Damp help please.

[Kayzr]

We have got really bad damp in our house. It is worst in the kitchen and bathroom but there is some in every room. The walls and floor in the kitchen are going black.

It is a housing association house and they won't do anything because of the way we use the house. They said to use the extraction fans in the kitchen when cooking and bathroom after bath/shower and to open all of the windows in the house. We use the extraction fans and we open all of the windows except the living room because it is just to cold for the kids. We are using a fortune in electric trying to keep the boys rooms warm for when they go to bed. We usually shut the windows at 4pm and put the heaters on.

Is there anything we can do? As on 5 seperate occasions now we have been told they won't do anything because it is our fault. I am sick of having to try and bleach the walls and floor to try and clean them. I am also sick of seeing mould growing in my sons bedrooms.

I am really at my wits end with this now.

Thanks.

It sounds like you are airing the house plenty.
What kind of heating do you have? Any other houses beside you have this problem?

We have night storage heaters in the front room, hall and kitchen. But only the living room one works. Upstairs there are little electric heaters in the 3 bedrooms.

Sounds like you need an electric dehumidifier - thats the only thing that will get the moisture levels down inside.

You'd also want to do everything you could to keep the moisture levels down inside - so avoiding drying washing indoors, keeping the bathroom door shut all the time (extractor fan on when you are in there, window open when not), and the same with the kitchen. Always cook with the saucepans covered too.

We have a dehumidfier but we can't use it with the windows open. the instructions say it will not work.

We can't not dry the washing indoors, where are we meant to dry it when it is always raining?

What I'd do then, is to (if you can) put the washing on a rack over the dehumidifier in one room and keep the window and door shut in there whilst it dries. That way, the water from the washing will be sucked up by the dehum and not get into the rest of the house

Thats a good idea, we'd never thought of that. We'll start doing that from now on. We're saving for a tumble drier, can't wait to get it.