Mould on the ceiling in bedroom

blueyedson

Hi,

I've noticed a build up of mould on the ceiling, it started about 12 months ago. I have cleaned it off with bleach a coupe of times ,but it keeps coming back.

It only appears along the edge right above the window. I'm thinking its from the condensation from the window, we have a black out blind which may cause more i dont know. We try open the windows as much as possible,but dont always get chance during winter etc,

Any suggestions for getting rid of mould?

thanks

ART6

In the first pic there seems to be a faint ring bordering the mould, and that is symptomatic of a leak rather than condensation. I would guess you have a leak just above that point. You don't say if it's a bedroom or if you have a two level house, but if it's in a bedroom then I'd suspect that you have a roof leak through the liner beneath the tiles. If it's downstairs then maybe it's from a bathroom above or a leaking pipe? Alternatively, again if it's downstairs, is there a radiator beneath a window on the upper floor? A leak from it's pipes or valves could be causing your problem.

blueyedson

Hi Art,
its the upstairs bedroom ,its a 2 storey house. I had a look in the attic and as far as i can see there is no leak. its difficult to crawl to the spot right above in attic though.

I had problems with the waste vent tube in the attic ,i emptied out a bucket of water from it last week (second time in a few years). When the water builds up in it ,it gets heavy and distaches itself from the roof tile vent. i have that back in place again now ; I am not sure problems are related , i thought a general problem in attic would cause mould to more than one area of the ceiling (the mould is only in that bedroom along the corner of the ceiling)

I'm still a bit confused with it all

ART6

blueyedson wrote: »

Hi Art,
its the upstairs bedroom ,its a 2 storey house. I had a look in the attic and as far as i can see there is no leak. its difficult to crawl to the spot right above in attic though.

I had problems with the waste vent tube in the attic ,i emptied out a bucket of water from it last week (second time in a few years). When the water builds up in it ,it gets heavy and distaches itself from the roof tile vent. i have that back in place again now ; I am not sure problems are related , i thought a general problem in attic would cause mould to more than one area of the ceiling (the mould is only in that bedroom along the corner of the ceiling)

I'm still a bit confused with it all

If water drips onto plasterboard, which is highly absorbent, it will easily dampen a square foot or two, and almost always when it does there is a noticeable ring around the damp patch, just as in your photo. Because the plasterboard is damp, black mould will grow on it. It only needs a drip a minute to do that. If the roof vent you mention is near the damp patch on the ceiling then that is probably the problem, particularly if it has been detaching itself from the roof aperture. There should be flashing around it on the roof side, and if that is disturbed then water will get through.

The other possibility is that the water you find in the vent pipe is leaking out of it at a joint, so maybe the thing to find out is how it's getting filled with water in the first place. Probably rain is getting into it -- it generally does in vent pipes but that normally doesn't matter since it simply drains down to the sewer pipe. However, if there is a bend in it at some point and that bend doesn't have a proper fall, then it will fill the pipe. In short it sounds to me like you need to fix the vent and make sure the flashing is in place on the roof, then see if the damp patch disappears.

Borzoi

blueyedson wrote: »

I had problems with the waste vent tube in the attic ,i emptied out a bucket of water from it last week (second time in a few years). When the water builds up in it ,it gets heavy and distaches itself from the roof tile vent. i have that back in place again now ; I am not sure problems are related ,

That's condensate water - some steam from the bathroom is condensing still in the vent pipe. If possible try extend the run time on the fan (assuming there is one) after you turn off the light to clear the steam. Also if possible make the vent pipe clearer with less obstructions and bends/turns.

The other thing to do is make sure you have some airflow IN to the bathroom - the fan can only extract if there is a supply air - usually from a window vent or from a 1/4" gap under the bathroom door

As for the mold, clean with bleach, then repaint with a kitchen/bathroom paint thats mositure resisitant - for instance
http://www.dulux.ie/products/info/dulux_bathrooms.jsp

nedoo

Check your gutters, they could be blocked resulting in water overflowing and the stain is the result

delly

I had a similar problem with a waste vent in the attic with my first house. Now let me try and explain it.

The flexible piping which was attached to the roof was then attached to the solid pipe coming up thru' the second floor roof. The flexible pipe was fixed to the solid pipe using a metal ring which was screw tightened. What was happening was condensation was leaking back down the inside of the flexible pipe and then coming out on the outside of the solid pipe, resulting in a damp patch developing on the roof of the bathroom below.

In the end the arrangement had to be changed around where the flexible pipe sat in the solid pipe, therefore any condensation that flowed back would flow back into the solid pipe.

blueyedson

Hi All,

thanks for your replies so far,its good to hear some ideas. The flexi vent pipe meets the roof a little more than half way across the roof ,so its not directly above the ceiling where the mould is appearing. I have attached pic of vent pipe, the flashing probably should be more secure; i'm not sure how thats best done? The flexi pipe meets a solid pipe going down to the bathroom, I did notice a splash or two of water where the two pipes meet...

I do have a fan which comes on with the bathroom light ,and there is a small gap under bathroom door. The fan doesn't have a vent pipe to the roof tile - in fact the electrician who connected it up left it covered with felt. I read somewhere that some fans are not connected to vent ,i'm not sure if its right.

I will check the gutter to see if its blocked also, it looks ok from ground level.

thanks again for any help

ART6

blueyedson wrote: »

Hi All,

thanks for your replies so far,its good to hear some ideas. The flexi vent pipe meets the roof a little more than half way across the roof ,so its not directly above the ceiling where the mould is appearing. I have attached pic of vent pipe, the flashing probably should be more secure; i'm not sure how thats best done? The flexi pipe meets a solid pipe going down to the bathroom, I did notice a splash or two of water where the two pipes meet...

I do have a fan which comes on with the bathroom light ,and there is a small gap under bathroom door. The fan doesn't have a vent pipe to the roof tile - in fact the electrician who connected it up left it covered with felt. I read somewhere that some fans are not connected to vent ,i'm not sure if its right.

I will check the gutter to see if its blocked also, it looks ok from ground level.

thanks again for any help

From your original post I assumed that the pipe going up through the roof was the vent pipe from the toilet drain and was the usual black HDPE. Going by your latest pic I now assume that the flexible is part of that vent and has been used simply to get the vent to a part of the roof where flashing could be applied. That type of flexible, being wire spiral wound, is very good indeed at trapping water since when that starts to collect its weight then makes the flexible sag and so collect even more water. Since the pipe goes out through the roof there may not be any cover over it to keep rain out, and there wouldn't normally need to be. But if it's filling with rain water and sagging, then it will be very cold in Winter.

Now, you say you have a vent fan in the bathroom and that discharges into the attic space. Not a good arrangement since it will be blowing moist air and that might be condensing water onto the outside of the filled flexible pipe, causing drips at some point which is not going to be at the roof exit point. Personally I would go for a ventilation fan that sits in the window and blows the moist air outdoors rather than into the attic, and I would tape a length of timber batten to the flex pipe (like a splint) to stop it from sagging and collecting water. It would also be worthwhile binding it's joint with the solid pipe with duct tape.

Where the roof flashing is concerned, it's normally fitted tight to the pipe or vent and tucked under the next highest tile and the ones each side of it. Since water doesn't run uphill that prevents any getting into the roof space. If the pipe has been dislodged as you say, then it's likely that the flashing is too, and water could get in and run down the outside of the flexible to drip off at the nearest low point.

Sorry about the long explanation. It's been a long day and I'm not in minimalist mode:D

blueyedson

Thanks for reply Art,
the thing about the fan is there is no bathroom window (2 bedroom house) ,so the only place it can be is in the ceiling.

I'm not sure what to do about the fan in the attic , it has always been covered with the felt in the attic; i suppose i should at least cut away felt so its venting into the attic space ?

The flexi pipe - i need to secure flashing ,i'm thinking of using 2 2x4 batons either side of the plastic housing part. If I position it in a way that there is a fall going towards the wall ,then any rain water getting in should return down the waste pipe.

Thanks all for reading

gsxr1

I had to replace the venting system in 40 of the houses we built last year. Due to poor design.

As Art said. the warm air from the bathroom and even the sewer vent pipe turns to condensation and starts to gather and sag the flexi.

To matter what I did with the offending flexi pipes I could not solve the problem.

I ended up Pipping both the bathroom vent and the sewer vent in the attic space with 4" Wavin plastic pipe. Leaving a fall. Fitted straight into the vent tile. Which should accept a 4" pipe

Its been a year now and out of the 40 houses I did. All have not leaked.

Traditional

have you a vent in the room ? if not you will get mould on the walls .

Cicero

OP - think you need process of elimination-
as you said, flexi pipe is not over the mould area so it may or may not be causing this particular isse- I would recommend that you 'crawl' over to where the insulation is for that particular area, pull it back, and have a look- the top may be dry but the base could be saturated- had the same problem this year due to loose roof tile and the very very heavy rains...as mentioned, also check gutters for being blocked which could cause overflow of water, leading to damp area..if the roof area is hard to reach, try a long pole or something to lift off the insulation in that area. . . at least once the roof is ruled out, your left with condensation (do water droplets congragate there in the morning after shower?) poor window fitting, etc etc best of luck with it