HELP!! I have a mouldy house!!

[Gracie123]

Okay, so I don't actually have the house yet, but we are about to move into (January) a house that has both condensation damp and penetrating damp (although not rising damp).

The window needs to be replaced in the master bedroom which is the cause of the penetrating damp, but am I right in thinking that the condensation damp can be fixed by opening up the air vents that the previous tenants had stupidly taped up?

I don't know a lot about it to be honest, but have an asthmatic 2 year old and I'm pregnant with no.2, so really hoping to get problem fixed ASAP.

Also, does anyone have any good tips for keeping the damp under control whilst we wait for repairs? We don't pay bills, so can jack the heating up if that will help to dry it out. What do you reckon?

Also, how long should I wait to redecorate the bedroom where the plaster is crumbled? Will the damp keep coming through for a while?

Thanks MNers!

BUMP

The central heating makes damp worse I found, the condensation adds to the problem.

Would love to know about the plaster I started a thread about it today with no replies as yet.

The condensation damp can be kept under control by not drying your clothes in the house...bit difficult at this time of year but we've found if we can dry stuff outside or in a tumble drier we don't have hardly any condensation indoors any more.

Keeping condensation at bay means lots of ventilation - open windows, especially in kitchen and bathrooms, vented tumble dryer, vented extractor fan, keep doors open between rooms. Opening air vents will help but probably won't be enough on its own if condensation is serious.

You can't really redecorate crumbled plaster, it will need fixing first. If it's just stained rather than crumbled, then you can just keep checking it until that part of the wall no longer feels cold then you put over a paint such as Stain Stop that will stop the stain penetrating through emulsion and finish it off with an emulsion top coat to match surrounding walls.

Slightly going against the doors thing (but only slightly ) Our previous flat had awful condensation, and one of the things we were advised to do after one of our many surveys (council property) was to make sure the bathroom door was kept shut during use and that there was a decent electric fan/vent in there, and ditto with the kitchen. Apparently the bulk of our condensation was a drift of water vapour from those rooms (combined with really cold outside walls)

You can also buy thermal lining paper for walls that stops them getting so cold, and therefore helps prevent condensation forming and making the walls mouldy

Thanks guys.
The wall is properly crumbling, so I guess we will have to re plaster before redecorating, but I really wanted to know whether it was worth re-plastering when we move in or should I wait a while after it's dried out to stop it happening again IYSWIM.

We have a tumble drier, but the previous tenants didn't, so maybe clothes was part of the problem.

Oddly there is no damp in the bathroom or kitchen, just this one bedroom. and a bit of condensation in the attic room. I saw just the bedroom, but it's pretty rotten in there. Hoping the landlord will replace the window fairly soon...

Can you make replacing the window a condition of the tenancy? There will be absolutely no point in replastering until the damp issue is sorted out. Also, if there is condensation in the attic, make sure that this isn't because the roof vents have been covered with insulation or (what happened to my in-laws) the fan from the bathroom isn't venting into the loft space...

No, that definitely isn't happening because the fan is on the side of the wall, but thanks for the tip!!

Unfortunately I don't really get much say in conditions for the tenancy as we don't pay any rent or bills. The house is part of my husbands job - we have to live on site.

So far we have been in a beautiful new one bed apartment, so I don't know much about old houses like this one (seriously, the building is about 300yrs old!) but am happy to be moving into a larger place with DC2 on the way.

Hi,
we had the same problem with condensation - leather stuff going green mouldy, everything else going black mouldy.
It was from not heating or ventilating the house enough, or having extractor fans in the kitchen/bathroom (although the stuff coming in through the window wont stop until the window is fixed.
I found a book by Jeff Howells called 'maintaining your property' or something like it. Its really easy to read and good for basic diy and house maintenance stuff, and has a chapter on damp and condensation that was word for word what was happening in our house.

I even found it quite interesting (condensation-nerd!)

Dehumidifers etc might help too.

hisgirlfriday don't post and leave us hanging, what caused it, what did you do about it ?

My mom has a dehumidifier she says we can borrow, so hopefully that will help. I'll look into that book. Could be useful to get out the library.

Message withdrawn

It was quite simple in the end, it was due to having moist air in the house and cold external walls so you need to ventilate lots and keep your walls warm.

Keep the heating on for long and low rather than for short bursts on high. We were skint at the time so doing without in the mornings and then only for hour or so in the evening, hence the walls never got warm and condensation formed on them (old stone house, no cavity insulation). We changed to having the thermostat set quite low but on for quite a large part of the day, and the gas bill only went up fractionally.

Also, be religious about keeping the bathroom door shut and window open when showering/having a bath.

In the kitchen, keeping the door shut/window open/extractor fan on when cooking to let any steam out.

Never hanging clothes on radiators, or if you do dry clothes indoors then do it in the bathroom with the window open and the door shut.

Opening the bedroom windows wide every morning for half an hour or so ventilate.

As you can tell, I am now a condenstaion convert. I really recommend the jeff howells book, it was exactly like having my dad there to tell mme what to do!

It all sounds quite manageable then. TBH I really think the previous tenants were probably the main problem (taping up the air vents and I doubt they put the heating on much.

Like I said, my husbands job are going to pay our bills as part of salary, so I don't mind to leave the heating on and open the windows [devilish grin]

Thanks girlfriday. I feel much more positive about it now.

If the damp is under the window, then it sounds like the window will need repairing to stop it seeping in. You will prob need to strip the wallpaper off round the window to see if the plaster is stained. We had this problem too and it was a definate damp stain coming from the corner of the windowsill rather than damp/mould you could feel on the surface of the wallpaper.

One other thing too do is to look behind the wardrobes etc as the black mould tends to accumulate there. We had a funny smell and when we pulled out some old fitted wardrobes the wall was just BLACK behind! Sooned cleaned up though. The warm air rises therefore thats why you get the problems upstairs not downstairs.

Taping up the vents definatly wouldnt have helped.

MUST stop talking about condensation! I am starting to worry myself! I think it was just one of those things that I assumed that water was pouring in from somewhere and it was such a relief to find it was easily resolved with a bit of a clean and opening some windows.

ps - if the black mould has stained anywhere then the dettol mould and mildew spray remover is BRILLIANT! (bright green bottle) It even gets black mould out of shower curtains/bathroom sealant.

Amazing! Thank you so much for your help.

There is no furniture in the house at present. It's been sitting empty since august. I will probably need to strip all the wallpaper to check underneath though.

Thanks again for all your help.