To ask how you keep mould away?

[Rudolphrum]

For those of you mumsnetters who live in older houses how the hell do you keep mould in the windows at bay?

We recently moved into a rental where all of the upstairs rooms are not double glazed. Every morning we wake up to a pool of water on each window which we try to wipe off. We now have mould on all the upstairs windows which I've been bleaching tonight.

This can't go on - surely there's a trick I am missing? A friend told me to sleep with Windows open but it's fucking freezing!!!!!

Yes, that's a Positive Input Ventilation unit or PIV. You can buy them on amazon for about £250 and get an electrician to install it. The companies who do it exclusively sell a similarly specced unit but they cost over £1k. I had an Amazon bought one installed and the condensation went OVERNIGHT. I am not exaggerating. My boots would go mouldy, had to clean the walls with mild detergent regularly, had breathing problems. This all went overnight and never returned.

Also, change your bathroom fan for one with a humidistat, it'll then run for as long as needed to extract the hukidity

Its really important to have an open vent at the firrplace as some builders block it up out of ignorance. The vent is there for a purpose, to let some fresh air in and reduce condensation. Also important is to have a window or windows open a bit for the same purpose!
People, kettles, cooking etc make condensation all the time. We make it by breathing.
It is not the fault of the windows, single glazed or whatever! It is the lack of air coming in.

I used to have a problem with black mould but only in the bathroom, it was solved by

1. installing an extractor fan. Not the humidity activated one as I wouldn't be able to sleep if it came on at night, it is one that comes on with the light so I can put it on and off as required. I leave it on when I hang up a wash.

2. getting DH to stop spending 45 minutes in the shower every morning

3. getting DH to stop opening the bathroom window immediately after finishing his shower, as the cold air coming in seemed to condense the steam on the tiles.

Now he has a 10 minute shower, and then leaves the window shut and uses the extractor fan to clear the steamy air from the room without letting cold air in. No mould at all now.

Drying clothes indoor does not always cause mould. I always dry clothes inside, except in the height of summer, because otherwise they just dont dry (north facing garden). I do keep at least one upstairs and one downstairs window cracked open all year round to keep air circulating.

My friend with a flat and no tumble drier sits one dehumidifier next to her clothes horse when she does the washing and that does the trick for her.

Firstly, how do I tag someone in a post?
daffydowndilys, didn’t take that as rude at all🙂
Unfortunately, I’m not keen on windows open as we got burgled a few years ago, I can lock them open a crack so I do that, but only during the day in my bedroom, leave others open at night.
I can’t afford to adequately heat every room, the heating in my house is astronomical, and I have no where to dry my heating, so it has be done inside.
I do have extractor fans, I should use them, but they are sooo noisy!
Oh, I realise how awkward I am reading this...😂

Habadabado
We actually had a surveyor around to look at the damp as one external wall was really wet especially when it had been raining. They drilled into the outside wall and took a sample of the cavity insulation which had been put in by previous occupants, it was like a wet sponge. The surveyor told me that this is quite a common problem and he gets angry that people are told to get this foam when the air in the gap is itself insulation.
New houses often have foam in the walls but it is anchored to the wall with a gap between not just squirted in.

@arranbubonicplague I have the Vax-DCS1V1EP

@ProfYaffle do you mind me asking why you say don’t put furniture against north facing walls? I’ve got a lot of north facing walls so am curious to know!

Watching for tips.

We get bad condensation but just in the bedrooms not downstairs. After reading recommendations on here I bought some Magneglaze for one room and it has almost completely eliminated condensation. It's basically cheap, removable secondary glazing that's 1/10th of the cost of double glazing!

Also in the bathroom, squeegee the tiles after each shower or bath to get rid of excess water.

In addition to the main points others have mentioned:

Spray problem areas with a fine mist of vinegar, using a bottle for spraying plants.

Inspect any cold walls regularly by pulling furniture out to check if mould is growing behind it. Especially bookcases, for example. Best to catch any problems early on, because once the mould has grown right down into the plaster then surface treatment won't be truly effective and the only complete cure is re-plastering. If possible, don't keep large furniture right up against the wall but instead leave a small gap so air can circulate. If you do find any mould behind the furniture, make a note on the calendar reminding you to check and treat those areas - I have a slight problem in a few places and do this every three months. We've reluctantly got rid of some of our larger furniture because it isn't easy enough to move.

I use the windowvac on the bathroom tiles and shower screen.

@buddytheelf85 because those walls are colder and more damp, therefore mould is more prone to growing where air can't circulate behind furniture. We had huge problems with a wardrobe in our bedroom, it was horrifying when we looked behind it. No problems since we move d it to the other side of the room.

Ensuring you drains are regularly cleared out also helps. No idea why but it works!

Those saying washing outside doesn't dry - my memories of drying washing in winter were you'd hang the stuff outside, and bring it in a few hours later wondering why the hell you'd bothered, but then everything drying really quickly once inside. The stuff gets cold outside in winter (unless you live here, which is mid winter, and 25C today!), and so feels wetter than it actually is. Hanging stuff outside, especially if these is a breeze, does make a difference.

Also, if you wipe the condensation up, how are you drying those towels? Because if you are hanging them up in the house, you are not actually removing any water from the building....

We had this issue OP, we live in a pre 1920s sandstone farm cottage so very old! I do as other posters have advised wipe up condensation every morning, I open all windows during the day to air out all the bedrooms and we have just had a new boiler installed which is helping massively with getting a good heat in the house. The room with the biggest issue seems to be our bedroom. It’s north facing and has a built in wardrobe, unfortunately whoever put it in didn’t think to insulate it or set it out like a proper wardrobe, it just had a couple of shelves attached to the external wall so everything gets a bit cold and musty and shoes are mouldy. I plan on putting in a rail, taking the shelves off the wall and putting a tube heater in there to effectively turn it into an airing cupboard of sorts

We are also guilty of drying washing indoor at this time of year, I do keep the windows open. I can’t get it dry at this time of year as it’s north facing and the man next door has a really stinky wood burner thing which billows into my house and garden so everything stinks but that’s an annoyance for another day

And today - no condensation on the windows! 🤷🏻‍♀️

We don’t have any damp or mould, just random condensation on the windows. The windows will probably be dripping tomorrow!