To hope I can stop the spread of the dreaded mould

[puzzledbyadream]

Arghh so I decided that as i'd just come back from the launderette with a load of tumble dried washing that I'd do a touch of konmari-ing on my chest of drawers. Knickers went great, so did socks and tights. Then I pulled out all my t shirts and leggings and seemingly at random lots of them seemed to be covered in this funny brown mould and felt damp. Cue having to throw away some perfectly nice t shirts.

Now I think I know why this has happened. I live in a titchy flat and my landlord has only provided me with one "electric fire" in the living room to heat the living room, bathroom and bedroom. I have my own oil filled radiators that I used instead of this, but obviously this is not central heating. So my flat is quite cold and I have been loathe to open windows. So yes, the steam from my shower is probably the culprit here. I have been trying to open windows a lot, lot more recently but it's such a difficult balancing act between airing out the flat and keeping the heat in. Quite often I don't even use any heating in the bedroom and just sleep under a duvet and two blankets.

I have a favourite top which has been ruined and that I have put through the washing machine to no avail. Is there any way I can get the brown mould out? Also is opening windows really the answer to this? Feeling very frustrated right now!

Drying stuff inside the house makes problem worse, clothes on dryers as moisture has to go somewhere.if dry windows with cloth, cloth gets wet& drys &cycle repeats...been there only way to get round it is window vac& decent dehumidifier bigger the better &as previously said they also output warm air so it's win win as you will find not using ypur other form of heating as much.mine was new from scewfix at £100 but was for 3 bedroom house.It's only thing that's beaten my bedroom ceiling mould prob &I use to ventilate& have always used extractor fan in bathroom.I leave mine running morn/eve&it removes 2lts of water in 2/3 days,didn't think house was that damp!people do get rid 2nd hand when they move etc or even give away as can b slightly bulky

re dehumidifier
Go on streetlife or freecycle - sure to be someone getting rid of one

Dehumidifier is your saviour here. We borrowed one and had it on pretty much all the time apart from where we were asleep. We pretty much ended up having the windows open all the time in the end which was awful as the storage heater was next to useless. Luckily the summer came and we left so didnt repeat another winter in that flat. So glad we managed to recently escape the rent trap. Op can i suggest wearing alot of extra clothes and if seating on the sofa put a blanket over yourself.

This little dehumidifier has good reviews, it's 35 quid which isn't too bad, as we paid about 100 for a full sized one: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00NFRTVY6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1457344634&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65

Do you have visible mold? Our old place had ugly patches of mold so we got some remover spray, then used an anti mold paint from Wilko to prevent it coming back. Keeping warm is essential too. We found those oil filled radiators were much better than electric fires and seemed cheaper to run.

Dehumidifier
Tumble dry what you can (but not cheap)
Get a dry rack over bath to save space and keep door shut while drying and after a shower
Leave bedroom window open a crack
Use oil filled radiator not electric fan heater (cheaper to run)
Squeegee off excess window water and dry windows every day
Store favourite tops in a sealed plastic container (I use the big flat ones on wheels under my bed)
Use bleach to get rid of black mould around window frames

I've used mould remover liquid on my window wall and a few months on, no mould and didn't even use the mould blocker paint. I used the paint in the DCs bedroom. It's really thick and hard work!

Good luck

iMogster can i ask which liquid mould remover you used please?

Our council is offering free central heating to properties without it to anyone earning under 27k. Have a look if your council is doing the same. Our scheme is called Warm up North.

Terrible pic but this stuff is amazing at removing mould from walls, ceilings etc. We had a fairly big problem before we got our tumble dryer and this was the best spray that we found, it got rid of mould on a wall that I was expecting to have to replaster.

Oh and it was only a fiver from B&Q

Do no - repeat do NOT - use the above mould spray on clothes or any fabrics. It contains bleach and will wreck everything. It is, however, brilliant on walls away from carpets.

I battled mould in cheap rented accommodation for ages - I know what it's like to live without central heating and how difficult it can be. Here's my top tips:

• Have a time each morning where you squeegee down all windows and open them up . Then close them for the rest of the day and put the radiators on If you can't afford to heat the whole space, zone off an area that you can heat.
• Use mould spray to get rid of the nasty black mould that develops on tiles and in corners.
• Shut the door when you're having a shower so the steam doesn't get everywhere
• Never put away clothes that are straight out of the tumble dryer: they need airing to be fully dry a lot of the time
• Get a big duvet and keep your bedroom window slightly open at night to get rid of moisture
• Dry clothes outside wherever possible. If you're drying indoors, shut the door of the room and ventilate.
• Dehumidifiers are great but they can add to your electricity bill by quite a bit if you run them constantly. Be selective about when/where you use!

I have then unibond units you can get them from Asda I have one in kitchen and bathroom.

Ask the landlord to put an extractor fan in. Even better is a heat recovery unit which sucks out the moisture and sends the heat back in. They are very good value, will prevent mould build up and so redecoration costs for the landlord and even one of those in just the bathroom will improve the humidity levels in the whole flat. Also leave cupboard doors and drawers open if u go out with the heating on to air out the contents.

Thanks, these tips are so good! I will try all of them, will definitely move some clothes into my underbed storage. I've ordered some little moisture pouches from amazon and I'm getting the dehumidifier from Gumtree.

My landlord and landlady live downstairs but every issue I have is my fault. For example my freezer keeps freezing up entirely but apparently I'm doing something wrong (so now I just have no freezer) so I presume they'll just tell me to open windows more. I might just mention it to them.

I've left all the windows open whilst I'm at work today (it's ok, my landlord will be in) and on drawing my bedroom curtain I discovered a very mouldy windowsill which was covered in condensation. Will be spending tomorrow evening with bleach solution and rubber gloves I think!

Electric dehumidifier. And...

1. Don't put them close to your thermostat because they blow warm and your heating will think it's hot out
2. The water they catch can be used in your iron to avoid limescale (it's effectively been distilled)
3. The good ones have a 'humidity' setting and will cut out when your air is dry enough.
4. The heat from #1 will slightly offset the cost of running them.

Save yourself a world of hassle and buy the mould spray - either the one posted above or any other one. It saves the rubber gloves and it works much better than a bleach solution. It smells horrible though so watch out!

Your landlords sound horrible. Mine were very similar. And they were headbangingly Christian too. I could never work out how they reconciled it.

properties do need ventilating, although a few minutes a day should do it. Drying lots of washing indoors drops litres of water into the internal atmosphere so more ventilation needed.

all freezers frost up if not frost free. How often does it frost up? If lots, has the door seal gone?

Have a time each morning when you sqeegee down all windows and open them up.

Yep because renting is a full time job in itself.

Hi. I do sympathise. I bought my flat 2 years ago and noticed the mould a month or so after I moved in, in November. It was awful - really thick and furry below all the windows and, like you, my clothes were smelling of mould and some covered with mould. It's a ground floor flat but I came from a g-f flat before and never had this problem. Anyway, I got several opinions, ranging from spending over £3,000 to totally re-render the front of the house and boxing in under the windows to just not drying clothes on the radiators. Eventually, the advice I took has worked best. This is...opening the windows in the evening. Where I live is very cold (it snows here when it doesn't snow anywhere else nearby as we're in an elevated position) but I still manage to open all the windows at night when I'm in bed and it's fine. The condensation from your breath overnight really does collect on the windows and under them. A dehumidifier is great for drying up existing damp but you can't have it on all the time and so the damp with just return. I have those Aero360 things on my window sills and moisture soon collects in them, but opening the windows stops the mould from growing under the windows. I still dry clothes in the house as the tumble dryer is expensive, but as long as the windows are open (just a centimeter) overnight, it seems to work. Good luck!

Doyou leave stuff unsealed in freezer?

Violets mineral bleach has worked wonders getting mould stains out of clothes (after some bibs got left in a bag!). It's amazing stuff - colour safe, and brilliant at making whites brighter. Can buy it from here: www.babipur.co.uk/earth-friendly-bleach.html

Good luck!

So when are the companies who have been doing the cavity wall insulation in some of these cases going to start taking responsibility.

www.24dash.com/news/housing/2015-10-26-Cavity-Wall-Insulation-Social-Housing-Stock-Not-Immune-to-Complications

"A dehumidifier is great for drying up existing damp but you can't have it on all the time and so the damp with just return."

Why can't you? Aside from running costs that is.

We run ours for most of the day in the colder months. It has some sort of auto thingy sensor that adjusts itself to how damp the air is.

Our flat has never been fresher and pleasanter.

Yes, I'm a SOD.

Smug Owner of a Dehumidifier.

This isn't just a problem of damp air and/ or no/little heating. I live in a well heated house and we have a constant mould problem. It is caused by warm, damp air (unavoidable with four people living, cooking and bathing here) reaching the outside walls and causing condensation, which then provides the perfect environment for mould spores to flourish. A dehumidifier has helped a lot but the only real answer would be to insulate our outside walls so they are never cold. That, for us, is impossible due to the type of house (150 yrs old, walls are 2 feet thick stone). In the meantime I spend a lot of time on "mould patrol", searching out and cleaning off small patches of black mildew before they can get too bad!