Please help with my mums damp!

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My mum purchased a property last summer, a small bungalow after downsizing from a larger property. She had a survey done which didn't come back with much, one room was slightly damp but nothing that would pose a health hazard apparently.

However, now it's winter there is thick mould in one of the bedrooms - to the point where her jeans that were stored in a drawer had mould growing on them! There is mould growing in the kitchen, on the doors frames, on the windowsills etc.

How can I help her get rid of this damp?!

First, I’m not a damp expert.
However heating on, open the windows to vent for a few minutes a few times per day or leave the trickle vents open.
Is the damp visible externally? Is the damp on external walls only? Are the windows wet in the mornings? Is it solid wall ( unlikely I’d guess ).
People will say get a dehumidifier, but I’d leave that for a while until you get to the source of the damp.
And pictures for the armchair analysts please!

For that amount of damp you probably need a specialist.
Is she airing the room daily? And keeping the internal door open?
Dehumidifyer, damp catchers .
Is the damp course ok? Is there somewhere in the house where water is getting in.

It’s usually about ventilation and heating. A background heat of 15 degrees is required to prevent condensation.

Open the windows to get a change of air every day. Use a good externally vented extractor fan in kitchens and bathrooms. Don’t dry clothes on radiators without using a dehumidifier or keeping windows open. If it’s double glazed, trickle vents should be installed and open.

If she’s already doing that, check gutters, blocked air bricks, blocked up chimneys, ground levels higher than damp proof course etc. If the pointing has deteriorated on the house that can be a problem too.

That damp sounds extreme to just be condensation.

Is it worse near the tops of the rooms or the bottoms? Are there any specific bits which are worse? Can you take some pictures of inside and outside or the worse bits?

I would check the guttering. Is it blocked? Are there any marks on the outside of the house where it looks like water is running down the wall when it rains? Next time is rains, see if you can go and look at the outside of the house to see if water is overflowing the gutters anywhere.

If ther gutters are all fine then it could be a leaky pipe, or poor subfloor ventilation.

I’ve just had a specialist damp surveyor out, it does cost money obviously but I thought it was best to find out what the actual problem was. He did a very thorough check of the house, measured the levels in different areas, went in the loft and used the hose to check the window in the problem room. He gave us a report which means we can get a builder in to do some very minimal works which hopefully will resolve the problem. We haven’t had the work done yet so can’t report on how it went but we had done all the ventilation/dehumidifier/heating etc and it didn’t help.

"A background heat of 15 degrees is required to prevent condensation."

This isn't true at all. My house was well below 15C this morning when I woke up and there was no condensation in it at all. That's because I keep the air dry with a dehumidifier.

OP, if it were a small damp problem then I would probably recommend a good dehumidifier, but it does sound like you have a more severe problem. You can call in a damp expert or try your luck with a dehumidifier, but bear in mind that if the house is really wet it could take a few weeks to fully dry it. In the meantime I would work hard to reduce the humidity as follows :

i) Make sure all bathrooms are well vented. Open the windows and use extractor fans. Keep the doors to the house of the bathroom closed to trap the humidity in there.

ii) Make sure that if you are boiling pans in the kitchen, keep the lids on and the extractors running.

iii) Avoid drying clothes inside the house.