Dealing with mould in house

[shamelesss]

We live in an older style home in the Uk, we have lots of areas around the home that are prone to mould.
Im trying to keep on top of the condensation, but the mould is still cropping up, best tips to manage this? Someone said bleach but someone else said vinegar (obviously I don’t want to mix the 2!)

Also no trickle vents on windows, anyone had these installed and have an idea of price?

We used to leave in a really mouldy rental property. When we complained the owner had some people installing vents. Then our heating bill went up dramatically. Mould lived on. My young son developed asthma. Eventually we were in a position to move after struggling for a couple of years. That was 10 years ago. My son still has his asthma. Lots of people told me at the time he would grow out of it. He didn't

Is there any damp ingress into the house? If you have a leak (as I do in my kitchen) the wet plaster will mould.
Do you dry washing or shower/cook in areas without extractor fans? If you have not got extractor fans get them fitted and don’t dry washing indoors. If you have an open fire use it (after the chimney has been swept) as the fire will pull air through you house and out very effectively. Positive ventilation systems do the same and newer one have heat exchangers on them.
Ive not found trickle vents to be effective at changing the air. Opening all the windows and door wide for 10 minutes is more effective.
Is the house heated? As warm air holds more moisture than cold air. Dehumidifiers do work but it’s needs to be an appropriate size and a decent make.

For removing the mould I just used a mould spray as in my house it’s only a small area

A dilute bleach spray will clear the mould in the short term. If you mean small areas of black mould on window frames, then just spray them once a week when cleaning. Vinegar (acetic acid) acts in the same way.

If you have large areas on walls or ceilings, that's a damp problem, and you need to find and fix the cause.

Get a dehumidifier. It has changed my life. No more mould and the house is warmer.

I second the dehumidifier. We had an old one. Bought two new ones. It sucked 20l of water out of the air yesterday.

Trickle vents will not sort this.

Dehumidifier and keep windows open when not using the dehumidifier

Thanks all, I do have a dehumidifier I don’t always run it though as it’s not great on the electric bill.
I open all windows on dry days, hang washing out on dry days too, dry as much as I can in the tumble on wet days so there’s not wet washing hanging about, I cook with extractor fan on and open kitchen window.
Mould is around one window frame in my bedroom and then it’s in corners (not all just some on an outside facing wall)
My bathroom is the worst area, it’s an extension but a funny shape so 3 out of thr 4 walls are an outside facing wall and all are prone to mould, have a small extractor fan in there, I wipe down and have got a karcher window vacuum which I use on shower/window/mirrors but still black spots appear in random places along those 3 walls

It’s tricky being in a rental as we are happy to spend some money but don’t want to spend too much as we’re already paying a lot in rent and it’s not our forever home

Maybe get a newer better dehumidifier but do your research first. You can look at online reviews and which reports at the library.
If you can get the moisture out of the air it’s easier to warm the house up.
It sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things. The only thing you shouldn’t do is open the window and have the extractor fan on at the same time. If the fan vents to the outside (not all do) leave the windows closed and allow the fan to remove the damp air.

You do need to open windows every day, whatever the weather, for as long as you can tolerate. Even on cold wet days it will freshen the air indoors, as cold air holds less moisture than warm air, so it will help, even if it feels counterintuitive.

After showering/bathing, leave the fan running with the window and door closed for 20 minutes.

You do need to open windows every day, whatever the weather, for as long as you can tolerate.

But is being constantly cold a reasonable trade off for moisture? That's arguably more miserable than mould issues, day to day

That's why I said "for as long as you can tolerate".

It is just one of those things with living in an older house, it needs to breathe so you need to ventilate.

Once we’ve all had a shower in the morning and are dressed (so about 10-15 mins after our shower) I close the bathroom door and just leave the window open for most of the day (only close it if it’s really cold)
I wasn’t sure if it was best to open windows on really wet days or leave them closed.
Will look into a new humidifier that’ll be better on electric!

My dehumidifier has a humidistat which turns it off once the humidity reaches the set level. This saves on electricity.
When I first turned it on it ran solidly for about 2weeks as it extracted all the dampness from the house. I had to empty it every day. I thought it didn't work properly and checked the manufacturer's website which said this could happen when you first use it.

Now I've been using it, it switches on and off depending on people having showers, cooking etc

MeacoDry Arete® One 25L Dehumidifier / Air Purifier

I've found I have to have to door and window open in my bathroom all day. I shut the window at about 5pm as it gets chilly. I've found that keeps it at bay but actually it's leaving the door to the bathroom open all the time which helps the most.

I think gutters maybe the culprit, do you have any idea if they have been cleaned/need cleaning.
We do ours religiously twice a year as we are surrounded by trees whose leaves end up decomposting in our gutters.

Will try leaving the bathroom door open thank you!
And good shout for the gutters, we haven’t had them done since wr moved in and we do have a lot of trees around so I imagine they’re probably a bit of a mess!

Zinsser make an anti-mould paint. My bathroom doesn’t go mouldy anymore since I used it (except for the grout).
We also use a dehumidifier. Ours tells us the humidity level. We aim for 40% but haven’t got below 50% this year yet (no heating on so far)