How can I stop my clothes going mouldy?

[BustyMcGee]

Hello,

The clothes and shoes in one of my bedroom cupboards keep going horrendously mouldy. I've recently bought a dehumidifier egg from lakeland which i hope will help, but has anyone got any other tips, even really obvious ones. The cupboard wall backs onto the bathroom, but is not damp to the touch. Any help appreciated

Bump

that's a pretty serious damp problem if they are horrendously mouldy.

Not sure the egg will be enough - what about a proper dehumidifier in the room?

You need to get some antimould stuff from the DIY store and clean the wall with it, then seal the wall before painting it again. Then you need to do the same to the back of the wardrobe. Also I know this is going to sound stupid. But put a heater in the cupboard (safely) for a few hours a day to dry it all out properly.

Oh and at some point you might want to sort out the leak in the pipe in your bathroom which is slowly rotting your house!

You need to lower the relative humidity. You can either do this by taking water out of the air (dehumidifier) or by warming the air (so it can hold more water and the water doesn't condense and create dampness) - so either a dehumidifier or a heater.

I think a dehumidifier works out cheaper to run but they are noisy (we have one in our damp sitting room which we leave on when we're away - which is when it gets damp because the heating is off.)

The cupboard backs onto the bathroom wall but not an outside wall? Is there any chance a pipe could be leaking? That does sound like a serious damp problem.

The egg is unlikely to do anything serious I'm afraid. What you need to do is ensure that the cupboard is

1. Not affected by a leaking pipe or rising damp
2. Well ventilated
3. Not crammed with stuff
4. Cleaned of mould spores - I would use bleach
5. Not colder or warmer than the rest of the room

Thanks everyone. I don't think there's a leaking pipe, all the pipework is the other side of the bathroom. Looks like I've got to get a proper dehumidifier.

Hmm....if you don't have a pipe there your problem is probably higher up - most likely a roof leak or just a blocked drainpipe directing water down the wall. Fix the leak and you'll fix the problem.