Is anyone else having mould problems due to not using their heating?

[Charlize43]

I've had mould problems before on external walls but it seems more prevalent since I tried to avoid putting the heating on this year due to the cost. Trying to dry clothes indoors takes much longer for them to dry and I'm noticing a great deal of moisture building up on the windows.

AIBU - Not to put the heating on when drying clothes. In the long run, this going to cause a much bigger problem with mould and damp.

YANBU - Just keep washing the mould off with bleach or distilled vinegar and put a jumper on if you are cold. Wash your clothes less often.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

I moved from my new build house recently (always warm, toasty, thermostat at 20c and trickle vents all open in every room) to an older house with no internal ventilation (have to open windows).
We never had condensation before but every morning without fail when the heating comes on the bathroom window and bedrooms get a 2cm thick line of condensation on them with the bathroom windows dripping.
We open the window after showering but have some mould problems in there with the grout in the shower wall. Also opening the windows doesn't seem to clear the condensation but it does gradually improve over the course of the day.
The thermostat in our new house is set to come on at 16c but the house current temp is 17c..it also takes ages to warm up.
I don't know what to tell you to do to improve it as I'm always opening the damn windows, but I don't think having the heating on all day is the solution for us.
Sick of wiping the damn things though,
I've ordered a window vac and a squeegee so hopefully that helps.

Looking at dehumidifiers now as we open windows each morning and put getting on before kids go to bed but still mould and damp I their rooms.
Which meaco dehumidifier dopeopke gave?

I need one of those! It is actually called a window vacuum?

I just preordered one as they are out of stock everywhere ! Do
You think one would be enough for the upstairs hallway ? Is a 3 bed semi (one room is a box room )

@BellePeppa

The one I ordered is karcher window vac which I've heard good things about. Also it's 35 pounds on amazon at the moment.

If you are not putting the heating on you really need to make sure to get rid of as much moisture as possible - airing the house in morning is one way - windows on latch all the time or installing passive ventilation systems or dehumidifiers.

We've always been frugal with heating - often money related - and had a lot of washing and this had been a huge issue in the past for us.

At minute we running dehumidifier's we have - airing house moping up round windows in the morning and spraying where we see mold - and using condenser dryer rather than having wet washing hanging around. I've also see water vacuums - but seem pricy - we currently have electric de-humidifiers so use power which costs - but chemical ones exist just not sure safe around our cats.

There are lots of tips on-line and you tube.

Next few weeks we will have the heating on (very old system no thermostat working so it's on full blast or not at all till we replace) - as there will be a cold dip.

Beyond a certain temp (under 16 degrees) with three asthmatics have to warm the house to avoid problems - we have got a temp and moisture monitor which has proven useful.

Yep! We had an awful mould problem when we moved into our house because it didn’t have central heating so the previous owners never opened the windows as it was so fucking cold in there, we had it installed last winter and now can’t afford to use it so back to square one 🤪 the smell of mould drives me nuts so I’ve got plug-ins and wax melts on round the clock! Dreading the knock-on effects of all this mould on my asthma this winter 😳

Leave the bathroom window open a tiny bit, the extractor fan on and the door shut to get the moisture out.

I couldn’t get the bathroom mould free until I read a bit more about how to circulate air with extractors etc.

I only have my extractor on for an hour after showering etc and it works a treat for keeping my usually Damp bathroom drier.

o also don’t ever close my bathroom window, it’s on the trickle catch, keep the door shut. We’re not particular fussed peeing in the colder room.

If your windows are shut the moisture cant go anywhere. If you are a tennant id also check your contract as ventilation the property correctly is usually a standard clause and if you cause damage to the property it could be an issue with tennancy.
I had this problem myself and 100% recommended the laundrette. I used to do the washing one 1 day, put it all in a huge ikea bag then off to the laundrette one of those huge machines will usually take a lot. Door to door I was an hour including all folded and stacked and we had a lot of washing!

Doesn’t help that my en-suite has no windows as it’s been put in a really stupid place so the steam travels into the bedroom 😒

Condensation has been streaming down my windows all day. There are little tiny spots of mould on the bottom of the bedroom wall. I'm going to have to find a way to have the heating on for some time every day or there are going to be massive problems. Mould is really dangerous and has often got a foothold before you know it's there. I ventilate the house every day - opening all doors and letting the air rush through - but its so damp that it isn't helping. I have asthma and it's got so much worse over the last two months I'm afraid I'm going to end up in big trouble.

Yes! I live in an old house and we've always had a bit of damp in the front bedroom because of the external wall there, but this year it's crazy. It affects my asthma quite badly so I'm constantly an itchy, wheezy mess struggling to breathe. Our neighbour on the one side is a bit of an oddball and doesn't ever put his central heating on so we've always had damp from his side. Now though we have mould in every room except the one over the entry funnily enough. I've just finished spraying down the bathroom with HG mould spray and I'll go on and do the other rooms later in the week. I've taken to keeping all windows open on the latch during the daytime if I'm at home. Looking into purchasing a dehumidifier this week as I have to mostly dry our washing on the heated dryer in the winter as it rains so much here.

I refuse to not put my heating on now though, it's on an hour in the morning and at night. I've left it off for a while but it's going to cost us all more once our homes are so mouldy we can't breathe and poison ourselves with bleach isn't it!?

Bought a house the bathroom ceiling gets mouldy I use a mop with bleach solution and scrub it down. Floor to ceiling every square inch is tiled. We open big window after every shower, have extraction unit. I just want to rip off all the tiles. And have a cubicle shower with a roof.

The mould on the property where the young child died was dreadful. So I imagine some property have a significant damp/mould problem and some just a bit due to cold generally?

We moved a few months ago and had no problems until a couple of weeks ago, when mould started appearing on the bathroom ceiling and in our bedroom where we've been drying clothes. Interestingly it coincided with putting the heating on for the first time and making the mistake I realise now of putting wet clothes on the bedroom radiator.
Condensation on every window in the morning. No extractor fan in the bathroom so that doesn't help but we have the window open in there as much as possible.

So now are opening all windows for at least 10 minutes every day, and going to get a dehumidifier for our bedroom. We had a horrible condensation mould problem in our old flat so really don't want it to take hold like that here. It's so hard when you're conscious of heating costs and can't dry clothes outside because of the incessant rain!

In damp climates like the U.K. this is a constant battle and prevention is best. I open bathroom windows as soon as someone has had a shower or bath and close the bathroom door - this stops the rest of the house getting cold while the bathrooms get well ventilated. I also have a dehumidifier which I use whenever I am drying clothes inside or if it just generally feels damp. Opening windows is good but not much use when it’s raining outside (as it’s just as damp outside as in) and also you don’t want to get the house so cold that it then takes ages to warm up again.

I got it on amazon for around 30 pounds. It's like a big squeegee with a tank for the water in the handle. Very worth the money can't remember the brand now I'm not at home.

We are using a dehumidifier x

It boils down to what you can afford I guess. If you can afford to put your heating on then do so, to avoid mould. If you want… well you can’t.

I feel a bit silly now for my bravado a couple of months ago, that we would keep the heating off for as long as possible and all wear extra layers...I hadn't really thought about the house.

Cat litter is good for condensation, fill empty tubs and leave on window sills etc.

We live in a bungalow so the air circulation is not as good as a house. The mould was dreadful when we first lived here. We put a Dry Master in the loft,
it is very cheap to run and stops the windows from running every morning. I also use a paint called No mould and it keeps the fucker at bay.

Go for a war on water.

Use a window vac on the windows, or if you haven't got that one of those bits of plastic with a rubber wiper on that is used for finishing windows. Scrape the condensation down off the window into a container that you can put flush against the window at the bottom.

For the bathroom do similar. I always scrape down with the rubber thingy the shower cubical doors and push all the water into the tray at the bottom. I then scrape it from the tray down the plug hole. The more water you push down the plughole, the less can evaporate into the air. It only takes a couple of seconds. As a bonus it stops the shower tray getting those horrible pink deposits, because all of the water that contains them ends up down the plughole. Make sure the bathroom door has a good seal between it and the rest of the house, keep it closed and use extraction.

For the kitchen if you are boiling pans use a lid or extraction rather than let them pump steam into the atmosphere. Keep the kitchen door closed as much as possible to stop the water vapour going into the rest of the house.

Dehumidifiers are a good way to remove water vapour if you can afford them and don't cost too much to run (300W is about 10p per hour).

Open windows! We have our small top windows open in bedrooms and bathrooms all year round, sometimes only a little esp in DDs room now its colder. tbh spiders built their webs thereat end of summer and I havent wanted to disturb them.

Our house has no central heating and gets no condensation. I use a karcher window vac on the shower screen. Bathmat goes over the firesurround in the evening to dry out. Log burner on in the evening and we have a central chimney stack so house does get some heat.

The top spin on clothes and hang outside when dry weather. Did 4 loads like this over the weekend with about an hour of a portable heater on sunday to finish off the uniforms.

First, vinegar and bleach don't actually kill the mould. Look for a mould spray in B&M. Poundland used to do a good one too.

You can't really live in an unheated home without the damp causing bad effects with deeper mould and possible rot in the flooring, joists etc. Either you need to ventilate much more, which is hard when it's cold. Or I highly recommend a dehumidifier. You might be shocked at how much water it removes. It needs to be a fairly powerful one - about 12 to 20 litre. I run mine for about an hour a day in each room that needs it - ie the ones that have a lot of condensation on the windows. Mine costs about 6 or 7p an hour to run, so cheaper than the heating.

Those spunj cloths (they sell them in B&M) are really good for drying condensation off windows. Cheaper and probably longer lasting than a window vac.