Excessive Mould

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Hey all, just looking for some advice on what I can do to treat mould effectively. Just before Xmas I noticed some mould on our bedroom wall. The mould was growing behind a weave basket (the basket was touching the wall). The growth was mainly on the basket, and I thought the basket was the issue.

I was doing a deep clean on the house the other day and in our sitting room behind a single seater couch, there's a lot of mould. The mould only grows where we had put the cushions of the sun lounger against the wall. The wall feels damp everywhere to me. Our landlord is coming tomorrow to have a look and will take it from there. For now he has asked us to air out the house every day for about 10 minutes. We are living in Germany at the moment so I understand the laws are different, but I think the request may be a little OTT as it's very cold here at the moment (-6 degrees celcius). We would air the house almost all day in the Summer, less so in Spring and Autumn. Both bedroom and sitting room walls are exposed to the weather.

I think the cause may be down to a poor build, a bridging between the outer and inner wall. There is also a fair amount of condinsation at the bottom of the patio door and we think the door is letting in water. This is more than likely adding to the problem (increasing humidity).

Anybody have any ideas which I could suggest to the landlord?

Thanks.

EDIT: We are on the first floor of an apartment block so rising damp is probably not an issue here. We do dry our clothes inside during the winter, but in bedroom number 2.

D_D

With previous living experience with Germans, one thing I have noted they do is they always air out their houses for 10 minutes everyday just before they turn on the heating.

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it has two added benefits:

1) It removes moisture-laden air inside the house with new, fresh air.

2) Fresh air is easier to circulate heat than stale air

So I think you should listen to your landlord and follow his instructions for the time being until he finds the cause of the problem, like if the patio door is leaking.

Michael D Not Higgins

D_D wrote: »

Fresh air is easier to circulate heat than stale air

I'm not sure what that's based on. If it's based on the humidity then the effect is tiny, only a couple of percent difference, and you'll lose more than that to the temperature drop of letting cold air in.

Nonetheless, always a good idea to air out the place anyway.

Den14

It might be worth investing in a dehumidifier. We had a similar issue in an apartment we used to live in and it made a big difference.

cbyrd

Open your windows for 10 - 15 mins everyday. You can clean the mould with neat bleach or neat tea tree oil. I find cleaning it with the bleach and the next day wiping it over with tea tree keeps it at bay longer.
It's caused by the hot and cold of winter ( rooms getting cold at night and heating on during the day) . Condensation and dust. You'll also find if you have condensation on your windows it will grow there too. The solution is to open your windows long enough to dry the glass and then wipe the frames dry.
You could also try some geraniums, they help clean the air in a house.

jjwada

Being the type of person who hardly ever opens windows when its cold out and drys clothes on a clothes horse in the bathroom, and likes to have the heat on high when im in and off when im out, i tend to cause mould in any apartment i go to.

I have done a lot of research into the causes of it and came up with my solution.

At the first sign of mould i clean down all surfaces with bleach and that sorts it.

But , the best thing i ever bought was a dehumidifier.
I bring it to anywhere i live now and have it on when i am out during the day or when the air feels moist.
It make a huge difference. This is the one i have.
I recommend everybody has one of these. No more mould.

w w w.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00474K8SY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

masculinist

I find this stuff amazing


http://www.ronseal.co.uk/home/damp-mould-and-wall-paint/3-in-1-mould-killer/

air

Mould is not your problme, it is a symptom of the problem, which is excess humidity.
Opening the windows for a short period should work well somewhere with a continental climate like Germany.
The warm moisture laden air within the building is replaced with cold air from outside which contains much less absolute moisture due to it's lower temperature.
Every person in a home contributes approximately 800ml of water per day from pespiration and respiration to the vapour load in the home.
If you're drying clothes inside that could easily be adding another litre or two of air on average.
This moisture has to go somewhere. In the absence of trickle vents or mechanical ventilation, using a dehumidifier and opening all the windows for 10 minutes each morning is a good strategy.

How Strange

We've had mould problems in our home before and a combination of these things seem to help

Using a dehumidifier every day from October to May
Opening windows in the morning and evening for minimum 10-15 minutes
Wipe off any condensation around windows first thing in the morning
At the first signs of mould wipe the walls with diluted bleach
Avoid putting furniture against the wall or if it can't be avoided move the furniture regularly and check for mould. Even wash walls regularly with diluted bleach as a precaution
If you can turn the heating on at a low setting at very regular intervals during the day and evening

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Thanks all for the replies. So we had a specialist over, not sure exactly what he was but he explained what had happened. There are two separate issues with the house itself. The build quality is not fantastic, when they built the house back in the 60's (or there abouts) they put the insulation on the inside wall, so the condensation point is closer to the wall. When we lay the cushion against the wall this brought the condensation point inside the wall. Easily fixed and not a big issue.

The second issue is not so simple. There's a lack of DPM between the balcony and the living room so when it rains or snows a lot, it seeps into the concrete and through to the sitting room. The concrete in the floor was not treated, and the same slab of concrete was used for the balcony and sitting room.

The specialist also said the windows are not great either.

We normally air the house, but with the cold weather we do this less often. At the moment I am doing this every day now and it does help, I think I might look into a dehumidifier, although the moisture content in the air is pretty good, about 50% - 60%.

jjwada

Castiel Limited Flood wrote: »

Thanks all for the replies. So we had a specialist over, not sure exactly what he was but he explained what had happened. There are two separate issues with the house itself. The build quality is not fantastic, when they built the house back in the 60's (or there abouts) they put the insulation on the inside wall, so the condensation point is closer to the wall. When we lay the cushion against the wall this brought the condensation point inside the wall. Easily fixed and not a big issue.

The second issue is not so simple. There's a lack of DPM between the balcony and the living room so when it rains or snows a lot, it seeps into the concrete and through to the sitting room. The concrete in the floor was not treated, and the same slab of concrete was used for the balcony and sitting room.

The specialist also said the windows are not great either.

We normally air the house, but with the cold weather we do this less often. At the moment I am doing this every day now and it does help, I think I might look into a dehumidifier, although the moisture content in the air is pretty good, about 50% - 60%.

Make sure you get a good dehumidifier. That one i linked above is great.
THey are great for drying clothes too.
Hang your clothes in the bathroom, put the dehumidifier in and turn it on.
Clothes will be dry in no time and not damaged from heat in a drier.

air

Your consultant sounds like he knows what he is talking about.
If possible it might be worth using a sealant on the surface of the balcony and on the wall above & below the balcony where they meet.
Off topic I've read that it's the mechanical tumbling as much as the heat that wears clothes out in a drier.

_Kaiser_

jjwada wrote: »

Make sure you get a good dehumidifier. That one i linked above is great.
THey are great for drying clothes too.
Hang your clothes in the bathroom, put the dehumidifier in and turn it on.
Clothes will be dry in no time and not damaged from heat in a drier.

As a side note, what are those dehumidifier like on electricity costs?

My current apartment suffers from mold as well in the main bedroom and ensuite. I've just been using bleach and water which seems to clean it off easily but as the apartment backs onto a line of trees it's usually fairly damp anyway and I don't want to leave windows open all day not just because it's cold but because these little midget flies love that idea.

Anaiyela

I found this stuff great, it's a high conc bleach

http://www.woodiesdiy.com/mobile/product/hg-mould-spray-500ml/15988/3.11.5?&

El_Dangeroso

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

As a side note, what are those dehumidifier like on electricity costs?

In my experience, negligible, like maybe 1-2c an hour.

beauf

They do this

https://www.google.ie/search?q=Sto%C3%9Fl%C3%BCften&oq=Sto%C3%9Fl%C3%BCften&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i59&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

masculinist

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

As a side note, what are those dehumidifier like on electricity costs?

My current apartment suffers from mold as well in the main bedroom and ensuite. I've just been using bleach and water which seems to clean it off easily but as the apartment backs onto a line of trees it's usually fairly damp anyway and I don't want to leave windows open all day not just because it's cold but because these little midget flies love that idea.

It depends on its Wattage which should be written on it. I imagine its like running a small refrigerator as its almost the same type of technology. I highly recommend getting one. I had one for the last few years until I realized the problem was a lack of trickle vents. When my house was originally built the builder and I had a conversation where he stated his belief that the house would be colder with more vents and I had gone along with it. Its partly true so before I got new vents, I also upgraded the insulation. With more vents its also unnecessary to always open windows for air and to let moisture out so you actually lose less heat that way too. So even with more vents in the rooms and roof, its still a hell of a lot warmer as well as dryer.

PersonalJesus

I have a dri-master installed in my landing to tackle black mould that was developing in the bedroom and bathroom. house is double glazed, cavity wall insulated and loft insulated, but effectively air tight so the moist are has nowhere to go.

the drimaster solved the problem completely.

http://www.nuaire.co.uk/products/catalogue/residential/positive-input-ventilation-piv/drimaster-heat/