the fridge either as the window in there doesn't open and the extractor is pretty rubbish tbh, it doesn't even help much with the steam from cooking so can't imagine it would be much good it the TD was going!

Put an airer in the bath, close the door with the extractor fan on.

Do you have an airing cupboard with a hot water tank? If you could get a dehumidifier off gumtree/ebay and hang the laundry on the rails of the airing cupboard, put dehumidifier in there and shut door- this is how i dry my laundry.

Yes I do Stop but it doesn't have any rails and it isn't really big enough to put anything in there to dry :/

Is it a standard size airing cupboard or just big enough for the water tank?

If possible i would have rails installed. Even if you can only get one level of rails it's a help.

Other way of drying clothes ive used are to hang stuff on hangers from curtain poles with windows open.

Yes it's pretty much just a water tank with a gap around it :/

Its sounds bizarre but I have no curtain poles either :D Ds2 would just rip down any curtains or blinds I put up (he ripped curtain poles out of the wall in our last house) so I told the LL not to bother putting any in!

Move out move out move out. I lived in a flat like that for 3 years... I thought I was getting asthma, and I can constant colds, chest infections and sore throats. I moved to a nice warm dry house this November and haven't been sick since (well, aside from morning sickness which doesn't count!)

You know i think all new homes should be built with a designated laundry drying cuboard. With an extractor fan or some sort of water extraction system. I honestly have emotional feelings about being without my airing cupboard. Previous house had just a tiny one like yours and my laundry was all over the house and there was damp. I actually gasped with glee when i viewed this house and saw the walk in airing cupboard. All houses i viewed were viewed with the no1 priority being an all weather drying space. It's such an important thing- everyone had laundry. Come on builders- start building a designated space for drying. Most new builds have next to no storage space an no room for a tumble drier.

Someone mentioned getting EH to look at the mould? :) from a very difficult situation ( I had) I hate to tell you that they don't care about it!

I had it so bad, but was told that on a scale of 1-10 with death being a 1 it ranks a 10.

I have a hanging clothes airer now. It has really changed my life. Double spin your clothes pie it makes a big difference.

if you can afford it, get a washing machine with a 1600 spin -the washing comes out nearly bone dry!

I don't believe it is all your fault actually, the damp/mould you talk about would have taken years to take root.

Your dryer is not helping but that is about it.

Good luck. :)

Thank you :)

I did think the dryer was probably not doing any good but realising how much damage all this damp could potentially be doing is enough to make getting a dehumidifier and possibly a proper condensing dryer a definite priority!

We had a similar issue with EH a few houses ago, that place was terrible for mould, had to throw away 3 of ds's beds because it just grew everywhere, landlord couldn't be bothered to do anything about it and the EH really weren't fussy either :(
It's nowhere near as bad here but I don't want it to get any worse!

Agree with Stop, the LL is lovely and has been very helpful but the way the flat is designed (not her fault) makes it virtually impossible to facilitate the drying of laundry, which everyone has! I mean, who's bright idea was it to build a special cupboard with the plumbing in for a washing machine (and presumably a dryer too) but situate it in the middle of the flat with no access to a window or and kind of ventilation system? Makes no sense!

Right - if the LL is so lovely she needs to see what you are living with and to get someone in to find out what is really happening. I would if there is a combination of rising damp and windows that haven't been correctly sealed.

All the talk about dehumidifiers and heated airers ain't gonna fix the problems in this place. I think the tiled window sills could be adding to the problem by trapping moisture.

Go to the CAB and get their advice if the LL won't do anything about this. It's appalling and if it were my property I'd want to fix it.

That should be 'I wonder', not I would

Tbh before I read about the tumble dryer I thought Yanbu but I think the problem was caused by you! Yabu

I too live in a damp flat with no outside space. It's not too bad at this time of year but in the winter it's terrible. We need to dry our clothes somewhere so these have to hang on an airer but the place gets so moist. We can't open the windows because we are on the ground floor and would be burgled.

Lots of our soft furnishings, walls and curtains have gone mouldy. It's really hard to fight it.

My mum never opens her windows summer or winter. She hates the idea of the net curtains ending up with orange brick dust on them. They don't have any mould though.

Privately owned house.

Darkesteyes doesnt her house stink?

Admittedly i have a farty dog but even in the dcs rooms in the morning they need aired out after all night sleeping in them.

To clarify, farty dog doesnt sleep in dcs rooms. Farty dcs sleep in dcs rooms.

To be fair to OP I think that the problem was already there when she moved in! Ditch the dryer and buy a ceiling airer to hang over bath (bathroom window open all time) Contact ll after a month or so and explain the place is still damp xx good luck

Just a a quick update - since starting this thread I have bought a condenser box for the tumble dryer and a dehumidifier. Been running it every time we have a bath/shower and every time the tumbledryer is on, plus sometimes overnight when the electric is cheaper :D

Over the summer I also repainted almost every room in the flat with anti-mould bathroom paint - both dc's bedrooms, my bedroom, separate wc, bathroom ceiling and I have the paint for the living room but haven't had time to paint it yet. I have even painted the skirting boards etc with the anti mould paint!

We haven't had as much growing on the walls but there is still some mould growing, and now it seems to be growing in places it wasn't before. In the bathroom we have a wicker toilet roll storage basket and there is green fluffy mould growing on that and on the back of the door. There is white fluffy mould growing around my bedroom window, which has been painted with anti mould paint.

What do I do now? Ds's mattress has developed orange marks on it from where the metal bed frame is rusting - surely this isn't normal? What else can I do?!

It's only just started to get cold again, I dread to think how it will be over the winter if its getting like this again already :(

haven't re-read whole thread - but if you've sorted all the things I recall were wrong (washing drying inside, tumble dryer venting into rooms, lack of ventilation etc) and after a roasting hot summer there is still mould then it is definitely time to ask the landlady for ideas/help.

need to check (if not already done) that there isn't a building issue causing damp.