70s house issues or lifestyle?

[FlyMeToDunoon]

I was allocated a housing association house last year and of course was incredibly relieved and grateful. My old home was a private rental, victorian semi detached house the likes of which I'd lived in many times and was familiar with. It had damp issues some of which the landlord finally dealt with under duress in the year before we left.
Moved into this house and am getting used to the 70s stuff slowly- the open stairway up out of the living room, the lack of cornicing, the wall hung tiles outside, the built in garage and others. Quite a novelty to me.

However the damp is still there in our lives which came as a nasty surprise. The humidity can be up at 84% in one upstairs back room and water can be seen beading on the wall as well as appearing as condensation on the double glazed windows. There was never anything as bad in the previous house. All rooms are affected to some extent but this room which is above the garage and has an end of terrace wall is the worst. It's freezing all year round. I can barely get it above 14 degrees when the rest of the house is at 19/20

There are big white plastic panels to two of the windows, front bedroom and living room, like conservatory panels. These get condensation on them and black mould along the edges and crevices. The double glazed upvc windows are incredibly draughty.
The loft is insulated but the roof membrane is in tatters.

I was able to dry washing outside last summer and of course the doors and windows were open all day long but the winter weather has meant that everything is dried on racks indoors now. I have two dehumidifiers on most of the day, every day. We wake up and get in to clammy feeling clothes and go to sleep in clammy feeling beds. The almost constant rain can't be helping.
The rise in energy costs has meant that the heating is on at 20degrees for minimal time and most of the time now the thermostat is set to maintain 15degrees otherwise.

So I'm finding it difficult to know if we have brought some problems to the house or it is causing them or a combination. I have asked the housing association to check whether there is a damp problem in the back bedroom and that should be done at some point. I asked if they had any plans to improve wall insulation and they said no. The loft did get surveyed and more insulation was recommended but nothing has happened. The roof membrane was not mentioned.

Just looked up the launderette and it has a website. Tumble dryer £1 for 9 minutes!

Commercial tumble dryers will get things dry much quicker, so you might the 9 mins enough. I bought a dehumidifier for £60. It has been a god send.

I have a bedroom that gets mould beneath a bay window. It's behind a chest of drawers so not noticeable and I forgot about it this time. Windows were also dripping with condensation in the mornings. I cleaned the mould off and keep the windows open a crack permanently. No more condensation and mould has not returned.

We also have a room similar to yours, with 2 external walls and a currently unheated room underneath. The mould was awful when my son used the room. He's now moved out, and there's no heating in there as I've removed the radiator for decorating. Windows open, no mould now.

I appreciate I might live in a warmer part of the country (London) so might be different for you. We don't have heating on overnight either but still don't find it too cold for sleeping.

I have two dehumidifiers. I got them when I had more spare cash and when we were having damp issues in the last house. They do really well in reducing the humidity in small victorian terraced house rooms but struggle to lower it in big 70s open plan living rooms with stairways open to the upstairs.
Just had another look at tumble dryers and remembered why I really got scared off last time. The most efficient and cheapest to run are obviously the most expensive and I am so reluctant to take on more credit card debt.
Right off to vacuum and open windows.

You need to fry your washing in a room with the dehumidifiers

If that means washing less , that's what you have to do

I use my karcher sideways for the bottom bit of the window, still works fine.

I sympathise though, I think this autumn/winter (apart from that cold snap before Christmas) has been unusually mild and wet, we’ve been having some damp issues which we’ve never had before. This is our 4th winter in this house and I’ve always had the same routines with laundry etc and the only thing I can think is different is the weather.
A lot of October/November it was (for us) just warm enough that the heating didn’t come on much, but so damp outside that opening windows didn’t reduce indoor moisture.

I hang everything big outside in all weathers apart from rain - the windy weather is great to get some of the moisture out and then dry inside on an airer in the afternoon/ overnight.
I have my airer in a room which is drafty - my kitchen and also near a radiator and that seems to work - I also regularly vent this room - windows open when cooking etc so it doesn't get damp so maybe using one room for drying might work (alongside other use and keep the window open in it ).
Also I leave big things for when the weather is dry - so towels are washed every two weeks but we have spares we can use inbetween- as they are a bugger to dry so I only have to dry them every couple of weeks and again on the lines for 5 hours and then on an airer.
Windows are open for 30 mins most days after showers and I leave doors open during the day too to create drafts to prevent damp building up but I WAH mostly.

Good luck x

I have never got to grips with my window vac, it left streaks and I still needed to use some kitchen towel for the last inch! So now I use a cheap squeegee (mainly in the shower) to remove the condensation with kitchen towel to mop up the water off the bottom.

I used to have a lot of condensation on my windows and had to get up 15 minutes early to have time to go round the whole house! But then I had a positive air exchange unit fitted which has almost prevented the condensation except for an inch or so in my bedroom on the coldest of nights.

I prefer to have my heating on low, 16°, all day and just boost it to 18 or 20° if cold in the evenings. That suits me as I am not working so am in the house a lot but my energy usage has gone down a lot this year from when I had the heating on higher for fewer hours. My bills have gone up obviously with the high prices but not as much as I had feared.

If you don’t have expel air fans in your kitchen or bathroom, would the HA fit them for you?

Before you start opening windows check the humidity levels outside. No point opening the windows if the humidity outside is higher than the humidity inside as you are just letting more cold damp air in.

Can you use extra spin to get the clothes a bit drier?

Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, the dehumidifier is great in an average room where you can close the door. Probably not so great in an open plan. It might be worth checking if your HA have a damp adviser. I did some temp work once for one and they had a guy that would visit homes and advise on damp/condensation issues.

If I use the window vac sideways the tank leaks!

I think I will try spinning washing twice.

There have been days when having the back door open has done nothing to lower the humidity. I have little temperature and humidity monitors in each main room and I can check it.

I have no idea how to plan washing when the weather is unpredictable. Plus being at work all day means the washing gets soaked if it rains unexpectedly or just a bit later in the day. It's all very well hanging it out at 7am (in the dark at the moment) if it's going to pour down at 4.30 while I am incarcerated in the office. If only the dry weather would coordinate with my schedule!

There are extractor fans in the bathroom and kitchen. They aren't very powerful. Apparently HA ones are all being changed over to low energy ones. The kitchen and bathroom aren't suffering damp or mould. It's bedrooms and living room.

I will ask about a damp advice person at the HA

The fact that’s it’s behind the chest of drawers could be the problem. Air is not circulating.

Could you get one of those ceiling airers for your bathroom? Our big one will take two loads of washing and if you needed to then you could run a dehumidifier in there too? It would probably dry overnight.

The chest of drawers are on legs and I leave plenty of space behind for air circulation. Just having the window open (I leave it permanently open on the latch, so under an inch) really does resolve the problem for me.

It's ventilation mostly.

I live in an area by the sea (eu) that gets sea mist and a lot of problems with damp. The houses are rendered breeze block, no insulation etc. The problems are caused by no insulation and the walls being warmer on the inside than the outside. The walls can be freezing cold and wet if you touch them.

I have to open the windows in the bedroom when I get up and leave them open until about 4pm when the mist can start and the sun starts moving.

I leave a stand fan running to keep the air moving and I fold the duvet back for the bed to air.

I also run the dehumidifier for an hour each night before bed.

This all keeps the mold on the walls away. If it starts, it's washed away with bleach water.

We're moving at the moment, to a lighter airier place, that gets more sun so I'm hoping we won't have the same problem 🤞

Re the garage we had a similar problem making the one room v cold. We put extra insulating boards up in the garage ceiling and it stopped the problem.

You need to get your teens to clear the garage and help with laundry/drying.

They sound old enough to take a load to the laundrette after school.

Use weather apps and message them to wash and hang out clothes before you get home.

Limit jeans. Tell them if they want to wear them and use lots of towels they need to help dry them.

They need to understand their choices have consequences.

Absolutely agree with the last post. The laundry shouldn't be your sole responsibility especially given the hours you work. My parents both worked full time and we were always given chores to do including pegging out! Not done to my mum's high standards I might add but even so the job got done.