damp & water on floor

[monkey]

This is pure guesswork that I'm asking for, but maybe someone's had this experience before & can offer suggestions?

We have a room in the basement which has concrete walls & no heating. I haven't noticed damp before (we've been here over 2 years), but then I'm not very observant. Anyway, room was very messy - is used to store baby stuff, double buggy, clothes, empty cardboard boxes the lot really & it's got out of control, so I went down tonight to attack it, and found a few old bags had gone mouldy - furry. I investigated further & found the (concrete) floor is very wet. The walls now look like they're a bit damp/mouldy, but don't feel wet. It doesn't feel wet round the window.

I'm gutted because my beloved pushchair is covered in furry mould, and daren't look at our winter clothes - if they're also mouldy it's potentially lot of money to replace them.

Anyway, I suppose I need ideas to work out where this water has come from. The last time I saw the floor (ahem!) I didn't notice any water - I assume it's water - it's brown but I'm sure even my floor isn't that dirty to have turned it brown. It rained a lot a few weeks ago (we were away) but the last few weeks have been very hot. The room is only used for storage, so I can't see that anything has been spilled. There is no source of water (that I know of), ie tap in the room. Has anyone else had damp - could the damp itself have been the source of the water perhaps?

Sorry for the waffle - any ideas gratefully received.

Also - any good ideas for storing clothes other than bin bags?

It sounds to me like you have an untanked basement with a high water table. Basically the damp (in other words water) is coming through the concrete from the dirt below or at the sides. Concrete is porous and if there is enough water on the other side it will eventually come through. Tanking it involves painting something waterproof on the inside to keep the water from coming through. I wouldn't store anything in the basement until you get it sorted. Mildew is impossible to get out of things that can't be washed in super hot water or bleached.
By the way, if you have insurance, it may cover the damage to your things.

Thanks. we rent the house, and our land lady is not the easiest person, and tbh, the first thing I thought when I saw it wasn't about the damage to our stuff, but telling her about the problem & how she'd try & blame me (she's sweetness & light to dh but he's terrified of her & avoids her at all costs!)

Been piecing it back - I'm sure this is recent ish ie since March.
going this pm to try & get something to store the clothes in, but not sure what - do you think Ikea sell anything suitable? I've heard cloth is better than plasctic, but I feel after this experience than waterproof is important.

I've no idea if it's tanked or not. I spoke to neighbour (we're semi-detached but she's not noticed any problem in her basement.
Thanks for the ideas. Why does this sort of thing (usually involving lots of work) seem to happen when dh is away?? Good news is managed to clean off my beloved pushchair seat for Kiwi explorer. Still haven't darend look at our winter clothes - I'll wait until I return from shops.

Try vacuum bags for the storage problem. Think mine came from Kleeneze or similar company but found these at Lakeland.

Yes, use something waterproof. But you should clean the clothes before storing them as the mildew will continue to grow on them. Ikea definitely sell something for hanging clothes, and probably for folded clothes as well.

Thanks. I can't believe how much work this is. Luckily I seem to have spotted the problem straight away - the damp might have been in the room for a while, but the mould is deinitely very new and most things seem to be cleaning up easily. Luckily - or unluckily, most of the affected things are baby articles, eg pushchairs, car seats, bouncy seats etc etc, which I'd have had to dig out in a few months anyway, so I guess a lot of the created work is what I'd have to do by September anyway. I'm trying to convince myself I'm nesting earlly!

Dreading telling the landlady - i can guarantee she will try and blame us for the water & damp. This is a building fault, right? I mean, we can't actually be to blame??

Got a rail and a few storage cases/bags in Ikea, thanks, better get back to work.

Unless you had something to do with the original construction of the building there is absolutely no reason you could/should be held responsible for the damp. In fact, if she bought the building relatively recently, I would bet good money that the damp problem was mentioned in the survey and ttherefore she should have warned you not to store stuff in the basement and therefore she should pay for the cleaning/replacement of the stuff.

She had the house built about 20 years ago and has let it out for this time. But she just had architects in to value it a couple of weeks ago, so I'm amazed they didn't spot it.

Haven't tidied up enough yet to break the news!