Mould - Aggghhh! Out damn spot...

[Mij]

We live in a rented house we've been in since January - pretty standard 1930s semi with some nasty, slightly weary plastic double glazing.

There were a couple of patches of what I thought were damp on outside walls when we moved in, but they were in the spare room so I didn't do anything about it.

I cleaned some blackish mould-looking stuff off the window frames a few months back, in almost every room. I'm now noticing that it's returned, plus on some walls and it's spread to the curtain linings.

I'm a bit of an open-window fan, so I'm finding it difficult to believe there's a ventilation problem. Having said that, we do have to dry non-tumble-dryable clothes on radiators in the winter, and the extractor fan in the bathroom broke a couple of weeks ago so that's probably not helping.

I usually avoid all cleaning products where at all possible, but is this a 'bleach or nothing' situation? Any other ideas on how to both clean it and stop it coming back? In addition to the black stuff we now have some green mould too, at the top of an upstairs bedroom wall too.

Any help gratefully received.

Bumpity bump

You could try removing it with mould remover. Bleach isn't strong enough to kill all the spores so it will keep coming back.

But it may be worth getting someone in to look at the root cause of it, it could be something that could cause a lot of damage if left.

Thanks Traffic - haven't come across mould remover, feel a bit thick!

Will tell the landlord, although he's such a (well intentioned) bodger I'm always a bit wary of involving him in anything we could sort out ourselves on the quiet!

We have a very similar problem and I had come on here to ask a mould-related question myself.

I've been storing handbags in a cupboard against an external wall. I didn't know there was a mould problem in there until I recently removed leather handbags covered in mould

I'm quite sad about this as one was a gift and looks ruined.

Please does anyone know if I can remove the mould and how I should go about it.

Sorry I can't help with the handbag (maybe someone else will be along with an answer) but I have another question, having bought some Mould and Mildew remover...

It pretty much seems to say on the bottle it can only be used on tiles, windows and plastic stuff. What about painted walls..? Do I need a different product?

Mij I used the mould and mildew remover on painted coving just above my bay window.

It did remove the black but also stripped a lot of the paint off too.

I would like to know how to get the black marks off the curtains - don't know if I dare try the mould and mildew remover on them