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!

it all depends on how much youre paying for this flat unfortunately doesn't it ....

Re: dehumidifer and mould spray are a must!

I have also covered my areas which are affected in Matt anti mould paint - ronseal do it. Also you can buy silica gel packets from amazon, these eat moisture and if you put them in your drawers they tend to save clothing also.

laws of physics means that if it is a colder night, and you are breathing in the house, condensation will form on windows at least. So everyone who lives in such a climate needs to wipe windows and ventilate the house. Rented or owned doesn't affect the laws of physics.

unless you live in a palace (in which case get the staff to do it) it is a very quick job.

I have attached a link to a really good flyer by an energy efficiency charity.

There maybe some schemes your landlord can access to improve the energy efficiency of his home such as The Central Heating Fund? It's worth contacting your local council to see if they are involved in anything.

www.nea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/L1-Dealing-with-damp-and-condensation-30-4-15.pdf

I'm a SOD too. I seem to be collecting less and less moisture now though (its definitely still working) so I'm wondering if there was an absolute ton of moisture in my house that had nowhere to go and its finally drying out? I have had it for 4 months. I am amazed that my shower curtain no longer goes mouldy, nor my grout and window frames

Interesting to hear how helpful ppl find dehumidifiers! As an aside re your freezer, possible the door seal is faulty letting in the moist air from your flat which then freezes?

This page from Shelter, which has a huge advice section for tenants who are renting from both council and private landlords, deals with just this topic. They have a free helpline you can call too. england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/common_problems/damp_and_mould_problems_in_rented_homes
It says that the damp/mould is a health and safety issue that the council can inspect and make your landlord address these issues or they will take him to court. HE should supply an adequate humidifier at HIS expense and install ventilation to stop it re-occuring. Shelter can advise you further.. but in the first instance I'd take lots of pictures of the mould and the damage to your property and the condensation and write it down just as you have here and follow the instructions for reporting it. No point just having a word with him. Put it in writing with pictures and description of how long its been going on. You may have to report it to him first to give him a chance to deal with it. (Just stick to the facts - you don't need to tell him what you will do next.) Send the letter with proof of posting/receipt as Shelter advises and say you expect a reply within two weeks. Then take it to the council, with your letter and proof of posting etc. If the property is managed by an agency, you have even more leverage if they are members of an association like ARLA which has a code of practice that they are supposed to adhere to you can copy their associations in on your letter. These should be on their website. Don't put up with this whilst your landlord profits. Wishing you the very Best of Luck.

the great thing about a dehumidifier is that as well as dehumidifying they pump out heat as a side effect. So if you can afford to buy and run a half decent one it may well go some way to solving two of your problems - it may be more cost effective than you at first think.

We have mould on every bedroom wall, I have considered getting a dehumidifier but l think I remember reading somewhere that they were no good for asthmatics. There are 6 people on our 3 bedroom house and I would dry approx 2 loads of washing in the bathroom a week, everything else get tumbled. Would a dehumidifier be any good for us?

We were sick and tired of mould and got increasingly worried about health implications (DS has asthma).
Had kept on seeing an ad for a solution which we did some research on from a UK company called Envirovent - see www.envirovent.com/home-ventilation/why-ventilate/mould-problems/
We ended up getting one of their units put in our loft and have had no condensation or mould since having it fitted last October. It wasn't cheap but has made such a difference to our lives.

I also recommend a Karcher window vac. Just the bog standard one (someone might be selling one second hand). Slurps up all the water/condensation every morning and evening. Put those Aero thingies on the windowsills of the rooms the big dehumidifier isn't in that day. HG mould spray from B&Q pictured above. Cracking the windows open whenever you can. Throwing away mouldy things if you can't get the mould off. Not leaving glasses of water/cups of tea lying around to evaporate (make sure if you use the dehumidifier in the bathroom you keep the loo lid closed because the dehumidifier draws up available water and it's easier to suck water out of the toilet than out of the walls)

Toughday, the surveyor who came to our house told us that Envirovent would help my son's asthma and he hasn't been as wheezy since we had the unit installed. Just looked at their website and they have this about asthma www.envirovent.com/home-ventilation/products/asthma-and-allergy-products/

abbaroony I used Polycell 3 in 1 mould killer. It is in a white bottle and about a fiver from Homebase.

www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/searchterm/mould%20killer

It is great stuff.

I wouldn't put clothes away in drawers straight away after tumble drying. They will be warm and still hold some residual moisture. That's where the mould in your clothes is coming from.

it doesnt matter where you live house, flat, rented or owned and even what country you live in.....if you dont ventilate your home you will get condensation which can cause mould.....even places like Ibiza in the winter, where it can be warmer than an english summer, get condensation and mould.....you have to control the amount of moisture in the air and not put any furniture up close to outside walls to let air circulate....you cant blame a landlord for your own breathing, cooking and drying wet clothes indoors!

If I don't keep on top of the situation I get mould growing in the tile cracks in my shower. ventilation is part of the answer but religious cleaning of the shower with cream cleaner also helps, and being sure shower door is open after use. You can put a draft excluder against the bathroom door to stop the open window makint the rest of the rooms cold.

Lidl do a very good anti-mould spray every so often. Bigger container than most and works very well.

Even better than the HG stuff is Blitz that Mould from Lakeland. I have used it to remove mould successfully from fabrics (clothes and soft toys)

yes to ventilation. and heating.
simple physics: warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, which is why you get condensation on cold surfaces. as long as it is colder outside than inside opening the windows will replace warm damp air with cooler dryer air.

just open all windows every day for 10 min a couple of times. use bathroom and kitchen extractor each time you cook/use the bathroom.

when you rent in germany a 'ventilation table' is often attached to your rental contract that recommends how long you should air each day to prevent condensation.

Where in the house should you put a dehumidifier? If it's in the bathroom will it reach to all the other rooms?

We have ours on the upstairs landing outside the family bathroom. Mainly because its near the bathroom (source of most damp) and out of the way of general trafic, easy to empty as by the bathroom, and by an otherwise unused plug socket.

It's a heating thing mostly. My last house (rented) had mouldy walls and some of my shoes went mouldy and had to be binned. It had crappy electric panel heaters upstairs and that's where the mould was. It was also fucking freezing. My current house (also rented) has oil central heating and gets the tiniest amount of mould on windowsills. Both houses had single-glazed windows and both are draughty as fuck. This one has a harling and chicken-wire extension with vents built into the walls (think 1930s construction that wouldn't pass building regs nowadays) and the walls still don't go mouldy like the last one. Honestly, the difference is heating. Both this house and the last one benefitted from natural ventilation draughts and badly fitting windows - I bet yours is similar and has plenty of airflow! I have an internal showerroom here that still doesn't go mouldy even without a window.

Is there any way you can move to a centrally-heated flat? Living in a mouldy environment is really bad for you - when we moved out of the mouldy house, DH's continuous colds and nosebleeds suddenly cleared up!

Speaking as a landlord (not a professional one, just someone renting out her old flat as a way of eventually having a pension, so I don't have any extra money coming in from rent), I have replaced old wooden window frames with double glazing with vents, ensured that the kitchen extractor fan works well, that the panel heaters and electric bathroom heater work fine, and I still get the occasional bit of mould damage because my tenants WILL NOT air the flat as requested. I used to have tenants with a young baby who dried all their clothes indoors, and we never had any mould because they aired the flat. The last few years, though, I've had a run of tenants who won't open the windows or even use the extractor fan after a shower or while cooking, and then complain about mould. There's nothing more I can do to make the flat mould-proof - it comes down to ventilation and warmth. I appreciate you're airing the place out, and fuel costs may be an issue for warmth, but it makes all the difference. Things like ensuring the blinds or curtains don't touch wet windows help, too, as well as not pushing furniture right against the wall - just an inch or so helps the air circulate. Good luck; I know from a tenant's point of view it's a pain, but from a landlord's point of view, most of us are doing everything we can to combat it too, as it's not in our interests to try to rent out a scuzzy-looking flat!

I would move. I lived 10 years in a tiny attic bedsit flat. It was freezing cold even with 'heating' on. Crappy electric bar and blowy heaters. 20 years on my combined gas/electric bills are still cheaper in my newly built centrally heated 2 bed house. No mouldy clothes but had to frequently wipe down bathroom walls when they got too black.