help with heating & mould

[scabbysnake]

right i am fed up of the mould in my house over winter. its an old house, think 1800's. it has double glazing, not that great but is ok. its a rented house and costs a loads to heat when its cold. i am on a pre-pay meter as it was already here when i moved in. costs over £30 in the winter and that is only having it on for maybe an hour in the morning and maybe 2-3 in the eve, maybe more at the weekends but i try to use it the least i can.
i have spoken to the handyman about the mould and he said its cause the house doesn't get warm enough as i don't have the heating on enough. i make sure i air the rooms which get the mould in. i will open them up after getting dressed and then leave them locked by ajar for the morning so a good few hours.
the handyman has said that i don't let the house warm up before letting the cold in. so this year i am thinking if i leave the heating on all the time even at night then this should solve it?
he also said it proberly takes more to keep turning the heating on and off.
on the knob which chances the temp on my boiler it has no numbers so i'm not sure where to leave it on.
any advice would be great as i am fed up of mould and being freezing.

mould is not good/healthy ! - you need to speak to your landlord to get the problem sorted, If you tell him to get a de-humidifier for you ( and pay the electricity for running it!!!!), I think you may well be on your way to getting it sorted !, there was a thread about dampness/mould not that long ago actually, which you might find useful, will see if I can link for you.

here it is
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/1322221-Getting-rid-of-damp-smell-your-top-tips-pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease

Last year I ran the heating for longer periods, but with the thermostat a bit lower. It did keep the house warmer (as it rarely got very cold) so you might want to try. Shutting curtains early, and keeping them closed in unused rooms (eg bedrooms during the day) helped as did draft-busting and keeping some internal doors shut.

Re damp, I bought a dehumidifier and it takes in loads of water, but the electrify bill was enormous in comparison to using it and the damp still remained. I find having the windows slightly ajar for half an hour or so greatly helped with the condensation problem. Doesn't help with your heating issue though.

I'm also pre-pay and the gas costs about £20 a fortnight in winter and it's not even a large house.

Sorry that I'm not of much use but will be watching this thread with I interest!

Back again. To contradict what Edith said, I had heating

...for longer periods at a lower temp 2 winters ago and found I was still cold all the time. Currently have heating up much higher but for shorter periods and feel much toastier. Sometimes I am actually even too hot. Miracle.

Maybe it depends on the construction and layout of your house!