FTB - How much mould is too much?

[decisionschoices]

FTB here. We are purchasing a house and our survey has come back saying there is quite a bit of mould around window sills in the bedrooms, some vents in the bedrooms, and in the bathroom.

We didn't really notice it too much during our viewing.

Would this put you off buying a property? Is it much work to get rid of the mould problems?

Nah, it personally wouldn’t bother me
chances are there will be a guttering problem, leak in roof or something. Sometimes it’s not an expensive cost. It maybe need a damp course if ground floor etc
Depends if you find doing repairs daunting.
if you love the house it wouldn’t deter me.

Well this would definitely put me off. If it were a minor problem the sellers would’ve removed it with cleaning before the survey. I have mould my bathroom as we don’t have an extractor fan bit have never had it in a bedroom.

Not this year, people will have had their heating down. I know I've had to blast mould and mildew spray over my window sills once every few weeks this year. Nothing structurally wrong with the house.

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole as it's usually a sign that the house has damp somewhere and I can't be faffed dealing with that if it turns out to need a new roof or similar.

It wouldn't necessarily worry me. Often it's poor ventilation, especially if window vents in double glazed windows aren't open.

One of my bedrooms had mould, but (probably very naively) I figured as it was upstairs, in a bottom corner of the bedroom, it was probably just lack of ventilation. I took the wall
paper off (No brainer anyway as lavender isn't my thing & it pretty much took itself off!! ). Cleaned it and a few months later had the room replastered (it was going to ge redone anyway) and touch wood it hadn't been an issue since! (13 years)

but I'd be more wary now.

can you get a specialist in to take a look? I'm

Mind you there's nothing to buy here, so if it was the only or a fabulous house otherwise, I'd buy it & deal with it.

I had a bit where I had too many clothes in a wardrobe, at the edge where it was the outside wall. The clothes-coats-were pressed against the wall, so air couldn't circulate. I removed the coats, bought a £5 spray for the walls and it didn't return (7 years later).

That mould sounds like it’s caused be condensation. It would not put me off.
However, does it have cavity walls, or solid? Is there an extractor in the bathroom? Does it have double glazing? What is the EPC rating?

Mould is caused by humidity, cold surfaces and lack of ventilation, not directly by leaks (although leaks can increase humidity)
The solutions are more heat, ventilation, insulation and reducing the amount of water going into the air indoors.
Your lifestyle is likely to be very different from the current occupants so your mould will either be worse or better when you move in.

You can just buy a desiccant dehumidifier for about 100 pounds and put one in each room and they only cost about 15p an hour to run

You did notice it when you viewed, though. How much did you notice, does it mean windows need replacing? Why is it only around windows & vents?

Any mould is too much mould in my opinion. Whatever the cause, it's almost always difficult, costly or inconvenient to get rid of, and often returns. I really dislike any form of damp, mildew or condensation and so would walk away.

How old is the house/are the windows? It could just be in the sealant which you can easily replace. It wouldn't put me off if I hadn't really noticed it.