Damp and mould issues in 80’s bungalow - advice please?

[specialeditionmonopoly]

Hey everyone

I bought my first house at the end of last year. It’s a 2 bed bungalow built in the early 80s.

Lately, I’ve been noticing some damp and mould issues. The biggest problem is in the bathroom. The previous owner put in a new bathroom suite but skipped the extractor fan and used really cheap paint. I keep the window open all the time, which helps a bit, but the room still takes forever to dry after a shower or when I mop the floor. I had to toss all my towels and bath mats because they got mouldy. Plus, the paint is starting to crack and peel. I plan to get a fan installed in the next few months and have the room repainted properly.

Then there’s the issue with my clothes. I don’t have space for a tumble dryer in my kitchen, so I’m using a heated airer in the spare bedroom. The problem is, I often don’t have enough space to dry my clothes, towels, and bed sheets all at once, so I end up hanging towels all over the house (on doors, radiators etc). I really don’t think that’s helping the situation. Some walls are starting to get mouldy, and I even found mould on a couple of jumpers in my drawers. I do have a dehumidifier, but it only seems to help a little.

I considered getting a condenser tumble dryer and putting it in the spare room so things would dry faster and I wouldn’t have to hang stuff all over the house, but then my friend suggested building a garden shed and putting one in there instead. I’d need to have electric installed though. Does anyone know how much that would roughly cost?

Besides everything I’ve planned, is there anything else I can do? I’ve never had this issue before and I’m starting to worry that my whole house is going to end up mouldy!

We have this dehumidifier in our small spare bedroom where we dry all the clothes (on both heater airer and normal airer) https://amzn.eu/d/gLSxjc6

It’s brilliant, the clothes dry so much faster and the room never feels damp any more. We keep the door closed when washing is drying to keep the moisture out of the rest of the house. And it’s the most satisfying thing ever to empty out all the water extracted - for lots of washing I’d empty it at least twice daily. I know you said you have a dehumidifier but maybe it’s not a good one, and maybe you’re trying to get it to dry the whole house rather than focussing it on the spare room?

Because it dries much faster, it lets us get through more loads without having to drape them everywhere.

Also we have a washer dryer combo machine - we use that for drying the towels and sometimes sheets. This helps because they take up a lot of space while drying. I know everyone always says washer dryers are terrible, but ours is great.

I think putting a drier in the spare room is the best option, you can get ones where the water collects in a tray you empty manually, so you don't have to worry about plumbing. The issue with drying clothes indoors is not just damp, you have to heat the house to do it, and that gets very expensive. I bought an air source tumble drier and I use it all the time now, even in summer. The only thing I don't dry in it is the duvet cover because everything gets trapped inside it and then doesn't dry. If you have cavity walls you may want to think about cavity wall insulation, that will keep your house a more steady temperature and so reduce condensation. If your windows are old, likewise they may need replacing.

In addition to the above comments, it’s worth checking your down pipes and guttering.

If they are not functioning properly then you will get water penetration into the walls which can cause damp and mould.

Have a look at having a PIV unit installed.

I use a karcher window vac to dry out my bathroom tiles also you can get hanging dehumidifier bags to collect water quite cheaply i hang them in bathrooms and wardrobes.

You definitely need a dehumidifier and you'll need to run it a couple of hours a day. If your hall is central, perhaps run it there? Always keep your doors open to encourage air circulation. Drying clothes indoors creates lots of extra moisture and will create damp and black mould. If you dry them on a rack beside a dehumidifier that might be okay, check if you have trickle vents on your windows (assuming double glazed), if not, fit them. If you have airbricks outside below floor level check that they are not blocked up. Prioritise getting a fan fitted in the bathroom if you can. Your problems might be solved by a positive input ventilation system, people swear by them...

I'd buy a dehumidifier

Use a squeegee in the bathroom. It gets rid of a huge amount of water.

Are you covering pans when cooking etc?

Do your windows have trickle vents? A lot of houses from this era don't but they can be added.

Are there any air bricks that have been covered up?

You need to both reduce the moisture in the house and allow air to circulate better.

Make sure there are no external causes like blocked gutters, broken drain pipes etc..

I would be rereading the survey which I assume you had before purchase.

The damp is not an issue which has only appeared after you moved in and should be in the survey. If it wasn’t then the sellers were not truthful. You need to get a survey and some estimates and pursue the seller for misrepresentation for which there is legal precedence.

The legal claim was the seller of a property didn’t reveal to purchaser moth infestation and the seller had to pay for the removal.

Have you tried a dehumidifier? They use crystals which absorb the water in the area.

Is you house warm?

You need a big container of mould treatment and remove it as soon as you see it.

I have a tumble dryer next to French window doors and I just empty the container into the garden. I have had the same one for almost a decade and it is fine. I get no condensation at all.

@KievLoverTwo
I have to disagree about condenser driers, I've had mine for over 10 years and it dries stuff really quickly, including towels, it's only a hotpoint with 2 heat settings too.

I'm a landlord with a small flat, we've owned it for some years and only one tenant has ever had damp problems. We found that they were drying washing indoors on electric radiators with all the windows shut, despite me having provided a condenser type washer dryer.
I bought two inexpensive electric dehumidifiers from Argos and they solved the problem.

I should add that the flat has an internal bathroom but we do have an extractor, this really is essential and not that expensive to install. If you don't want to use a condenser dryer you could even dry clothes on an airer in the bathroom and leave the extractor on.