Getting rid of Condensation & mould - who to call?

[Stickystickstick]

We were very fortunate to have had our house (1960s John Lawrence semi detached) bought for us when we (DP & I) were both students. We always knew it would need work but are only now in a position to do anything about it. We have two kids

The previous elderly owner had cavity wall insulation when he probably shouldn’t (inappropriate for this type of house) and whoever installed it was not part of the official govt sanctioned scheme so any problems with it are not covered by the regulatory body. Our poor wee house can not breathe :(

Added to that the double glazing is almost 40 yr old and aluminium framed so the condensation we get inside is horrific. Even with the dehumidifier & heating on it still gets condensation & this is causing horrible black mould or mildew over the windows, sills and roller blinds.

We are planning to renew the double glazing which should help a little bit with condensation but it won’t get rid of it completely as our house has no air circulating, even happens when leaving windows open.

We have condensation and mould /mildew in everyroom.

How do we get air to circulate?

What type of tradesman or surveyor would I need to call in to try and fix the condensation problem? Would adding more air bricks help? Does anyone know the kind of budget we’d need to pay for this (not the DG)?

you might need to start by finding out where the water is coming from roof, gutters or perimeter drain.
if it is purely internal do you have bathroom fans in each and kitchen exhaust that actually go outside....not into a cabinet or just the attic.

When you do have new windows installed make sure they have trickle vents. This improves the ventilation.

I feel your pain.

We have dehumidifiers (about £120 each, plus electricity to run them) in the worst rooms. They collect a lot of moisture.

You really need to keep cleaning off the mould because it's a health hazard. HG Mould Remover is good , but read the label.

You can get some kind of ventilation system in the loft which pushes air down through the house and keeps it circulating - don't know many details. Pricey and with mixed reviews, but it's a while since I looked into it and they may have improved.

Good luck!

Ooft nc fail!

We have installed bathroom fan but it seems ineffective and the kitchen extractor has broken but it made no difference anyway. I was led to believe the ‘water’ came from breathing & cooking & showering & just living but had no way to escape because the walls couldn’t breathe.

There are no signs of water ingress from anywhere else.

We have dehumidifiers but they don’t seem effective in dealing with the condensation even when leaving on all night (but they’re too noisy to do that)

Damn posted too soon... wanted to ask about this loft system as we have real problems with condensation upstairs

Where would I look to find out about the air system in the attic?

I don’t even know which tradesperson to approach about this - been burned too many times before by con artists claiming to be able to do stuff they clearly can’t.

Could you get a fan to help circulate the air when you've got the windows open?

How much water is your dehumidifier collecting on a daily basis?

I'm sure getting some more air bricks would help. Any general builder would be able to do this and it shouldn't cost too much.

Do you dry your washing outside/in a small room with the dehumidifier in there?

We have a tumble dryer in the garage and any clothes we have to hang go in our delapidated conservatory.

My DP has issues with noise (bloody hypocritical given his snoring!) through the night so usually no fans or dehumidifier

Can he not wear earplugs?

Having a dehumidifier on at night will help given that you're spending a good stretch of time in one room.

heymacwey that’s a whole other thread about my Dp’s sleep hypocrisy! He refuses to wear them because they’re uncomfortable for him. Poor wee snowflake

Hi,
You are definitely up to speed already with the causes and trying to remove / eliminate moisture. If the worst problem is upstairs, then this is a good solution and can cost about £200 for a similar unit.
www.envirovent.com/specifier/products/mechanical-extraction-ventilation/mev-spider/
It would sit in your attic and has up to 9 connections for flexible ducting to the ceiling of each room. It then draws away the moist air to the outside usually through another duct to the soffit of the roof. As your house won't be airtight given its age etc, there will be plenty of replacement air getting in.
Having a cheap weather station upstairs will mean you can keep an eye on the humidity % .
We had this system and it worked brilliantly. It makes a little noise in the attic, but if the unit is sat on some sound absorbing material it's barely noticeable.
When it was turned off for a few days it was immediately apaent how damp the air felt. Very cheap to run and no more dehumidifiers.
Could be fitted DIY if competent (we did) or a heating engineer / joiner.

I'll third the envirovent (actually we have a slightly cheaper one that scores slightly better on performance but I can't recall the brand name) totally cured our condensation and mould problems. I open a window when I shower but that's it. Clean air circulating at all times, no noise, no draft, no cooking smells. They're worth every penny and more.

Oh, our system amd the one we have fitted in the rental property only have one vent at the top of the stairs. This is sufficient for both houses (the rental is 5 bed 3 bath but the system copes perfectly)

Has he, or you, tried these ones?

www.flareaudio.com/collections/isolate

They're bloody brilliant. Super comfortable.
Pricy but worth it. You can also get them on amazon.

just a couple of basic questions:

does anyone drape wet washing inside the house?

How long each day do you open the windows?

Before you jump into spending money on attempting solutions it might be an idea to have a survey done of the problems and some professional advice. We were in a very similar situation and had a survey done by Rentokil - the guy was very knowledgeable and practical and provided a written report with step by step recommendations based on what he observed. Would really recommend it as we’ve thrown money at loads of different things over the years.

I expect you have a concrete ground floor. If you peel back the floor coverings, it is ever damp? Especially in the kitchen?

Do you have a water meter?

I feel your pain. We have good kitchen/bathroom fans, dehumidifier, don't dry washing in main house, yet so much condensation! Windows are soaking every morning and we leave Windows open for hours. Damp guy said we have bad condensation and some parts of our house are cold and hundreds of years old. Nothing helps, and I am fed up of cleaning mold off everything, so we are moving.

Hope you find a solution op!

Thanks all. Lots to think about.

We don’t hang washing indoors (we have a tumble dryer in the garage) and I leave the upstairs windows open all day as long as we’re in but I’m in Scotland and it’s bloody freezing 11/12 months so open windows are a nightmare. They make no difference to the condensation problem.

Our floor is wooden floorboards under carpet & underlay and we don’t have damp in the floor or in the walls and underneath floorboards is dusty and dry (and really
Minging)

We don’t have a water metre because we’re in scotland.

I’ve been reading about the EnviroVent and cheaper alternatives and it would be worth trying but I’m not sure if it would help with downstairs too... does it not require leaving all the doors open all the time too? I have an OH who refuses to leave doors open, dogs who’d love the opportunity to wander and a child desperate to escape the jail that is the living room.

Get your fans sorted; one fan in each bathroom and one in the kitchen. Good strong motors that vent outside.

Try Brick Tie Preservation, they are in Yorkshire, but we have used them and they really know there stuff, they may be able to recommend someone in scotland

I'm still wondering where the water is coming from.

If you open the windows daily, don't drape wet washing, and start using an effective extractor in the bathroom, the most likely source is a leak.

If the subfloor is dry it probably isn't a waterpipe or drain.

you don't think there's a roof leak.

there might be a bathroom leak or a radiator leak.