To not know how to get rid of the mould

[MouldWoes]

My walls are covered. I'm trying to keep on top of them with bleach. I open the window and have the heating on. Is it worth me getting them replastered?

Definitely find the root cause. We know ours is caused by guttering and roof issues but in a leasehold flat so beholden to others to get them fixed on a permanent basis. But things that have helped in the meantime...
Strippping off old damp/ mouldy wallpaper, scrubbing the wall behind with vinegar, then spraying HG mould spray leaving to dry and then spraying again.
Wallrock damp stop wallpaper, then painted with Zinsser bin primer (2 coats). And finished off with normal paint.
It's kept us mould free for 10 months while waiting for the roof to be fixed.

Assuming it isn't due to leaking gutter/ pipe/ some building issue, if it is lack of ventilation, get rid of black spots with a warm, dampened cloth dipped into bicarb of soda. A small plastic box of bicarb near the problem may also help or use a dish of those silica gel things that come with new shoes/ bags etc

Yes you need to find the root cause. Try posting on the diy board or mse have a diy forum that's very helpful. Pics would help.

Do you dry your clothes on an airer or radiators indoors? If so, don't do that.

We have had three dehumidifiers going round the clock for about three months now. We have got the humidity down to 40 pc. The mould has gone, the damp has gone it's much warmer now, clothes dry in next to no time and my other Half's hacking cough had gone. Even our snoring has got better. They are now set at 45pc and click in and out, after showers, cooking etc.

We had it on our bathroom ceiling. It was due to condensation forming in the loft and the moisture being unable to escape, causing mould to form on the timbers above our bathroom. We got some extra ventilation put in the loft and it seems to have sorted it.

Thank you! I'm going to Google damp course to see what that looks like

You need a fairly decent size plug in dehumidifier

Ahh someone boarded our loft so might be worth looking into that

Oo OK thank you I will when it comes back x

Clove oil but Google exactly quantities as I was a bit gung ho with it and it turned my white paint brown BUT it worked a treat and hasn't come back.

A chartered surveyor with expertise in damp is what you need to look for. They will inspect and give you a written report and give recommendations of work needed to fix it. They will charge you for the survey but they will not quote for the work. You will then have the knowledge of what exactly needs doing and can get quotes for the appropriate work or fix it yourselves as we did.

Don’t be fooled by contractors calling themselves damp specialists offering you a ‘free’ damp survey. They are just literally quoting you for a job that most probably doesn’t need doing. More than likely wanting to knock all the plaster off and injecting with chemicals at great expense. This solution will temporarily mask the damp for a few years but it won’t stop the cause and the damp will eventually return.

We had quotes from such companies which were eye watering.

Instead, we found a surveyor who told us the damp was caused by a leaking gutter pipe and water was pouring down the wall outside. He also told us that a damp patch on the ground floor was caused by rain water bouncing off the driveway and splashing up onto the wall. The simple solution was to remove a row of flags and replace with gravel. That stopped the splashing and the damp dried out pretty quickly after that.

It cost us about £50 to fix

You need to find the cause. Look at the roof and gutters, look at the pointing.

Are the walls solid or cavity? If they are solid and brick it might be coming through. Do you have a chimney? Pointing, flashing and every other part of it can leak.
Is the house rendered? If there’s a crack and water gets in that will cause mould.
Is the outside soil level higher than the damp proof course? Don’t have damp proof course injected.
Is it near a bay window?
Get a new radiator that works, don’t dry clothes indoors

Any leaking pipes and any cracks in any beadwork on the roof will also cause damp

Sometimes it can be pipes under the bath that have issues, and often one of the last places to be checked.

You need something called Bactdet and Halophen to both remove the mould and destroy the roots of it.

Interesting! And would make the plane smell Christmasy too. I'll look it up 😊

You are a hero!

2 dehumidifiers on average small home
3 above 70 sq m, on non stop in winter.
Repaint the worst patches in May

There is no amazing way to deal with it once and for all if you don't have money to pull down the whole infested structure and rebuild it

Look at heritage house for free advice about damp.

Inadequate ventilation is a primary cause of black mould.

Tropical fish tanks and drying clothes indoors (over radiators etc.) add to the problem.

If you feel you have done all you can by means of opening windows and having heating on; a Positive Input Ventilation (PIV) unit may be an option for you.

Get some HG mould spray. It doesn't remove the problem, but helps for sure. Maybe lasts longer at keeping it away that bleach.

If you replaster it will introduce literally gallons of water into the house while the plaster dries out. It's a really really bad idea if your aim is to fix mould without doing anything else.

You need to be heating the house properly and consistently so there's no condensation on cold surfaces, you need to be ventilating so that damp air form cooking, shower/bath, and just breathing is able to escape the house, you need airflow around the walls - don't have furniture up against walls, don't dry washing indoors, don't have stuff up against the walls outside either, especially if you don't have a cavity wall or you have cavity wall insulation - log piles, bin storage, sheds, shrubs and plants - all will trap damp and make it harder for damp from inside to get out even if it's not directly making damp from outside track inwards. If there's specific spots on the ceilings that are getting mould, you could check in the lodlft to make sure the insulation there is even, so not making a cold spot and also check it's not doing the opposite and there's too much so it's bridging the cavity and tracking moisture from the outside.

You could hire an infrared camera and use it to look for cold spots inside and hot spots outside to show where your insulation needs improving.

Dehumidifiers are great, but be aware it will pull moisture from the sink traps / loo, I avoid using ours in the bathroom and kitchen.

A dehumidifier (a big one) is your best friend in this situation

As a few people mentioned above, you need dehumidifiers and those cheap little digital humidity readers. See what the humidity is to start with and then start running the dehumidifiers with the windows kept closed. Opening windows when the outside humidity is 60%+ just exacerbates the problem because the outside air is even more damp.

I’d try this before hiring anyone or hunting for other sources.