black mould on wall

[StrongLegs]

Hi,

I have a patch of black mould on the wall of the bedroom right next to my head, and I'm not sure how to get rid of it. I wondered if anyone might know?

I think the water comes from the shower and the wall is an outside wall so it does make sense that it should be there. I think we should try to keep the bathroom door shut.

I wondered if it's then enough just to paint over the mould?

Thanks!

What you have a humidifier? Not sure if a joke. I have one too, in a cupboard from when my daughter had an awful chest. Yes turn it off.

We have a humidifier downstairs. It kind of hoovers the dust out of the air and is a total Godsend. We live in East Anglia in one of the driest parts of the country, so if we want to dehumidify the house we can just open the window and the whole place dries out like a desert.

@StrongLegs

If I just dried the walls and windows with towels in the morning, do you think that would do it?

Where would you dry the towels?

I would dry the towels in the tumble dryer after washing them, or on the washing line outside. The tumble dryer vents to the outside through a window.

I just spent the morning gutting the bedroom entirely, throwing away the carpet and underlay and moving all the furniture out for redecoration. Low and behold though, I found that there is a fireplace blocked up with bubblewrap. I have taken the bubblewrap out. That will help with ventilation won't it?

It still smells weird unfortunately.

The fireplace will help circulate air through the room

You can get a chimney sheep they stop draughts but let moisture and ventilation through if it gets too cold in there

Wipe everything over with solution of bleach, floors, walls windows etc

Check your guttering might be clogged blocked or leaking causing damp bricks out side

Maybe get the chimney cleaned or check that it's not blocked further up with a birds nest or something

And air it out every day

Thanks, that's a good list. I'll get onto that.

I just went and looked at the clothes from the wardrobe and even they smell musty. That's not good is it?

Nope.

Even if it's dry, air has to circulate.

Declutter all the clothes you don't wear.

Don't have the wardrobes, drawers and cupboards crammed with clothes and stuff.

Crikey. I didn't know that. I'd better get rid of a lot of stuff I think.

Is it possible to get rid of the musty smell from the clothes? They smell like a granny's wardrobe, which is very surprising because I am extremely very very young obviously. (Rapidly approaching 50....)

a hot wash, if it will stand it, and a fast dry, in tumbler or on a washing line.

Once you have any mould or bacteria on the clothes or spores circulating in the room, it will grow again if left damp and warm (e.g. draped around the house).

You can get sanitising laundry additives, but I've never used them. You might need them on delicate fabrics that will not stand a hot wash. Ordinary white washing powder (not gels or liquids) contains a small amount of bleach, and are fine on white cottons, and IMO necessary on towels and flannels. Powders marked "for colours" don't, as they may cause fading. Gels and liquids can't contain both bleach and enzymes, becuase the bleach destroys them in storage. Powders are dry so the bleach does nor become active in storage.

If you are lucky enough to have a hot-water cylinder and airing cupboard, you can keep stuff in there, after washing and drying, to protect it from a damp atmosphere.

Carpets are very difficult rid of damp mould smells.

p.s.

does your bathroom extractor fan work well, and do you use it enough?

If it is annoyingly noisy or underpowered, we can find you a better one.

A modern bathroom extractor will run for about 120 hours on 17p worth of electricity, so ignore the cost.

When you repaint, you can buy special anti-mould paint. We had a room that constantly went mildew and repainted with the Dulux anti mould and it's been fine for a decade. (Obviously after scrubbing walls with patio magic/equivalent.)

If you can find somewhere that will sell dulux trade to the public (brewers will you just have to register for a free account, not sure if they're national or regional?) then you can get it tinted into any colour you will.

The walls of my downstairs bay windows (two) get mouldy spots. I asked a builder who was doing a few jobs to advise, and he said I could spend a lot of money or i could wipe the walls down with a vinegar spray once a year. So I take the cheap option! That said, if it was in a bedroom and I’d anyone with respiratory problems like asthma I’d probably look for a more permanent solution. But start with washing down the walls, and see how long it takes to recur.

What @PigletJohn said
I have used the dettol laundry additive and also the fabulosa one which are both v good. The fabulosa ones smell stronger so it depends what you want but it rescued some gym clothing which had a sweat smell despite a decent wash with powder

Thank you very much, this is really helpful. I'll have a ponder about all the options and try to figure out which will work for us and for the mind-boggling array of clothes that I have to fix.