The humidity in my house is ridiculous.

[WolvesOfTheCalla]

Moved into a Grade 2 Listed cottage in a conservation area about a month ago.

Unexpected inheritance from my Grandmothers sister - never married, no children, I assumed she’d leave it to my Grandmother who would sell it; have been a life long renter and expected to always be, have lived in plenty of shitty houses but never one with a humidity issue.

It’s around 80% in every bloody room. Single glazed, wooden frame windows that are first on my list to repair and eventually replace when I’ve figured out what the council will/won’t allow/what my budget is.

There’s other stuff too but it’s mostly cosmetic, she kept up with the building itself fairly well considering her age.

I've always slept like shit but this is something else; it’s like my hay fever has become year round. Itchy eyes, scratchy throat, sneezing etc.

A friend dropped off a small 2 litre dehumidifier which has been running in my bedroom (the smallest, has the most features and is beautiful) since 3pm. So far it’s gone down from 82% to 71% and the difference in the feel of the air is huge.

But there’s two big bastard bedrooms to deal with (1 DD in each) a decent sized bathroom, a fourth bedroom that wouldn’t even fit a toddler bed so it’s my teen DDs study room/my office, and downstairs is a living room, dining room, kitchen diner(ish - 2 seater table under the window), shower room, laundry/boot room.

What are my options here? I’ve got a £300 budget (and hanging fire for Black Friday), would prefer an energy efficient one (or two?!) with a smart app or similar so I can automate it, don’t care how loud it is as I sleep with white noise on the Alexa anyway, don’t care what it looks like either.

Google blew my head off and I’m extremely fucking low on spoons right now, between work(ing from home, which I hate), medical appointments for me and DD1, unpacking, driving to two schools each morning (school buses aren’t sorted yet), studying for my Masters, and discovering the many, many quirks of the property that I have many fond summer memories of but had no clue what a fucker it would be to live in I am wiped out and have no brain cells left.

Old houses certainly need an annual maintenance budget though (in fact all houses do). It’s critical to keep on top of it or they can quickly deteriorate.

My rent was £900 a month, so I’ve a significant amount of money in the general budget freed up. I’ve set up a recurring payment to my savings account for £700 a month (UC covered £200 of it) which is quite a wild amount of money to have “spare” for me and hopefully that alongside my now defunct deposit savings will be enough.

Good to know re log burners.

DD1 was faffing with the layout of her bedroom again last night, it was a joy to watch. There’s not a right angle to seen in any room, but hers is the oddest one and for the first time ever, we can decorate.

If you have a garden now, plant a few trees this winter and you will benefit from them in a few years (willow and hazel can be coppiced every 3-5 years) for firewood, but also fruit (apples, pears, plums) and general increase in oxygen and decrease in carbon in the atmosphere too.

Enjoy the process of getting organised and planning your decorations etc.

I think tbh all houses need an annual maintenance budget. Mine is 20 years old and has stuff going wrong on it. My opinion is that 20 years is about the time from build to the point where you have to start considering spending serious money.

Boilers, if you look on the web you'll see expected life is 15-20 years but it depends on so many factors, boiler quality (new builds for example are often equipped with low quality boilers because no-one buys a house based on boiler quality), whether you can get spare parts, how much you use it etc. New boilers also have stuff in them like magnetic traps that help preserve things like the pumps.

You'll always get someone rocking up who claims they've had their boiler 40 years and never had it serviced and it's fine. Once you start to look at the real world stats rather than anecdotes then it becomes a different story.

OP have you managed to book a sweep yet (maybe ask your neighbours for their 'recommended tradesmen" list)? My sweep also looks after stoves. I think our woodburner is probably 20-25 years old (certainly a lot older than 15) and it has needed nothing doing to it. We have a crack in the back fire brick that he says is absolutely fine.

If you have a garden it is worth investing in a wood store. Also get a thermometer for the stove (<£10) and preferably a humidity probe for the wood. You are wasting money and causing pollution if you burn damp wood.

Good purchasing vibes for Black Friday. It might also be worth joining a cash-back site like Quidco if you are buying from mainstream retailers.

If you have some chimneys/fireplaces you don't plan to use have a look at Chimney balloons

I wholeheartedly second the recommendation for joining the Facebook group mentioned up thread.

they are a hugely knowledgeable group of people regarding period properties and listed properties and will be able to give you plenty of great advice on what to do, as well as suggestions on what (and what company types!) to avoid.

The group is certainly my 'go to' for advice on how to manage my period house.

Congrats btw OP, I hope you and your children settle in to your lovely house, it sounds like your great aunt knew exactly what she was doing when she left it to you.

Also second the suggestion to look into a PIV ventilation system as they are game changer, if you ask about them on aforementioned FB group they will tell you everything you need to know.

What is the construction of the house? Is it timber frmed with whattle and dorb walls?
If so they breath, let in a considerable amount of moisture and then dry out super fast.
Keep the house aired as much as possible as other posters have suggested and enjoy your lovely home .
The local council should be able to advise you about the maintenance and permitted changes to the property.

You'll need listed building permission for any changes to the house or it's whole curtilige. Talk to your conservation officer.

I suspect getting your chimneys working will make a huge difference. They are probably quite damp and getting them going will dry out all of that and kick out warmth that you can't get in many other ways.

But all the measures you are taking are important.

Much as Mumsnet hates them, as a rural dweller without gas getting a multi fuel stove has been the best money we've spent

We’ve had a lot of rain in the last week and both chimneys are leaking water - one quite significantly.

The dehumidifier that PPs recommended (I got 2) have made a huge difference. They also seem to kick out a bit of heat which is a bonus.

Found mould on two of the hallway windows - they’re small and very low down (about knee height!) so I hadn’t really been paying much attention to them, but they’ve been added to my ever growing “keep an eye on/use the Karcher on” list.

One of my elderly neighbours has had secondary internal glazing fitted this week - the magnetic type that can be easily removed. I don’t have the nerve to post on the FB group to ask about that just yet But I’ve really enjoyed browsing it, there’s some incredible work in there.

My Gran is full of suggestions like “block off all the draughts, keep all the curtains closed all day” and doesn’t seem to understand that the #1 rule for an old house is that it needs to breathe and I’d soon find myself with mould everywhere if I did that.

I was due to have Smart Meters fitted two weeks ago, but the engineer had to call National Grid as he couldn’t remove either of them (he was vague about why, but they’re old and one is on an external wall). They’re coming on the 8th.

I’ve got an old but portable thermostat so I’ve set the temp to 18C and popped it in the second coldest area of the house. Earlier this week it didn’t click on (had to reset the connection a few times) and it was 10C

All my gadget/electronics are Apple so if anyone has any clue which smart thermostat works best with them, please let me know.

Having the ability to choose things in my home is very much a luxury after a lifetime of renting but it’s also very, very overwhelming.

When you say the chimneys are leaking water, do you mean it is coming through the brickwork, or that rain is coming down the chimney itself? If it's the latter you can get a sort of hat which goes on top of the chimney pot and stops the rain getting down.

If it's soaking through the brickwork of the chimney it could mean the chimney stack needs repointing or the flashing (which seals up the gap between the roof and the stack) needs repair or replacement.

Have a look - see what you can see and I will ask DH (builder)