Odd damp(?) problem

[Graham Davies]

Hi there,

We moved into a bungalow back in the summer, originally built in 1955. It has a suspended floor with floor boards. Over the past 4 weeks or so we have had a problem with damp, or more specifically mould which I assume is caused by damp. It is in the living room and is attacking any soft organic material that we have: leather covered storage chest, seagrass storage chest, soft chair seats with a similar material to seagrass. The carpet has mould in places near the walls.

I have checked all the air bricks and they look fine. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? Should I get the professionals in?

Thanks for any advice,

Graham.

[Graham Davies]

Hi there,

We moved into a bungalow back in the summer, originally built in 1955. It has a suspended floor with floor boards. Over the past 4 weeks or so we have had a problem with damp, or more specifically mould which I assume is caused by damp. It is in the living room and is attacking any soft organic material that we have: leather covered storage chest, seagrass storage chest, soft chair seats with a similar material to seagrass. The carpet has mould in places near the walls.

I have checked all the air bricks and they look fine. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? Should I get the professionals in?

Thanks for any advice,

Graham.

[Graham Davies]

Hi there,

We moved into a bungalow back in the summer, originally built in 1955. It has a suspended floor with floor boards. Over the past 4 weeks or so we have had a problem with damp, or more specifically mould which I assume is caused by damp. It is in the living room and is attacking any soft organic material that we have: leather covered storage chest, seagrass storage chest, soft chair seats with a similar material to seagrass. The carpet has mould in places near the walls.

I have checked all the air bricks and they look fine. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? Should I get the professionals in?

Thanks for any advice,

Graham.

[Christian McArdle]

I assume you have good ventilation, rather than totally sealed double glazing with no vents? You have central heating?

What is the construction of the property like? How does the floor height compare with the ground height outside the house?

Christian.

[Dave£]

The cause could be any number of things. Since it isn't obvious to you what the cause is, perhaps you could get a specialist company in to give you a quote for the work. Hearing their proposed remedy will tell you what they think the problem is. You can then decide whether to let them do the work or do the work yourself, if you have the will, the abilty and the competence to do it.

Dave

[Peter Parry]

What sort of heating are you using? Is it off during the day? Has double glazing been fitted? What is the general house ventilation like (especially kitchen and bathrooms)? Do you have a condensing tumble dryer?

[Christian McArdle]

Or more importantly, a non-condensing tumble dryer that isn't actually vented (or just drying clothes on radiators). A good condensing dryer well maintained shouldn't appreciably increase condensation within the building.

Christian.

[Peter Parry]

Indeed - but rather obvious :-).

A condensing dryer will release between 10% and 50% of the water as moisture in the vented air. Most release somewhere between 10 and

20% however many people think they extract all the water and forget about their contribution to damp in a house. If you have one of the poorer models for damp release such as some from Hoover, White Knight, Creda or LG then they can be significant factor.

[Christian McArdle]

Mine actually reduces condensation in the kitchen. It appears to raise the temperature faster than the relative humidity can keep up.

Then my ventilation is well above standard. (Think 100 year old sashes in need of serious renovation!)

Christian.

[MikeS]

Graham,

The first thing to check is the gutters and down pipes as dampness can be cause by a damp wall it could be very slightly damp that you cannot detect it. Also if earth is over the damp course. any paveing should be 6 inches below the damp course level.

I saw a TV program where the house had a leaking gutter and a blocked down pipe on the other side of the house. It was amazing how much work and cost was needed by some firms to cure rising damp when in reality is was damp coming from above. The prices ranged from £100 to put gutter and down pipe right To £4000 to replace all the damp course. The fault was rectified by the guy who did it for £100 which by the way was a bit pricey, but honesty must have its reward but its not as rewarding as being a rip of merchant. MikeS

[Graham Davies]

Gas fired central heating. Plus wood burning stove in the living room.

Yes, it is off during the day.

Sealed units everywhere. We bought the bungalow from a Property developer who had it installed.

There are two vents over the patio doors in the living room. We leave the vents open on the wood burning stove so there is some air movement in the lounge. No natural ventilation in the bathroom and we are having big condensation problems there. The toilet cystern is self overflowing, so there isn't an overflow pipe to get air through. Also, no natural ventilation in the kitchen.

We have a non-condensing tumble dryer in the adjoining garage which is used almost daily. It's not preoperly vented. Could it be that moisture is finding it's way back into the bungalow?

Also found the same problem in one of the bedrooms this morning. :o(

Graham

[Graham Davies]

Ventilation is not that good. We have sealed unit double glazing everywhere. See my other post.

There is a visible damp course about 6 inches above ground level. The floor height internally is approx 2 to 3 inches above the damp course.

Thanks for your input,

Graham.

[richard]

I would be confident in saying that this is condensation not damp. You need to increase the ventilation through your sick building. If this mould is forming where you can see it, imagine what's happening where you can't see it, in voids etc. Top solution is install a whole house heat recovery system, would be a doddle in a bungalow. make sure cooker hoods and tumble dryers are vented to outside Fit an extractor in the shower room Don't dry clothes in the house Don't breathe or perspire.

Open the windows as much as you can... until you've put the HRV in.

[richard]

It all points to condensation, ie humidity too high

not enough air through a 3/4 pipe anyway...

oh dear it get's worse

Very possible

Heaven help you if you have built in wardrobes against outside walls. One thing I meant to ask, you're not using a Super SEr type portable gas cabinet heater are you? And the flue from your gas boiler? It is going up a chimney or outside is it?

Rich, i'm sorry for the scrappy editing. oe quote fix is here but i keep clicking the old oe icon.... i will try harder.

[Peter Parry]

Your problem is condensation, not damp coming in from outside. You will see the worse effects of corners of east facing rooms or behind wardrobes. It's caused by too much moisture being released into the house.

The short term cure is to keep the heating on during the day to keep the temperature high and open windows for an hour a day to ventilate the house. The longer term cure is to improve the ventilation. Bungalows usually lend themselves very well to central ventilation/heat recovery units which are quite easy to install.

Sort out the dryer as soon as possible as that will be a major contributor. Showers are almost as bad - put a bathroom fan in. The small 20W ones wired to run all day on a timer are better than the noisy things designed for bathrooms which are tied to the light switch and only operate for 20 mins or less.

[James Salisbury]

Buy a cheap max min air hygrometer such as stock code 85-2397 from

place into the problem room and report back with the reults. Take mesurments throuhout the day.

[Pete C]

Hi,

Maybe buy a cheap dehumidifier to dry the place out and then run it on a timeswitch to keep the humidity under control.

A cheap hygrometer from somewhere like Maplin will tell you how high the humidity is.

cheers, Pete.