Mould, Damp - help

[OnNaturesCourse]

Currently in a little fight with my landlord as the windows in our home are leaking, drafty, full of condensation and the sills are growing black mould.

I've been bleaching the areas almost daily but the bleach fumes are crazy and I have a newborn in the house so have to be careful with fumes.

I've tried the damp/condensation catchers but the problem is beyond that now. Is there anything else I can try to minimize the problem and/or control the damp/mould growth?

I'm in a all electronic home with central heating so try to have the windows open for a little each day to air/dry the place out, and although I dry our clothes inside I don't put them on the radiators. I have a extractor fan in the bathroom where there are no windows but I don't think it's working all that great.

Help?

It sounds to me as though the extractor fan may be on its last legs. But, you need to treat the cause of the damp with a dehumidifier rather than the symptoms with bleach and variations on bleach.

In our previous damp mouldy place our landlord purchased a karcher window vac to help and unfortunately that didn't. I would borrow one from someone to try if you are thinking about that.

The window vac is great on condensation or a once over of the bathroom after a shower but it won't remove moisture from the air. A dehumidifer is the only solution.

dehumidifer, we are looking into these to suggest one to the landlord. Needs to be cost effective and small enough (:

This is a larger one
www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/home-appliances/heating-and-cooling/air-treatment/dehumidifiers/essentials-c10dh16-dehumidifier-10141104-pdt.html
This is 100 pounds

This is a small portable one
www.argos.co.uk/product/5807428
This is fifty pounds.
This is a very small tax deductible expense for a landlord.

Thanks!

Just a word of warning I had the small one in our old mouldy flat and it didn't do a thing. It's also only about £30 elsewhere. Think I paid round about that from Amazon.

It barely collected any water (might have been a dodgy one though).

That would make sense, larger will work better. I have only had larger ones and they have been great.

Get a dehumidifier and remember to clean the filters every now and again. You will be amazed by the amount of water it sucks out of the atmosphere. Way better than an extractor fan and cheaper to run too.

Also - I recommend a hygrometer, around £15 from Amazon. Then you can see how much difference the dehumidifier makes to the air in your home.

We've had this one for 2 years and it makes such a difference. We used to get black mould on our windows over winter and now we don't.

EcoAir DC12 Compact Portable Dehumidifier, 12 L www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HT8DC7Y

We have this one and it works great thoughnis a bit more expensive it’s cheaper to run.

www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/cd20le/electriq-cd20le-dehumidifier?refsource=APadwords&refsource=Apadwords&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsK7RBRDzARIsAM2pTZ-vRphSVoDke2Bj-_A8kxB5kf_Qa_m-rMGV4hSJhHPSbJ5tkFgF3nwaAoj0EALw_wcB

And it’s really quiet too