Mould problem at side room of house ..recommendations

SCRUB

Ok so having a mould problem and looking for some advise in how to tackle it from wiser more experienced folk like yourselves.

So we just bougth a house a couple of months ago. in the room there was a wardrobe against a wall and noticed a bit of a mould smell which has now spread and has me worried(was putting it on the long finger as there is plenty to do, also to note the house was vacant for about a year before we moved in. )



So I thought it might have been rain and the gutters so I got the step ladder out to inspect and the gutters looked clean.

In one of the pictures I have it shows the gutter from the attic coming down onto the side roof and allowing all the rain from it to flow onto the top of the side roof. Now i am not sure that is normal my gut feeling is to stop this but I gather that if the roof was fine I suppose this wouldnt be a problem. So should I be looking for a leak in the roof or could it just be bad insulation between the roof. So what i am looking for is the best plan of action to deal with it ... it scares me the thought of having to get someone in to look for a leak ...(just moved in and moneys is v tight atm) but i suppose if I have to I have to (any ideas how much this might be ?? )

Here are some photos of the mold which will explain all.

Thanks in advance.
1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

The actual problem
4.jpg

5.jpg


Thanks in advance guys.

p.s. photo 5 is just a separate query, its of of a drain which I expect is for water to go from toilet/bath from the first floor, but why does it go up from the first floor level and have an opening at the top !!

daver123

u could hire a de-humidifier and put it in the room for a day or 2 to dry it out, then bleach and clean the mould and open the windows and see does that clear it up, mould is generally a combination of bad ventillation and moisture in the air

wayoutwest

Where is the mould - in the room upstairs, or the room under the ajoining roof?
The 4" wastepipe that is rising,beyond the waste entry level is generally called a stink pipe.Its function is to vent the drain system of gasses/smells - expelling them above the gutter level and away from uptairs [opening:(] windows.

magicbastarder

have you checked the vent to see if it is blocked? do you often dry clothes in the room?
it's been a very damp, humid summer, so it's probably as bad as it's ever likely to be.

SCRUB

@magicbastarder @Daver123 no we were not drying anything or it does seem to be a damp room. It is just being used for storage at the moment and has been dormant. As you mentioned its been a heck of a summer and was thinking of just using bleach and use sugar soap on the mold for now and hope it doesn't re-appear !!!

@westward its the ground floor room with the sloped roof joining onto the second floor , and ah stink pipe .. makes sense cheers

Outkast_IRE

Its not called the "stink pipe" its called the "Vent pipe" on the main sanitry stack

You didnt answer about the ventialation in the room in question is there a room vent which you can open and close or a vent on the windows ??

belcampprisoner

Get rid of moisture from kitchen and bathroom
Check missing tiles on roof
Buy moisture meter

Insulate cold rooms
Check the down pipes use binoculars look for cracks in walls outside
http://www.sei.ie/retrophguidelines

SCRUB

Ok @Outkast_IRE you got me on the ventalation, I had to check. So the ventalation is of the manual window type but to note we don't use the room for anything.

Outkast_IRE

SCRUB wrote: »

Ok @Outkast_IRE you got me on the ventalation, I had to check. So the ventalation is of the manual window type but to note we don't use the room for anything.

You may not use the room for anything but i was once cold to consider "warm moist air to be intelligent and it will do its upmost of find the cold areas of your house so it can condense" i always treat it as such.

So questions for you
1. Do you leave this manual window type open at all times?
2. Is the rad turned on in this room?
3. Is your kitchen extractor working properly and do you use it always when cooking?
4. When using your bathrooms for showers etc, do you have an extractor running or leave a window open a fair bit ?

Outkast_IRE

belcampprisoner wrote: »

Get rid of moisture from kitchen and bathroom
Check missing tiles on roof
Buy moisture meter

Insulate cold rooms
Check the down pipes use binoculars look for cracks in walls outside
http://www.sei.ie/retrophguidelines

I dont like the link you provided to retro fit to passiv haus standards ....
In my opinion its not applicable to the average irish home , and passiv haus would have dedicated mechanical ventilation , having this mechanical ventialtion is a game changer in terms of what insualtion to use and how.

Also the insualte cold rooms comment while fine in itself , i would not recomend insualting a room suffering any damp/mould problems until the source of the damp/mould is discovered and rectified other wise you are just hiding the problem and are potentially actually making it worse.

SCRUB

belcampprisoner wrote: »

Get rid of moisture from kitchen and bathroom
Check missing tiles on roof
Buy moisture meter

Insulate cold rooms
Check the down pipes use binoculars look for cracks in walls outside
http://www.sei.ie/retrophguidelines

Ok so to give out all the facts there is a shower in the room and as I checked the rooms doesnt have ventilation, which might have been the original source behind the wardrobe but as we dont use it the latest source of mold sill wondering.

missing tiles .... nothing was apparently wrong that I noticed.

A Moisture meter ... sound good have to pick one of them up in woodies i suppose.

and the Insulation .... yea have to look further into this alright as for the passive house .... thats the dream

SCRUB

oh and yea good one about the cracks ... didnt notice but will look further ( this this might be an issue else where in the house but thats for another thread )

gozunda

Ok just to check

Does the room have an outside vent? (grill in the outside wall feeding to the interior to allow air flow)

If there is a shower in the room does it have an extraction unit for vapour?

Is the mould at the bottom of the wall or top?

Is the effected wall an exterior or interior wall? If it is an exterior wall look for external cracks or holes in the exterior wall surface. There could be a problem with the damp proof membrane. Timber frame construction is especially at risk where a membrane has become damaged.

SCRUB

>So questions for you
>1. Do you leave this manual window type open at all times?
nope barely use the room so didnt have the need

>2. Is the rad turned on in this room?
it is now with with the winter but prior to this happening ..no

>3. Is your kitchen extractor working properly and do you use it always when >cooking

The kitchen is v large and open plan with ventilation I need to fix up the extractor though, here we are drying some clothes but its a bit of a distance between this and the room hence why I am not so sure this was the problem

might put up some more picks to better showcase the situation.

>4. When using your bathrooms for showers etc, do you have an extractor >running or leave a window open a fair bit ?[/QUOTE]

shower is 2'nd floor at opposite end ... there is a ventilation hole in the room usually close the door and it sorts itself out.

SCRUB

>Ok just to check
>
>Does the room have an outside vent? (grill in the outside wall feeding to the >interior to allow air flow)
>
>If there is a shower in the room does it have an extraction unit for vapour?
Nope to both, the shower wasnt being used being used.

> Is the mould at the bottom of the wall or top?
at the top corner hence why I thought it might have been the gutters.

>Is the effected wall an exterior or interior wall? If it is an exterior wall look >for external cracks or holes in the exterior wall surface. There could be a >problem with the damp proof membrane. Timber frame construction is >especially at risk where a membrane has become damaged.

Yea its external so I will have to do this for sure thanks.

@belcampprisoner you got a set of binoculars that I could borrow