Hello, we just bought a house recently and have been living in it now for approx 1 1/2 weeks.
The first 4 days weren't so bad, could smell a musty scent at the bottom of the stairs.
Since then, I have suffered burning in my mouth, throat, airways, they get so dried up that I can't cough out whatever's irritating me.
The worst part is that it has also affected my 5 year old who wakes up every morning coughing and saying her throat hurts.
I think we've identified two problem areas.
The first is under the stairs, the house is Victorian, someone has concreted around the wooden post that holds the staircase, so this has rotted and gone soft and wet down into the foundations. It seems to be affecting the other side of the stairs too which is up against a concrete wall.
Secondly, the living room hasn't been concreted, it's floorboards, we've taken a look under the carpet and there was mould, black and white. But it's not dry rot (had the damp person out) he says that there doesn't appear to be any fungus, but I can definitely smell mustyness.
So our thoughts were to have the floorboards taken out, have it lined and then concreted. The damp person is coming to splice the stairs so he can get to the rotten post that's in the ground and he's then tanking the bricks that are supporting under the stairs and concreting the hole.
Is this going to stop whatever is bothering us?
I have cried everyday so far, I feel sorry for my DD. We've not even settled into the house properly yet, it's a nightmare!
These are the steps I've taken so far:
Two air purifiers - one up and one downstairs.
Dehumidifier on the go 24/7
I've cleaned any visible mould and hoovered.
Had the dehumidifier under the stairs to try and dry out the rotten wood.
Basically all of this hasn't alleviated our symptoms and now I'm quite desperate because we can't sleep in the house anymore.
Can someone suggest what more could be done? Thanks.