2 Dehumidifiers on constantly

[SlightlyWizened]

Is this normal- I have two dehumidifiers in the house both 10 litre VAX ones plus a tiny one in eldest's bedroom as a large one won't fit in. The 10 litre ones are on constantly except when we go to bed and need emptied approx every 24hrs.
The walls get black spots up them which I regularly wash off with a mould spray
Also the carpeted floor feels cold and damp to my feet and anything left lying on it gets a cold damp feel to it.
From google it appears that most uk homes are damp or at least have high humidity so is my situation just to be expected? My little monitor said 70 this morning and since turning the dehumidifier on its gone down to 66. At the end of the day its usually down to about 60, sometimes I get it to 55.
The house is a victorian 2bed semi.

My house was built in 1829 and the survey found 'substantial damp' even though there was no visible sign of any.

I had a chemical damp course injected and the readings on my damp meter have gone from 43 to 7 since it's been done.

Having dehumidifiers definitely does not sound normal!

Might be worth getting a damp specialist in to do a survey and quote.

Good luck OP! Hope you get it sorted!

Thanks fairydustandpixies. I rent and am not sure I want to pursue the landlord for any work as he might chuck me out.

That doesn't seem right, why would he throw you out if work needed doing?

If you go through a letting agent, I'd suggest speaking with them. If you're renting direct from the landlord, can you check the tenancy agreement about repairs?

Being in such a damp environment won't be doing your health any good at all.

Nope, not normal! Well it.kight be for your house but I wouldn't be putting up with that.
Do you open windows daily? Do you dry clothes on a horsey and if so do you open windows when you do?

No this isn't normal. I've lived in everything from a ten year old house to a four hundred year old one and we have never required a dehumidifer or had damp. So the house has a problem.

No, that's too much moisture in your home.

We had damp in our flat, penetrating in the front room (victorian terrace). Paint peeled off the walls, clothes felt damp to touch. We had the plaster removed on the inside, walls treated, then replastered - think it was about £2k but was just one wall.

That level of damp won't be healthy - can you look for somewhere else? It's certainly not normal.

It sounds like you're house has been built in a solid floor rather than have a sub floor, and that damp is penetrating from under the floor. Or, it may have a sub floor but the joists have rotted. Have you got floorboards? I'd be checking what's under the carpets, I'd also get a damp specialist in to investigate before you speak to your landlord. Living in a damp house is not just annoying, it's also very bad for your health.

I had a dehumidifier on constantly and emptying to the drain while I lefta house empty over the winter. It kept the place warmish and was no condensation.

But a heated and occasionally aired house shouldn't need them.

Dehumidifier isn't normal full stop. We've never had/needed one in any of the properties where we've lived. Especially in summer.

What is the ventilation like and can't you open the windows?

Basically, you shouldn't need a dehumidifier at all!!

People let out a lot of moisture as does cooking and washing. A dehumidifier in a house that had limited airflow is fine. We live in a dampy country and nature will always be trying to reclaim the house.

"The walls get black spots up them which I regularly wash off with a mould spray
Also the carpeted floor feels cold and damp to my feet and anything left lying on it gets a cold damp feel to it."

You have a leak.

Is this a concrete floor, or wooden?

Is it in an original part of the house, or an extension?

Hi sorry about the delay in response.
The floor is wooden but does seem to have some sort of issue as it causes a lot of jumping around of ornaments if one does anything more than walk across it.
The outside of the house has spalled bricks and bubbles in the paint on the wall which seems most damp inside. I think the original damp course has, understandably after over 100 years, failed and no alternative put in place.
I do dry washing indoors when the weather isn't dry enough to put it on the line. The rack is in the bathroom and the bathroom window is opened as often as possible but certainly for around 20 mins after showers. If I'm in the house during the warmer months I will often leave it open all the time
The back door is often open for extended periods of time during the warm months too and I encourage the children to open their bedroom windows.
The damp is actually better in winter which I put down to the fact that the heating is on then.
I deal with a letting agent and have been told, verbally that the problems would not be dealt with while I am living here as the work would be very disruptive.
I cannot find alternative accommodation and have looked.
Today I got home from work and got changed and the clothes in the cupboard feel damp.
I don't get ill often. One of my children has constant colds and gets hay fever and one has just gotten over a bad cold/flu/tonsilitis?

is there an extractor fan in the bathroom?

Victorian houses usually have slate DPC. Slate lasts about ten million years and does not wear out . However it is common for people to heap up earth or paving against walls so water can get above the DPC, and to block up airbricks so that the void under wooden floors is not ventilated. Sometimes damp comes from an overflowing gutter or leaking pipe that is making the wall wet.

If you want to find out if damp is coming up through the floor, tape a piece of clear plastic tightly to it (or just put it under the carpet). If moisture is coming up it will be unable to escape so you will see droplets forming under the plastic.

You can do the same thing on walls. Walls are very often damp with condensation, e.g. from wet washing, and this will form on the outside of the plastic (not under it).

p.s.

if you can post a few photos of the walls (stand back and take a pic all the way from roof to ground, and some pics of the damp-looking areas) I might be able to spot something and make a suggestion.

Drying washing inside won’t be helping.

One load in my condenser drier ends up with half a litre of water per load.

Explained the damp problems we had when the washing was dried inside all winter.

Oh thank you. I'm not at home at the moment but will do tomorrow

Ok I got home and its raining so no current pics but I do have some I've taken in the past.

Second photo shows side of house and a patch of earth showing through the gulley which always seems to look wet.
Third photo shows a crack running up side of house.

One man who came to look at a different issue a couple of years ago said it was possible that a drain under the paving was damaged and leaking there

A house of that age will have been built with glazed clay drains and gullies in the ground (brown like a teapot) which are always* cracked, broken and leaking. I can't see any drainpipes or gulleys so I don't know, but your previous advice is quite likely correct.

Looking at your third pic, I see signs of damp on the corner. Is there a downpipe round that corner? Does it leak, or the gutter overflow. during rain? Where are the drains for the kitchen and bathroom?

I see black paint round the bottom of the wall. This is likely to be waterproof bituminous paint, an attempt to protect the wall from damp. For building reasons, it cannot work, and actually makes things worse by preventing evaporation of water from the surface, so the wall is wetter.

It's possible the DPC may be in the mortar joint at the top of the black paint, but it might be lower.

Stones laid against the house wall are a way of reducing damp. if the paving has raised the ground level above the original DPC, the wall will be wet.

* there may be an old house somewhere in the country with old clay drains and gullies that are not cracked and leaking, but it is a house I have never seen

Hi PigletJohn Thanks for looking for me.
There is no downpipe near the corner you mention nor do the gutters overflow. At the top of the black paint is the slate layer and as you see the spalling goes above this.
The kitchen and bathroom drain into one large pipe quite far away from any signs of damp and also slightly downhill from it.
Perhaps two or three years ago I discovered that the downpipe that is on the furthest corner of the house, up the path from the corner pictured was draining into a hole under the corner of the house and not into the drain, which was blocked with soil and rubble. The letting agent got someone to come and rectify that.

Do you think I should pursue this further via the letting agent? According to Shelter I may need to contact the council's environmental team for an assessment or something.
Scenarios I imagine are;
Landlord refuses to do anything and I carry on as I am.
Landlord refuses to do anything and I take it further. This would obviously have the potential to cause friction depending on what any council inspector says and could result in my being given notice to leave.
Landlord gives me notice and plans to do work after I'm out.

Just scrolled past not reading other posts after your (OP) post saying about having to move out whilst works were carried out as they're invasive (or along those lines!). Sorry if I'm repeating other posts, I'm very frustrated for you, this isn't right, not when you're renting.

When I had my chemical DPC done, the contractors were insistent that I couldn't stay in my house whilst the works were underway - plaster off all walls, chemical injection, replastering, so on.

I own the house, had no where else to go so stubbornly stayed - and it was not pleasant!!

Your landlord should have some kind of insurance which will cover the cost of temporary housing whilst the works are underway?

You're living in somewhere which sounds unfit for habitation. Please don't put up with it, this is your health and wellbeing. The only people I've personally known who have had dehumidifiers in their home like you describe are those who have been flooded.

This isn't right, OP. Please don't let this go without a fight.

PigletJohn has replied!! Yesssss!!