Why the heck do I have mould in my house?

[cocoleBOO]

I'm fighting a losing battle in the bathroom with it and now it is growing on my window panes.

Help meeeeeeeeer

[ibbydibby]

We have suffered a lot of problems with mould on outside facing walls, esp in bathroom (downstairs) because of poor insulation - although walls have cavity, this is not wide enough for cavity wall insulation. We were getting quite desperate, then decided to have bathroom redone, and bulder suggested insulated plasterboard. Worked a treat, we were so pleased that have had the outside one of the lounge walls done as well (ie the one facing outside). Has been huge improvement, no more damp there and much warmer room in general, esp noticeable in summer when heating not on. Ie used to be v chilly, now pleasant temp. Just want the rest of our walls done.

Damp is horrible, really recommend figuring out cause of problem, and trying to address that, rather than trying to lots of solutions first. Eg if damp behind wardrobe, possibly because backs onto outside wall, lack of airflow at back, damp, cold - mould results. Is it possible to move wardrobe to different location? or move it away from wall?

[peggyundercrackers]

if you are going to replace your extractor fans look at what you are buying - look at the amount of air they move - they can vary from as little as 85m3 per hour to 250m3 per hour. obviously the more air it moves the better or if you get a lower rated one it needs to run more to clear the air. anyone replacing a bathroom now should have one fitted - i think its against building regs not to have one fitted if refurbishing a bathroom.

[hardcor364]

reed my post

[hardcor364]

i hope by now you have rectified the problem, mold can be dangerous depending on the type. but all molds are microscopic, every time you open and close a door the airflow will disperse the mold and it will travel. if it can find some where to hide it can cause ongoing problems, bathrooms are more susceptible because the environment is perfect for mold, old warm air flow systems that are not in use are a haven for mold once it is established. i have been a victim of mold. to the extent everything had to be destroyed in my flat, no matter how clean and tidy my flat was ,mold appeared every ware, i used every trick in the book to kill it, it took me years to find the problem that was causing it. what annoyed me more was i know how to kill mold it, was pat of my job. houses need to breath, they also need moister, dehumidifiers do not work, they will take years off your house, you need to drive the damp out, a good airflow and a constant temperature, mold will grow at 20 degrees Celsius and above. unfortunately we like to be at 20 degrees or above. mold needs moisture to grow. wipe down all wet surfaces and leave heater on and extractor fan on for abut 10 minutes after you use your bath room.alternatively if you have a window open it and allow airflow. window frames will condensate and cause mold to grow, make sure you wipe them down. get rid of any thing you can not clean inside and out, bathroom cabinets need to be sealed in side and out, plastic is ideal. most mold treatments do not kill mold they bleach it, it still there you just cant see it, that is why mold looks as if has traveled to new spot,almost every household has the best treatment for mold in there kitchen cupboard, vinegar, white is the best, dilute 1 vinegar to 5 warm water, use more than one cloth to remove the mold, leave for 24 hrs then rinse down it is that simple. if mold is in the grout between your tiles, then the wrong type of grout was applied, it is a laborious task to cut your grout out and re-grout but is very easy to do, you can buy a premixed mold resistant grout at any hardware store, the application instructions are easy to follow, getting out is awkward, a Stanley knife at a 45 degree angle from the tile edge either side, and a plastic pen case to get what the blade misses. do not worry if the blade leaves blacked lines on your tiles grout is an abrasive and will clean that off. sorry for the lengthy post, and i hope you have already killed your mold.

[cocolepew]

I've ben using mould remover spray and I do like my wibdows open, I might need to keep them open a bit longer just. Thankfuly it is just ceiling's and windows no wardrobes, and only upstairs.
Do the moisture traps have to be against the window? I have venitian blinds in the bedrooms.

[valiumredhead]

Have you tried HG mould remover? I found that even better than Grot buster.

[TheGrandPooBah]

We had black mould in our bathroom - extractor fan is pathetic, will be replaced soon. The only thing that got rid of the mould was Domestos Grotbuster - brilliant stuff.

[valiumredhead]

If you use a condenser drier you will know how much water comes out of clothes, no wonder people get damp/mould problems drying clothes on airers or radiators.

[valiumredhead]

We keep our bathroom window on night latch all the time unless we are showering, as soon as we're finished we open the window. We dry the shower using a squidgy blade too.

[Byebyebucket]

I am a land lady with the same problem in my old rented house and the tenant thinks it is unacceptable living conditions .... We have had various companies who all say the same thing .... There is no problem with the roof gutters etc. it is due to drying washing indoors etc etc but the tenants do not accept it .... Won't keep on top of it by wiping it away and it gets worse and then they move out .....

[PigletJohn]

new windows usually reduce draughts, which are ventilation. hence some people think that double glazing causes condensation.

[50shadesofmeh]

Open windows every morning, wipe condensation off windows and have heating on that should stop it building up. If you can afford it get new windows at some point.
To remove it dettol mould and mildew remover is great.

[LovesBeingHereAgain]

Think I'm gonna get dh to increase tge extractor fan time

[PatoBanton]

Oh, that's brill - yes it goes out above front door, we can hear the rain outside from the bathroom through it.

It was replaced couple of years back so though noisy it works well.



Thankyou

[PigletJohn]

if the extractor sucks out of the bathroom and blows outside the house, it will work. If you know anyone who smokes, allow them to hold their disgusting fag uinder the fan and watch if it whisks the smoke away.

Some fans are less powerful than others, some are broken, some are worn out and noisy. Changing an old to a new or better fan is quite a trivial job.

[PatoBanton]

Oh wow that's fantastic,

thankyou
have got an extractor in the ceiling as no windows in there, will that work?

[PigletJohn]

that's a different question.

However, if you have a working extractor fan in your bathroom, you can put things on an airer or on a line over the bath, with the fan running and the door and window shut and it will suck the water vapour out, preventing it from drifting around your home.

a typical extractor fan runs for 50 hours or more on 14p worth of electricity.

According to Which, a typical tumble drier, doing three full cotton loads a week, costs about £100 a year to run. Heat Pump driers can use less than half, but cost three times as much to buy.

[PatoBanton]

How do you dry things though John?

Nothing dries outside, airing cupboard is titchy, nowhere to put a tumble dryer...argh

[PigletJohn]

misfire = moisture?

[LovesBeingHereAgain]

Totally agree reduce /get rid of misfire and ventilation although I know this it's easy said than done sometimes so we still get it.

[PigletJohn]

as said, it is happening because there is excess moisture in your home and the air is damp.

the two things you can do are to ventilate to takle the wet air out of your home; and to reduce the moisture load.

A bathroom extractor fan is especially useful for taking away the water vapour generated by baths and showers; and an extracting cooker hood for cooking steam at source(a wall extractor is less efficient in a kitchen). Other rooms, especially bedrooms, benefit from having the windows opened to air daily before making the beds, and slightly open or on Trickle vent the rest of the time. Very much more rarely, the cause will be a leaking pipe, radiator, drain or gutter.

The best way to cause condensation, damp and mould is to drape wet washing around your home.

[southeastastra]

gat a few moisture traps, i have three in my bedroom alone, lakeland do some i saw today. they get filled up so quickly with water in our house! if we forget to re-fill them we get awful black mould. white vinegear is really good for getting rid of this, or reducing it.

[NoComet]

We only had very minor problems, until we had such a long run of horrible winters and summers.

This years nice weather didn't start until my wardrobes had already grown mould.

[NoComet]

Insulation certainly helps, my parents have, somewhat naff polystyrene textured wallpaper on the worst walls in their house it helps a lot.

I want radiator type insulation in our built in wardrobes, I suspect it would help a lot.

But most of all we need less fucking rain!

[cocolepew]

I have double glazing and I keep the bathroom window open all day. I've been spraying the mould away and now everyone is freezing because I've opened the windows .