To think our house is making DC sick

[Concernedmum23]

Please, need some urgent help.

DC is 4. She used to be lively, happy and full of energy. Since about late October time she started getting colds. We thought the usual, oh it's that time of the year. Except the colds never went away and kept on coming. Since then she's been ill and "congested" every single day. She now looks pale, yes I know it's winter time but she has this weird tint to her that she gets when is run down. She has big black bags under her eyes, her energy is higher but restless and irritable. Again, we thought it could be down to her age and a phase but now I'm not so convinced. As well as permanently being congested and always choking on it, she's become highly wired at night time. She wakes up multiple times during the night sleep talking/walking. The other day she randomly woke up, complained of pain, vomited and then was fine?

The thing is we live with family and can not afford to move out at the moment. The house, to me anyways, seems riddled with black mold. When I bring this to DH or his families attention I get shut down. But there is evidence of black mold, in the corners by windows. On the floor, in the carpets, in the corners of the wall/skirting. At its worst it can go up into the ceiling and this is all just the visible external part of it, god knows what is happening behind the walls. I'm worried her sudden onset of illness and not seeming to get better despite the diet change, heavy vitamins ect is due to black mold poisoning? DH claims it's common from old homes to get this, but surely not every week/month? We clean the mold and it seems to return with about that time frame. If left untreated it can get really bad. The wall paper in the house in many places is peeling/bubbled but again it gets dismissed from just being an old house.

I feel convinced that unless it's a random allergy she has developed it's the house doing this. Her symptoms align with black mold exposure but no one seems to take me seriously. Also there isn't really anything we can do about it being in the financial predicament we are in.

The drs don't seem concerned. They have referred her to an ent and said her to sols look big but that it's "normal for most kids and she will grow into them". This feels more than that, and I'm scared for my child despite being shut down by everyone. Gp won't even do basic allergy/asthma tests on her. I'm at a loss and so so worried. Help!!!

I'm also thinking you should go down the council house route. Make it clear the family aren't prepared to do anything about the problem and that you're worried for your childs health and have no other option housing wise. I'd say go to CAB, but you hear good and bad about what they do and don't do to help x

That would really stress me out too OP, and especially not being heard when you raise concerns . We moved house due to mould as I'm convinced it made our teen ill - her room used to smell of mould and try as hard as I could with vinegar on the windows and airing the room it still grew mould. She definitely recovered when we moved and it took time

Mold is not healthy at all, I agree. It's easy to treat and kill though: 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts water in a spray bottle. Saturate the damp on a daily basis, leave for an hour, gently wipe with a cloth and bin it. Repeat until it has completely disappeared. White vinegar kills damp at the roots so it shouldn't return.

Also, running a medium to large (15 to 20 litres) dehumidifier for a couple of hours a day will make a big difference to humidity levels. They're more economical these days: I have one (15 litres) that costs just 7p an hour to run, I have a larger one (22 litres) that costs 9p an hour to run. I wouldn't be without them: I have no damp in my house.

Corners of windows and ceilings is more than likely to be condensation. Clean it off with a specific mould and mildew treatment, Dettol do one, also Cillet Bang do one, you can get them in most supermarkets. If the windows have trickle vents clean them and leave them open all the time. If you don’t have them see if you can leave windows on the latch. Or open all windows once a day for a hour. Do you dry clothes in the house? You need airflow in the property. Don’t allow the property to get too cold, keep heating on when it’s cold. Cover pots and pans when cooking and use the extractor fan when bathing or keep the bathroom window open when you’re in there. Some lifestyle changes could make a great difference to this. It’s not nice but it does happen and can be remedied. Black mould is really dangerous and you can do something about this.

Do the family you live with own or rent the house?
Realistically, after dealing with any obvious causes (e.g. cleaning gutters and repairing if necessary, repointing brickwork if needed, using a dehumidifier if drying washing indoors, ensuring adequate ventilation), whoever owns the house needs a damp and mould specialist round. They'll be able to advise on what type of mould it is and how to deal with it.
As a previous poster has said, whilst mould and mildew generally isn't good for people, not all black mould is the super-toxic black mould. From your photo, it could be powdery mildew, which is relatively common in old houses where furniture is kept pushed up to external walls.

Not sure what choice you have, OP? The only way to solve this is to move house I'm afraid. The mould will keep coming back. We had exactly the same issue in a rental property (private rent - landlord did nothing about it). We cleaned and scrubbed but it kept coming back.

More pictures of the 'not quite so bad' mold around the house

This doesn't make any sense. Why have you decided to have another child when you live in an overcrowded, mouldy house because you can't afford to house the child you have?

Is there a carbon monoxide detector? Is the boiler in proper working order with a safety certificate?

@everychildmatters that's pretty much the scenario here. It's a rented property but tenants don't want to inconvenience landlord and ask anything of them. So they don't want to bring up the mold situation and again I think as they don't see it as an issue I'm pressing on a dead end

@Dolambslikemintsauce yes..as it's rented these are all legal requirements and I assume are up to date

@SmokeRingsOfMyMind I didn't "decide or plan" to have another and at the time I wasn't living at this house. I moved back in once I found out I was expecting so our family could live under the same roof. I can't go back to where I was now so that is no longer an option. We are stuck here.

Does the landlord know that 4 additional people now live there

Sounds crazy to me

@ImDoneOnceAndForAll yes. Not a problem. Plenty of bedrooms. As I said before, it's not over crowded. It's an "old house" and that seems to be the mold justification

This. You need to get your child out of there. Have you actually mentioned the mould to the GP, would be good if you can get them on-side. Speak to CAB and/or shelter. You may be able to access homelessness help on the basis that you are living in "bad housing conditions" (and you don't have any control over improving it as you are not the tenant or owner):

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/legally_homeless

Also it's not an additional four people...only me and DC are the new tenants.

I had skin prick testing done at the hospital. I reacted to lots of things but the worst was cladosporium, which can be black or green.

You can get kits that can identify the type of mould it is. Do you have a dehumidifier?

@TheFatCatsWhiskers1 ah I see, would they do this for a toddler? The GP seemed opposed to even test her for dairy intolerance or gluten allergy.

We had one but found it really didn't touch the surface or make any difference.

My house is almost 100 years old. We have never had mould in it. That is awful.

You said it’s rented. If it’s social housing the landlord has to help you resolve this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Awaab_Ishak
If it’s a private landlord talk to your council, you can get help from their environmental health and housing teams.

This was just one of the damp rooms in our private rent...landlord did nothing. Ended up having to move.

Short term but a dehumidifier, heating up, air the room when dehumidifier is off. You need to reduce the moisture in the air. Bin mouldy carpets or cut moulded areas off. Longer term, move.

Have you been living like this for 5 years?
so before you had your dd?
you and dd moved out (to where?) but have moved back in because you are having another baby?
You cannot bring a new born into this environment, it’s not healthy or for your daughter also.
Have you looked into that benefits you would get? Towards housing?
there is no reason 2 working people shouldn’t be able to live independently, even a one bedroom place while kids are small you would get help with rent if low earners.
Does your partner work?
have you been able to save anything while living with family in a health hazard for 5 years?
Does the landlord know you are staying there?

What does she sleep on OP? Is it an elevated bed or a floor bed?

Could the mattress have mould in it?

I don't think they would, mine was only as a last resort to see if I'd be a suitable candidate for immunotherapy.

But even if you knew it was a mould allergy, what could you do about it if you aren't in a position to move? Are you claiming all the benefits you're entitled to?

I used to live in a small rented flat that had mould all over the walls in the bedroom. It didn't matter how much I ventilated the room or cleaned it with mould spray, it kept coming back. They'd painted over wallpaper which was bubbling and coming away. When I gave my notice I refused to scrub it off for when people came for viewings as I wanted them to know what they were potentially going to sign up to, much to the letting agent's annoyance. They didn't manage to let it until after I'd moved out.