Moved into our new house and our kitchen is mouldy

[Leaningtoweroflisa]

As thread title - not picked up on survey. 1950s semi, I would put the kitchen at 1970s to 1980s at the latest. Cupboards smelt off, and some had visible mould/ discolouration when emptied but it was not completely evident how bad it is until I took the shelves out - the back of the the units are spongy.

I’ve done a short term clean up job and left it to air, the shelves are going, but I don’t know whether to pull the backs out in the short term?

Have a builder coming to deal with something else next week, so will be asking advice then but asking the wisdom of mumsnet!

Feeling quite down about it - had planned to clean it up and put new doors / fronts on short term while we save to extend as it’s a tiny kitchen but the units are all odd sizes, so I’m going to have to suck it up and replace it.

The previous owners have some large bushes growing up the wall in front of the kitchen, so will be chopping them down to check for air bricks / ventilation situation but all advice and guidance will be gratefully received - we move in properly tomorrow and I am really worried about storing my kitchen goods short to medium term while we sort a new kitchen in a mouldy yuck pit…

I could just cry, I’m so tired.

Don’t panic. Look for the cause of the mould. Yes look at the walls outside and inside and also the floor. You can get gadgets which measure damp. Was the house unoccupied before you moved in? If so decent heating and ventilation could do a lot- in the meantime have you got a sideboard or big cupboard you could store food in? But this does sound pretty bad. Are the worktops and appliances salvageable? You can get brilliant second hand kitchens cheaply online too, look on eBay. Or you could rip it out and manage with an IKEA mini kitchen etc and a dresser, which at least won’t be mouldy.

I’d be sending a VERY stern letter to your surveyor. That’s quite something to miss.

But don’t fear! It’ll sortable.

If the back of the units are spongey then there's clearly a problem with them getting damp - trace the source of the moisture. It's a kitchen so rule out leaky pipes and appliances, is the bathroom above the kitchen? Check that the wet isn't leaking from there and tracking down.

Any sign of wet in any other places in the house?

No, it was occupied and was for many years as a family home, I have no idea whether they were oblivious? They seemed normal but I don’t know how you don’t smell mould?

Storage is very limited but a sideboard is a good call, thanks heron. It’s been a slog getting to this point, we’ve been trying to shed as much clutter in the past 6 weeks which has built up over the past 10 years on top of work being busy and my health being a bit shit so I feel a bit deflated so the pep talk is really appreciated thank you.

It’ll probably be a small metod kitchen, with the green-grey doors (which I was going to replace the fronts with,) but yeah I don’t want to sack it in and have it go mouldy right away either!

I reckon the surveyor opened the cupboards but they were full, then shut them again… but yes, I will do once I’m back on feisty form instead of feeling sorry for myself, user147 I’m not impressed they didn’t smell it…

I don’t know if there’s leaky pipes / perished sealant around the sink, as the cut outs around the pipes at the backs of the cupboards were kind of leaning on them so if they were leaking even slightly they will have been soaking right into the backs… Boak. Otherwise it may be the age of the building - once I’ve trimmed my bush 🌳 I’ll be able to see if there are any air bricks etc. There aren’t any in the loft, which the builder is going to sort, so I won’t be that surprised if there aren’t any into the kitchen and I’ll be even crosser if the surveyor hasn’t picked up on that as they did clock that in the loft.

c3pu not so far…

It’s all fixable so don’t worry. You’ll just need to replace the kitchen sooner than you’d wanted to. I’d pull out all of the old kitchen and dump it. Then as someone above said- get a dresser type unit so you have something to use. Then find the cause of the damp. But use any spare time designing your new kitchen and get the project started soon. That’s what I would do anyway!

Cutting those bushes fine outside will help op, also get yourself a good de humidifier to clear the moisture, they work wonders. Don't panic it can be fixed xx

It's not "the age of the building" causing that. It's a defect, either with the plumbing or the building itself. The bushes growing against the wall won't help, as if the wall gets damp they (and the kitchen units on the inside) will block airflow and stop it from drying out easily.

I'd guess there's either a leaky pipe or an issue that's allowing water to get into the wall higher up - defective guttering or a missing flashing?

Presumably it's a cavity wall on a 1950s house, and in theory the cavity should block damp passing from the outside in through the wall. Is the cavity compromised somehow? Is there cavity insulation? I haven't had a problem with it personally but have seen claims that it can cause terrible damp in some cases.

is it an outside wall?
are the gutters clean?
roof leak?
is the boiler vent pipe on that wall? when was that boiler last checked?

We lived with 2 wall cupboards, a sink unit, a piece of worktop screwed to the wall with IKEA legs, one metal shelving rack and one dresser for two years. You get used to it and I’d rather do that than try and salvage rotten units

We had a manky mouldy kitchen when we moved in, it was a big worry for me that it was something to do with the fabric of the house, but it doesn’t seem to have been. It’s more likely that the sealant behind the sink had failed. Not so sure about the other side of the room and what that cause was but I think maybe damp from the floor. The whole room has been renovated top to bottom and so far everything is fine. The old kitchen was

If you need to rip out (probably), and then have walls treated before replacing, then IKEA do £30 plug in induction hobs if you need a temporary option.

Agree with pps, some very good suggestions and tips there. FWIW, I saw surveyors in covid times not touching anything around the house, kitchen units definitely weren't opened. This might not be the case for you, but it definitely happens. If it turns out this is something that should have been picked up (depending on the reason) then have a look at your surveyor contract as there will be a liability clause there, including limitations, and scope of the survey will also be defined.

Don't panic. If you have to rip the kitchen out in its entirety, you can manage a temporary kitchen quite economically. Have a look on Marketplace / Gumtree for kitchens that people are getting rid of. Dated ones will be super cheap (or even free!). You can always paint (Frenchic Alfresco is great for kitchens and only about £20/ tin - one tin did my small kitchen easily). As PP said, the £30 IKEA portable induction hubs are fabulous (we had two as our only hob for over a year whilst we renovated).
Or, if you don't want to go down the fitted kitchen route, pick up some dressers / big cupboards secondhand and something like the IKEA SUNNERSTA mini kitchen (about £200) for your sink and a small work surface.

Check that there isn't overflow from the gutter on the damp wall. Look at it when it's raining.

All great advice and run a dehumidifier in there as a matter of urgency. It will draw out masses of moisture.

Definitely don’t put anything in the mouldy cupboards! You need to try to track down the source of the damp. Cut the bushes against the wall down, check that Earth hasn’t been piled up against that wall to make a bed for said bushes (that was the cause of damp in a property I rented). Check the bathroom and rooms above the kitchen for leaks.

It might be that you’ll need to replace the kitchen sooner than you planned, but the important thing is to find and stop the damp and get the mould/damp 100% sorted. I’d rather spend my money on getting that properly sorted and live out of temp kitchen units/shelves/sideboard until I could afford a proper kitchen.

Don’t panic - it can be sorted. I do know how stressful it is though, especially on top of a house move.

earth not Earth!!!!!

How long will it take to save for the extension? I'd buy some garage shelving or even an IKEA kallax unit with boxes to store food in and get a cheap worktop with legs or maybe the IKEA kitchen island that can double as food prep area and eating area and rip the rest out and treat the mould before finding where the problem is. You could use the racking elsewhere when you've finished. You really won't want to prep food where you know there's mould.

Don't try and properly unpack your kitchen paraphernalia yet. Keep it safe somewhere.
Use a microwave to tide you over, until you can properly sort the kitchen.

I had mould in my wall cupboards but ended up being condensation rather than damp. It was a Victorian property so we had a dehumidifier and made sure to keep the room ventilated. Not saying it’s not more serious damp, just wanted to give another angle.

Would cost about £400 to get an old kitchen off gumtree/fb marketplace and chances are it will be an old fashioned but better quality one. Then just paint the fronts. I'd have a chat with your solicitor this morning and definitely before you commence any works to put things right. See if you have any recourse. Have they been negligent in disclosing problems with the house?

Don't put your plates in there. My MIL had a very old kitchen with some mould and she once put out lovely rattan table mats and they were crawling with little flies. All over the table. Made for an interesting Sunday lunch.

Thanks everyone. Less panicked and upset now we’re in, and some of the unpacking is done. OH has repurposed some bookcases and the storage units previously holding the Lego mountain which are in the dining area (a slightly beefed up lean to which looks better than I’ve made it sound but we had a reenactment of paranormal activity last night when boxes kept falling over in the bedroom so I’m a bit brain dead today).

So no attempts to emulate your MIL jent 🤢

I’ve followed all the advice, so the hygrometers came and I popped them round the joint with gay abandon last night. The readings in the cupboards are 73-76%. No reappearance of mould on the cupboard surfaces but wouldn’t expect that yet and can see it on the exposed bit of masonry anyway. DeHumidifier came earlier than expected and is now humming busily away. I could swear I had a working dehumidifier pre move but it has vanished. Humidity in bathroom is reassuringly lower than I’d feared.

Will be prying off the bath panel anyway, as it’s badly sealed on, the over bath shower curtain arrangement is not one that prevents spray anywhere so I’ll need to check this is all sound. Every fecking tap in the house drips.aside from the cloakroom , which has no basin? Just a loo.

First stage of bush wrangling done - discovered it was wrapped around the sink pipes, luckily before I fell to it with my new electric hedge trimmer!

Also some pictures of the guttering / pipes around the kitchen and bathroom above - I don’t think major leaks but I bow to the collective wisdom here. Builder coming on Monday to come sort out an issue in the loft and I’ll have to get some naice biscuits in and ask him for quotes on bathroom refurb, ripping out kitchen (tbh don’t mind doing that with DH he’s pretty handy), putting a fecking sink in the wc, etc.

Have managed to slightly double book with IKEA kitchen design team but know what I want from them, just need it firmed up on measurements, costs, worktops, timescale and fitting costs and can then bounce off builder…

Have no energy to return to unpacking mountain… but thank you all for helping me climb back down from what my mum would call the screaming ab-dabs.

are there damp cupboards on every wall? Or just one?

Is it the one with downpipes on the outside of the wall?

Is the damp underneath the bathroom? What, in particular? Are there any marks on the ceiling, or on the wall by the ceiling?

Have you got a water meter? If so, take a look at it and see if there is a glass window with a little air bubble turning in it.

Have you got an outside stopcock?

btw I can immediately see a white stain of soap or limescale beneath the hopper, so it is leaking.