Dampness and mould in apartment

lucast2007us

Thanks guys decided to order one there from Amazon sick of using all those lethal sprays

Caranica

listermint wrote: »

Dry them outside. Those rules are horse. I've yet to see an apartment that people didn't have a clothes horse on the balcony. But draped over the balcony itself but horse on the balcony.

These rules are dreamt up by absolute idiots in management companies who aren't aware the damage mould does to he dwelling or its inhabitants

Way to get evicted!

The landlord is in the wrong here, needs to provide a way to dry the clothes in the absence of a line.

robp

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Your problems are building related so, not behavioral retated. I believe you’re trying your best. But some building work is required. A simple email from your landlord to the housing directors of your apartment will likely grand persmisson to drill external vent holes. Landlord can claim this back so really they won’t be out of pocket.

Ideally youd get some thing like demand controlled ventilation. Apart from that trickle vents are no more effective than simply opening the windows. The problem with replying on Windows is that people forget to keep up the routine. Personally if you are discipinced I'd avoid trickle vents.

Sheepdish1

listermint wrote: »

Dry them outside. Those rules are horse. I've yet to see an apartment that people didn't have a clothes horse on the balcony. But draped over the balcony itself but horse on the balcony.

These rules are dreamt up by absolute idiots in management companies who aren't aware the damage mould does to he dwelling or its inhabitants

I do this when I can but it is still impossible to dry them on clothes horse at this time of year even when outside they take days.
I go to landerette when I can.

darragh o meara

I got a dehumidifier in Lidl 2 months ago. It was the best €150 I ever spent, done wonders in the house and as said above, can be used to dry clothes too

We had issues like yourself and no matter what we did couldn’t sort them, a neighbor with similar issues ( houses built in a damp area ) told us about the dehumidifier he had got and how well it worked so we followed suit and haven’t looked back.

Graces7

agree million times re dehumidifier.... A life saver.

Sheepdish1

darragh o meara wrote: »

I got a dehumidifier in Lidl 2 months ago. It was the best €150 I ever spent, done wonders in the house and as said above, can be used to dry clothes too

We had issues like yourself and no matter what we did couldn’t sort them, a neighbor with similar issues ( houses built in a damp area ) told us about the dehumidifier he had got and how well it worked so we followed suit and haven’t looked back.

Is the dehumidifier you got heavy? It’s great this is working for people!! I know it sounds weird but I need a relatively light one, I got a loan of one but it weighs around 7kg which is too heavy for me to place on my counter

Sheepdish1

darragh o meara wrote: »

I got a dehumidifier in Lidl 2 months ago. It was the best €150 I ever spent, done wonders in the house and as said above, can be used to dry clothes too

We had issues like yourself and no matter what we did couldn’t sort them, a neighbor with similar issues ( houses built in a damp area ) told us about the dehumidifier he had got and how well it worked so we followed suit and haven’t looked back.

Also do your clothes dry enough that you can wear them from the clothes horse? At the moment I have to use an portable oil heater to finish drying any clothes or they just stay damp, I want to get rid of the oil heater completely as it’s too bulky and don’t want it here anymore

I never thought I’d miss normal radiators haha I have storage heaters so can’t dry clothes on them

Tar.Aldarion

I wear clothes straight from the horse even with my tiny one so that one should work too.

Graces7

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

Is the dehumidifier you got heavy? It’s great this is working for people!! I know it sounds weird but I need a relatively light one, I got a loan of one but it weighs around 7kg which is too heavy for me to place on my counter

They work better at floor level ...A good solid, stable machine

hmmm

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

Is the dehumidifier you got heavy? It’s great this is working for people!! I know it sounds weird but I need a relatively light one, I got a loan of one but it weighs around 7kg which is too heavy for me to place on my counter

The small dehumidifiers extract very little water and you will probably be disappointed. They might advertise biggish tanks, but their extraction rate is very poor.

Personally I'd get a full dessicant type, something like the Ecoair DD122 is relatively compact and around 6kg I think?

They are great for drying clothes, stick the clothes horse and the dehumidifier into a small room overnight. I also run it for an hour or two to supplement the extractor fan in the shower room. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6aPUFxzt1E

Sheepdish1

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

I will try the suggestions here and fix it myself. With the way the housing market is at the moment I don't contact LL unless its absolutely necessary for example if electrical work needs to be done.

Thank you for your helpful suggestion however I really don't like contacting him for anything as the rental market is the worst I have ever seen it :eek: Even if it isn't my fault I could be blamed for it :eek:

There's a couple of things you could try over the next week to completely rule out yourself as being the "problem" here.

1. Clean up all of the damp
2. Do your laundry at a laundrette
3. Don't cook food that's high in steam i.e. boiled potatoes/veg etc
4. Try and shower at the gym or limit showers and keep apartment ventilated
5. Keep good heat in the apartment for the week.

If damp is still present, then maybe try the de-humidifer approach but at least you'll have evidence to provide the landlord that it's not behaviour related.

fash

No matter what, if you are drying clothes on a clothes horse in an apartment, you will have some damp issues. Irish apartments and climate cannot handle it.
It is unlikely (and would be reasonably obvious) if there were some other cause. If your apartment does not have an exposed roof/balcony over, then I would not expect that to be the cause of your problem.
To put them in perspective, the amount of water produced by activities is roughly:

Air drying clothes: 5L/load
Cooking: 3L/day
Occupant (breathing etc): 1.5L/day/person
Showering: 1.5L/day/person
"Superser" gas heater: 1L/hour

Basically the things that kill you are air drying clothes and using a gas heater.

You can Google good desiccant dehumidifiers- here is what a quick Google threw up for low running cost good dehumidifiers:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meaco-25Litre-Low-Energy-Dehumidryer/dp/B01DNZ2A5G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1521483671&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=meaco+25l+ultra+power+energy+dehumidifier&linkCode=sl1&tag=homes-dehumidifiers-21&linkId=a0a07f2ace1ad0475e0ad74e795d6e9e

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EcoAir-Powerful-Energy-Efficient-Dehumidifier/dp/B077VXRNKQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546709641&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=EcoAir+Arion+26L&dpPl=1&dpID=31eujs7AWIL&ref=plSrch


Note:
I've seen people saying they keep the doors open in their apartments while the dehumidifier is on- those might be there for fire reasons (pretty much any Apartment without own door to outside access), in which case you shouldn't do that.

Sheepdish1

Deleted User wrote: »

There's a couple of things you could try over the next week to completely rule out yourself as being the "problem" here.

1. Clean up all of the damp
2. Do your laundry at a laundrette
3. Don't cook food that's high in steam i.e. boiled potatoes/veg etc
4. Try and shower at the gym or limit showers and keep apartment ventilated
5. Keep good heat in the apartment for the week.

If damp is still present, then maybe try the de-humidifer approach but at least you'll have evidence to provide the landlord that it's not behaviour related.

Thank you for your helpful advise

1. I have cleaned up all the damp and do clean it everyday

2. I mainly wash my clothes here but mostly dry them in relatives or
launderette. It isn't possible for me to do this with *every* single wash
however I am careful not to leave damp clothes around.
Heavier items such as towels, heavy jumpers, jeans etc I don't dry here at all

3. I use the extractor fan when cooking anything....I think I mostly do but
I am going to use it even when I boil kettle from now own:D

4. Showers are *really* limited here, even the towels I use are small and not
many are used. I will try cut down even more and clean the air extractors with
hoover and leave them on all the time

5. The apartment is kept warm as it is however I am limited as to how warm it
can get as it is storage heating but will try blast it up, I will feel like I am in a
sauna :cool::pac:

Sheepdish1

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

Thank you for your helpful advise

1. I have cleaned up all the damp and do clean it everyday

2. I mainly wash my clothes here but mostly dry them in relatives or
launderette. It isn't possible for me to do this with *every* single wash
however I am careful not to leave damp clothes around.
Heavier items such as towels, heavy jumpers, jeans etc I don't dry here at all

3. I use the extractor fan when cooking anything....I think I mostly do but
I am going to use it even when I boil kettle from now own:D

4. Showers are *really* limited here, even the towels I use are small and not
many are used. I will try cut down even more and clean the air extractors with
hoover and leave them on all the time

5. The apartment is kept warm as it is however I am limited as to how warm it
can get as it is storage heating but will try blast it up, I will feel like I am in a
sauna :cool::pac:

OK so if all you've said is true, and I've absolutely no reason not to believe that, then point 5, "the heating" - is your best bet. I still feel that your main issue is ventilation and general physical issues of the apartment itself, from what you've described.
Dry lining, good heating systems, good ventilation and good extraction are key factors in any living area.
It's very possible that your extraction fan over the cooker is going nowhere i.e. that it's not extracting condensation and water out of the apartment- that's down to how the kitchen was designed. If you can try and explore where the vent of the extractor leads to, that may help. I've seen apartments where there's an extractor fan, but the vent leads nowhere- bizarre I know, but i've seen it.

I'm sorry but from the information you've provided, I truly believe it's not what you're "doing" or indeed what you're not "doing"- it's a physical problem related to the apartment itself and it won't be sorted or greatly reduced by anything you may attempt yourself. I'm happy to be challenged on that but I don't see a satisfactory solution without some intervention within your physical apartment structure. best of luck though

Sheepdish1

So just an update as everyone was so helpful

Also think it would be good to give feedback for others having the same problem;)

Thank you for advise as it has been super helpful. I have been super careful and have figured that my place is damp due to the following:

1) Lack of ventilation: Not much I can do with this as can't change the structure of building

2) Cooking in small area: I leave extractor fan on every time I cook now. Lids are usually used but making extra effort now. I don't open dishwasher now until a good while so there is less steam

3) Storage heating: I really think this heating is unsuitable for houses, it just doesn't heat the place up enough when the house actually needs heat, that is just my opinion. Don't think I would buy a house with storage heating. *very* expensive I find but maybe house is poorly insulated and has old doors/windows.

I have bought a 10L Blyss dehumidifier and it really seems to be making a difference to how damp the house was. I have also noticed them in other windows in the estate so it isn't just me thankfully

It has pulled about 4 litres so far over a couple of days, it is bizarre seeing all that water that has been pulled from the air

I can now leave damp clothes dry over a couple of days but before I bought this anything damp would stay damp for days, actually it would just stay damp. I don't know if I am imagining it but I don't feel house is quite as cold as it was previously. There is also less condensation on the window which is great too.

all mould has been removed and repainted so I am hoping that this will keep the mould at bay but not convinced of this, but maybe it will be easier to keep on top of now. Didn't use any chemical etc apart from bleach in water but it is early days

Hopefully other people will find this thread helpful

Sheepdish1

Deleted User wrote: »

OK so if all you've said is true, and I've absolutely no reason not to believe that, then point 5, "the heating" - is your best bet. I still feel that your main issue is ventilation and general physical issues of the apartment itself, from what you've described.
Dry lining, good heating systems, good ventilation and good extraction are key factors in any living area.
It's very possible that your extraction fan over the cooker is going nowhere i.e. that it's not extracting condensation and water out of the apartment- that's down to how the kitchen was designed. If you can try and explore where the vent of the extractor leads to, that may help. I've seen apartments where there's an extractor fan, but the vent leads nowhere- bizarre I know, but i've seen it.

I'm sorry but from the information you've provided, I truly believe it's not what you're "doing" or indeed what you're not "doing"- it's a physical problem related to the apartment itself and it won't be sorted or greatly reduced by anything you may attempt yourself. I'm happy to be challenged on that but I don't see a satisfactory solution without some intervention within your physical apartment structure. best of luck though

Yep, you are right here. I think I can reduce it by maybe 70% but think heating system / insulation / ventilation revamp would be the only option if it was a house I owned

Call me Al

I just wanted to ask what may appear to be a silly question... is your extractor venting externally or is it a recirculation extractor?
Reason i ask is because all the apartments i have visited over the years didn't vent the extractor externally and seem to recirculate 5he air.

Sheepdish1

Call me Al wrote: »

I just wanted to ask what may appear to be a silly question... is your extractor venting externally or is it a recirculation extractor?
Reason i ask is because all the apartments i have visited over the years didn't vent the extractor externally and seem to recirculate 5he air.

Hi that isn't a silly question as a relative of mine had the same problem. His extractor was a ''carbon extractor'' and not a vent that went anywhere. It didn't go anywhere

Mine is actually a vent as I can see where the vent is outside but originally I thought it didn't go anywhere.

Strange that apartments use the ''fake'' fans isn't it?

Well done OP- some good progress there

BTW, just so you know, a drill hole for ventilation will cost your landlord about 200 euro- a couple of holes will cost even less per hole and he/she will probably get it done for a lot less. Apartment management companies (and the apartment block directors) won't argue over something like ventilation so will likely approve it. It's also in the interests of your landlord that they get this done.

tvjunki

Using a gas heater creates a large amount of moisture and condensation on the windows. We (our bodies) also produce a lot of moisture during the night.
Keep room doors open when you are not there to allow air to circulate. Also when you get in from work open the windows for a few minutes to air the house and get the moisture out.

Keep the dehumidifier on during the winter on as the moisture in the air can make a property cold.
If you don't have a dryer or place the dry your clothes your landlord has to provide a dryer. Some apartments they have a grass screen up on the balcony so no one can see the clothes horse.

Once the dehumidifier gets going the moisture in air will disappear the house it will start to hold the heat. You will notice the difference in the smell of the house.
You will get some heat from the machine.

Always put the dehumidifier on where you have clothes drying. You can do this in the summer. Within a couple of hours the clothes will be ready to iron and air on hangers.