I would like to throw open a question for some sensible advice on heating/damp.
I live in a Victorian Semi circa 1870, we are having the battle of the damp!! Pretty much none of the property has DPC, instead it has chemical damp proofing done about 7 years ago.

Our lounge gets black mould spreading from the front corner, along the wall. There is nothing in the corner except for a convector heater & a floor standing lamp. The length of the wall has a leather sofa running along it – but it is a good 6-7 inches out from the wall, with nothing else down the back.

The bedroom above is the master bedroom. The walls feel damp and cold to touch and specs of mould appear throughout the winter. Leading off this room is a small cupboard; this cupboard is really damp – with a constant amount of mould being cleaned from the walls. I had a tux in there in a plastic suit bag – the bag was running with water when I took it out this weekend.

I have taken some initial steps – I have bleached the mould off, I have removed most obstacles from the cupboard and I have run the heater in the living room a lot to try and keep the room warm. I also ran the dehumidifier for 4 hours in the bedroom and took out nearly a whole tank of water.
I am now after some advice on how to make this situation better. I have a 2 year old and a wife with asthma – it cant be doing either of these any good at all.

Other factors to consider
The house is centrally heated, it does not run very often (maybe 2 hours per day) – I worry that running it too much will raise energy bill beyond affordability. I don’t know what the running cost of our system is. Maybe someone could help to establish how I can work this out?

We have an open fire in the living room – but are unable to use it currently because the previous occupants did not fit the cast iron surround correctly – leaving it pretty, but unsafe!!

The door to the cupboard upstairs is solid and usually closed – would fitting some vents to the door help?
Are there any small cheap to run dehumidifiers I could run in the cupboard a few hours a day? I do have a unibond powertab box in there, but it seems to be fighting a loosing battle.

Any advice alterations, heating strategies, or equipment I can gain is most appreciated. I am at my whits end!

first would check the gutter and roof on the outside to make sure they are not leaking. also fit a vent into the cupboard door to allow air flow.

heating and fresh air are starters for battling mould.

Hi Ian, I am just across the water from you, if you google my user name and add services and email me through my site I will send you one of my pdf's which will help you regarding your mould growth problem and how to control condensation.

The main thing is that bleach will not kill the mould growth root system, and trying to remove it with out killing it will be spreading spores all around the property, as you may be aware, mould growth is rated under the HHSRS rating system the same class as asbestos.

email me and I will send you the information regarding what to look out for and how to control the problem.

regards
Chris
SMR Services

You could of course attatch the PDF file to your post for all to share....

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Verwood Handyman
I Know it says I'm On-line, but I might have just left myself logged in, whilst I'm out....

I could indeed but will the moderators accuse me of spamming??

Possibly...but as your first post seems to be touting for business anyway...better to share with any-one with a similar problem I'd have thought???

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If you feel you have benefited from the Free advice given on the Forum, Please consider making a donation to UHM's Nominated charity, read all about it and donate here :

http://www.donnasdreamhouse.co.uk/


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Verwood Handyman
I Know it says I'm On-line, but I might have just left myself logged in, whilst I'm out....

Professionals that help other posters, get some leeway. Out and out Spams gets a ban.

In addition after 100 posts you can ask Admin to activate your signature, which allows you to posts a link to your Business.

Replies should always be on the forum for the benefit of everyone,

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If you feel you have benefited from the Free advice given on the Forum, Please consider making a donation to UHM's Nominated charity, read all about it and donate here :

donnas-dream-house-charity-t52110.html

Keeping your home free from
condensation, damp & mould

WATER VAPOUR / CONDENSATION
Is created by normal, everyday living in your house such as breathing, perspiration, washing, cooking, bathing, drying clothes, and burning fuel, such as gas or paraffin.
The average family produces 20 pints (5 gallons or approximately 12L) of moisture every day. Think of it as two and a half builders buckets full of water and you will see the scale of the problem that the house has to cope with.
You can reduce this by:
• Keeping lids on pans when cooking, keeping the kitchen door closed and leaving the window open/extract fan on.
• Drying clothes outside or piping the tumble dryer’s moist exhaust air to the outside.
• Not drying your clothes indoors on airers or over radiators.
• Running the cold water for a bath before the hot water. Leave the bathroom door closed whilst the bath is filling to reduce the spread of steam. When you have finished, open the window wide for an hour or so, or until the last beads of moisture have disappeared from the windows and walls. If there is an extract fan in this room, leave the window closed and leave the fan running for an hour or so. If you have a heater in the bathroom, turn it on at least one hour before you go in to the bathroom. If you have central heating, make sure that the air temperature in this room is not less than 21C.
This is particularly important for people under 5 and over 60, or who have a long-standing illness.
• Not using liquid paraffin or bottled gas room heaters. These produce 8 pints (5L) of water vapour for every gallon of fuel burned. The water will end up condensing on your walls and windows.
Guidance prepared by Clear Environmental Services Incorporating
Specialist Mould Removal Services –
Specialists In Mould Eradication, Damp & Condensation In Buildings
Telephone: 02392 262691
Email:
Keeping Your Home free from condensation, damp & mould.

VENTILATION:
This is the normal escape route for moist air. As the air in your house circu-lates, it draws moist air to the outside through open windows, doors, trickle vents, extractor fans, airbricks and chimneys and is replaced by fresh air.
Outside air is always drier than the air inside your house. If this exchange of air is poor or prevented, the air in the house becomes saturated and water vapour will condense on the nearest surface at or below dew point temperature.
To allow fresh air to circulate you should consider some of these:
• Fit extractor fans to shower rooms, bathrooms and kitchens. Bathrooms require an extract rate of not less than 80 litres per second and kitchens 60 litres per second. There are extract fan systems available that can re move most of the heat from the extracted air and blow it back into the room (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery).
• A cooker hood is not an extractor fan. If there is an open flued appliance in the premises do not use an extract fan with an extract rate of more than 15 litres per second.
• Open all windows wide until the condensation disappears and then close them, leaving a 1/4inch (5mm) gap between the sash and the frame in each room.
• Ensure that trickle vents are open in double glazed windows.
 Keep bathroom and kitchen doors shut to help prevent moist air circulating to the rest of the home.
 Avoid still air pockets - areas between furniture and external walls and behind heavy curtains will encourage condensation to form, because there is no circulation of warm air to warm the wall and furniture. If it is not possible to put the furniture against an inside wall, leave a gap of at least 3” to 4” (75mm to 100mm). Do not over fill wardrobes, cupboards and chests of drawers.
• If you have nowhere to dry your clothes, take them to the launderette and dry them there. Failing this put them in the bathroom, turn on the heating, open the window or turn on the extract fan and close the door.
Guidance prepared by Clear Environmental Services Incorporating
Specialist Mould Removal Services –
Specialists In Mould Eradication, Damp & Condensation In Buildings
Telephone: 02392 262691
Email:
Keeping Your Home free from condensation, damp & mould.

HEATING
Warm air can hold more moisture than cold air so if your house is heated adequately you are less likely to suffer from condensation. Warm air cooling in the night will still result in condensation, especially on or around windows during cold weather. Most of this will evaporate as heating is turned on again in the morning and windows are opened.
If you suffer from condensation and mould growth during the winter, it is important to understand why, and what you can do to prevent, or at least, reduce it.
Your walls store heat. The amount of heat stored will depend upon how heavy the materials are, their insulation standards and the period for which it has been heated.
As the external air cools down, heat is lost from the structure to the outside atmosphere. If the heat is not replaced quickly enough by the heating system, your walls will continue to cool until they fall below the “Dew Point Temperature”.
At this stage, you will notice that condensation will begin to occur.
The formation of condensation cools the wall even more, resulting in even more condensation occurring. This will continue happening until you do something about it.
You will notice that:
• Your house, clothing and bedding will feel cold and damp. There will be a musty, damp smell. You may see mould growth on furniture, external walls, in cupboards, drawers, on or around windows and on your clothing or bedding. Wallpaper may peel off around windows or other areas.
• It takes a long time before your heating begins to take effect, your walls stay cold to the touch and you will not feel properly warm as a result.
• Your fuel bills will increase substantially.
• You will find it more difficult to keep yourself warm, especially if you are elderly, ill, or spend a great part of your day in the house
The cure to this problem is to put more heat in until the wall is warmed to a temperature above dew point. (Don’t forget ventilation.) Yes, it will cost more initially to get the walls warmed up, but when they are properly dry, your heating bills will reduce.
Guidance prepared by Clear Environmental Services Incorporating
Specialist Mould Removal Services –
Specialists In Mould Eradication, Damp & Condensation In Buildings
Telephone: 02392 262691
Email:
Keeping Your Home free from condensation, damp & mould.

HEATING
Do not wait until it starts to turn cold before putting your heating system on. Leaving the heating off until the weather turns cold will result in the walls los-ing all their stored heat. It will then take a lot longer (and a lot more money) for the heating system to warm them up sufficiently for you to feel comfortable.
DO turn your heating on at the end of September (or earlier if the weather cools), and set the main thermostat to a temperature of not less than 21C.
If you have thermostatic radiator valves in your bedrooms, bathrooms etc, adjust these to achieve a temperature of not less than 18C (aim for 21-22C in living rooms). The heating system will then automatically provide enough heat to maintain the structure above dew-point.
Economy 7 or Night Storage Heaters, it is important to listen to the weather forecasts at night and adjust the input control to take account of the temperatures for the next day.
On most E7 or Night Storage Heaters there will be 2 knobs. Generally, the right hand one will control the heat input and the left hand one will control the heat output.
The left hand knob (the output control) controls a flap within the heater. To keep the room at a reasonable temperature you will need to adjust it to al-low heat to escape gradually throughout the day.
The control knobs are often marked with the numbers 1 to 10 around the outside. As a rough guide in mild weather, (outside air temperatures between 10 to 17 Celsius), the input control should be somewhere between 4 and 8. In cold weather (10 Celsius and below), turn it to 8 or above.
These types of heaters will provide a minimum temperature of 18 Celsius, but however, this is not a comfortable temperature and you will find that it will probably be necessary to supplement the heating with a convector heater during periods of very cold weather.
Guidance prepared by Clear Environmental Services Incorporating
Specialist Mould Removal Services –
Specialists In Mould Eradication, Damp & Condensation In Buildings
Telephone: 02392 262691
Email:
Keeping Your Home free from condensation, damp & mould.

HEATING & VENTILATION
Do not over-ventilate by leaving your windows wide open all day in cold weather – your walls will lose all of the heat stored in them.
DO open the windows wide for a short period of time in the morning say 30-60 minutes and then close them up, leaving a small gap between the sash and the frame of ¼ of an inch (5mm), or at any time that you see condensa-tion forming on the glass.
DO mop up any water that accumulates on the window glass or window cills. Wring the cloth out in the toilet or washbasin, don’t leave it wet on the cills. This will provide a moisture reservoir for future condensation.
Do NOT put your heating on for short periods of time (one hour or less) – this will actually ensure that the problem becomes worse. The air absorbs water vapour more quickly than the walls can warm up. When the heating is turned off, the air cools very quickly and condensation rapidly occurs, cooling the walls further.
DO put the heating on for at least 3 hours at a time. Set your timer to come on at 4 or 5 am (when the air is coldest) and to go off an hour after you leave for work. During the day, set it to come on at least an hour before you come home from work and to go off at least an hour after you go to bed.
If you are at home all day, put the heating on for not less than 3 hours at a time or leave the heating on full time, but at a lower temperature.
In extremely cold weather, it is a good idea to leave your heating on at a low level whether you are at home or not.
Loft insulation, wall insulation and double glazing will help you to keep the heat in your house longer, walls are warmer and the chances of damaging condensation are greatly reduced. However, these measures will not cure condensation and mould growth by themselves. It is essential that you ensure that you heat and ventilate your home properly.
Dealing with mould
If you do this and follow the other advice given above, mould should not re-appear. The only lasting way to avoid severe mould is to reduce the relative humidity and condensation by properly heating and ventilating your home.
Guidance prepared by Clear Environmental Services Incorporating
Specialist Mould Removal Services –
Specialists In Mould Eradication, Damp & Condensation In Buildings
Telephone: 02392 262691
Email:


Its difficult without seing your home and surveying it properly, but my advice would be to heat the property more and at a constant heat, the problem is with only heating the property for a few hrs, is that you will not be giving the property walls a chance to store any heat, this will effectivelly give you what is called cold walling, this intern will cause condensation problems in your property, notably on specific walls which are the coldest through out your home.