is it really all my responsibility

[sammyjayneex]

My bathroom is a disgrace the ceiling is turning black with mould. The tiles are turning brown and black on the grout. I have black spots all over my bathroom walls. The decoration has been ruined. It was fitted with a 'new bathroom' last year but it's a disgrace. We don't even have a toilet upstairs. I have had someone out to it and they said ta condensation And to open the windows and to or heating on which is what I do but it's not helping. Surely this isn't all down to me? Surely they can't expect us to live like this? The shower stops working for days on end then decides to work again. I'm with the council. The house is a state really but they do nothing. I hate living like this. It's ruining all my furniture coz I end up with mould all over it so I have no decent furniture.

Should the council the doing something to help because the state of this house is appalling

I don't enjoy living in this house and can't call it home

Are you heating your bathroom? Opening windows after a shower? Cleaning the mould off regularly with bleach? Do you have an extractor fan and are you using it?

It sounds horrible, have you contacted the council, what do they say?

We had this in a house we rented. All the above sorted it.

Do you make sure the window is opened after every shower or bath? Do you have an extractor fan and do you use it? Do you dry laundry inside? How often do you wash a load and do you dry it on airers, etc around the house? What kind of house is it and do you have double glazing and are there trickle vents?

Sorry for all the questions, but just trying to work out what could help sort things out.

My heating is on a lot

I open windows

I'm constantly using bleach to clean it off

I don't know what else I can do

They have out a fan in but it's extremely poor quality. He actually causing comes off when you turn it on exposing all the insides of the fan!

The bathroom is so small so I think there isn't much room to ventilate because of this. I've lived in houses before and the bathrooms have never been like this before. I let was a bad idea putting a shower in because it's made it worse

The fan in the bathroom has casing that comes off When your turn it off

I have double glazing ( I think) lol it's those windows with white plastic edging round
All my windows come mouldy too. I do washing and use radiators sometimes depending on weather. I personally think the house is a very bad design. The bathroom is very small so when you close the door the window isn't enough to ventilate but if I keep the bathroom door open the condensation goes on my furniture causing mould.

I bought a dehumidifier as I had similar problems. I was at how much moisture came out of my house especially when I used the radiator to dry clothes.
I regularly open windows and heat my home well
10 litres of water in one day is my record
Can you stretch to a dehumidifier?

Leave the bathroom door open and window and open another window to give a thru draft - would be my best suggestion. If the damp is so bad that it is affecting the rest of your house from JUST condensation in the bathroom, then you must have a leak or some other reason for such a large amount of moisture. How many showers a day are you having?

I also use a squeegee (sp) to dry my shower walls and door otherwise its a bugger to keep the mould off of the grout.

We have a shower ( or a bath when the shower stops working ) each every 2 days so it's not excessive

Keep your towels off of the radiators so that the heat can circulate. Thats not a massive amount of showering - very strange. A dehumidifier might be a good bet. Are the walls allowing moisture to penetrate, are the gutters actually carrying water away or are they broken and overflowing? What did the council say? The first answer is its usually user error but you have a serious problem if its affecting the rest of the house from just a couple of showers every other day. I would be on the phone to them tomorrow morning.

Do your neighbours have a similar problem?

Our previous house had this problem - we had it rented out prior to moving in and our tenants complained about mould. The house had electric heaters which they never put on, they never aired the house (as it was expensive to heat) and showered and then left the house for work. They dried washing indoors and didnt use the extractor fan. When we moved back in we renovated the house ( we werent slum landlords honest - they didnt want the disruption and were intending on moving, just didnt for 2 yrs!). We added an extractor fan in bathroom (tiny bathroom in tiny house), added central heating and put in a new extractor fan above cooker and opened windows and we never had the problem. I got through about 6 bottles of mould remover stuff, it was ingrained on window edging, coving etc but came off quite easily and then i painted over.

I would glue (or sellotape or something) the fan casing on, then atleast you can use it. You are venting any tumble driers? Any uncovered fishtanks? Doesnt sound like the shower is the problem. You can test for a leak by reading your water meter and then turning everything off whilst at work and seeing if it has moved?

Good luck

the faulty shower definitely isn't down to you, keep nagging. Ditto the fan casing.

is there a fault with the building? Blocked gutters? Blocked airbricks? Damp course covered?

Every load of washing generates about two litres of water, if you dry it indoors or on the radiators that's how much you are putting into the house.

Drying clothes indoors will do it. You need a tumble dryer

I manage houses, and have a problem with condensation in two of them, 3 bed 1950s ex-council semis.

I have installed a better extractor in the bathrooms and a socket in an external meter cupboard so that the tenant can have a tumble dryer in there. I think your landlord should sort out the extractor and make sure you have space for a tumble dryer. Beyond that, it is down to you managing the house effectively to reduce condensation.

You need to try to keep the heating at a constant low level. Heating the house up and then cooling it down, e.g. if you have the heating on for an hour or so in the morning and then again in the evening, can cause worse condensation. You need to open the vents on the windows if there are any. And never dry washing inside and on radiators.

Hope you sort it.