ow about wet and damp weather and condensation in old ( and over insulate d maybe?) houses.
der) or heat the rain and the wind outside. My condensation and mold proble ms are returning and they are spreading. What was a problem in the kitchen has now it the whole house. Its musty, stinking and black mold is growing in a lot of corners.
is not leaking roof, guttering or anything else. I have cut back trees and checked under the floor. This is a condensation issue - beyond stopping br eathing. I am at a loss.
e stop breathing route yourself.
Exactly! Six ruddy years and I still cannot get rid of it.
I have had builders in and surveyors. I have replaced the windows, had ins ulation, had the guttering fascias, soffits and all manner of everything so rted out/ renewed and had the place checked for leaks.
The last thing I need my dearest cutist Adam is you offering nothing but yo ur sarcasm. Go slither back under your stone and hibernate. Just remember it not compulsory o to read my posts or to reply. Thanks.
Now I am ignoring anything else you have to say. I will not give you oxygen .
6 years of riddles and bollocks, a bit of an inheritance, some sort of disability and the only thing that never gets moist in your house is your fanny.
If 50's built then presumably it is of cavity wall construction and has a proper DPC under the ground floor slab and a felted roof construction.
Being Cornwall where the climate is mild, over insulating would seem excessive anyway.
Was it cavity wall insulated at some point ?. If so, because you are in an area where driving rain can infiltrate the cavity, the insulation
*might* have become saturated, especially if it was a cowboy install using non-treated rockwool. In this case your only solution is to have bricks removed from the outer leaf and rake it all out.
A 50's house will have a chimney. Just have a good open fire or install a log burner and heat up the entire fabric of the house. This will drive the damp away.
As others have pointed out, and your use of inverted commas suggests, it's a widespread problem outside Cornwall.
The usual explanation is hermetically sealed homes, but I have my doubts. You've noted that even insulated walls can get condensation on them, and that north walls are somewhat worse. My infrared thermometer shows that a north wall, even if insulated, is often a couple of degrees colder than a south wall (maybe 17 degrees compared to 19). But should this make a difference?
We have noticed that the bedroom has noticeably more mould than other rooms (including the bathroom), and even mould (green, rather than black) appears particularly on leather items even though they've been stored in sealed in polythene bags for ages. There is no doubt that a dehumidifier helps, and so far it's the only thing which does.
I can't understand this idea of "leaving a window open" to ventilate a room, particularly at night. If you have a humidity meter outside, it almost never fails to reach 95%+ humidity, in the early hours, whereas inside it will usually be 60 - 70%. So by opening a window, you are allowing damper air to enter!
Of course, many years ago, in the 40s and 50s, mould never seemed to be a great problem, Well, there was little if no central heating for the masses, and people did sleep with windows open, and in winter ice formed from the condensation inside bedroom windows. But why wasn't there all this mould we are seeing today? I think the explanation is straightforward, and is the same reason why gardeners had less trouble with varieties of roses which were known to be susceptible to black spot, rust, mildew, and other fungal diseases. It's simply that the air was polluted with pretty high levels of sulphur dioxide from all the coal burning fires, and it not only got mould off the roses, but out of houses too.
In cleaning up the air we breath, we've just exchanged one form of air pollution for another, except this time it's fungal rather than chemical. Years ago, after a child had recovered from one of the common respiratory infections, it was usual to burn a sulphur candle in the bedroom to fumigate it. It would be interesting to try one now in a room with a severe mould problem to see if it helped. Unfortunately, because sulphur candles were effective, they have been deemed unsafe and it is now impossible to get them easily, if at all, at a sensible price. Oh, here come the D-I-Y bit - you could always try making your own!
What paint did you use? My experience of antifungal paint is quite good, or at least better than standard.
60-70 shows inadequate ventilation, especially if a warm kitchen and cold outside. Perhaps fit a bigger extractor if you have one already, not a cooker one that recirculates.
Its not mundic. That was tested when we bought it. It is cavity wall but I decided against insulation because I already had problems and didnt want th em made worse. I just think that the windows and roof ( which were done ) h ave made it too air tight and the air flow is too slow and thats why we hav e issues but mostly people just tell me to open the windows ( which doesnt work).
I do wish you wouldnt do this. I have explained myself before. I value the decent replies I get. This is a persistent probloem and I have indeed poste d before - tried the suggestions and , I have, I admit got the condenstatio n down with those suggestions. I value and appreciate anyone who takes the time to help. I take it all on board.
One has to ask who is actually living under the bridge - is it ARW and his freinds?
Yes, we do have chimneys. I have thought about opening at least one of them . The others are in bedrooms and so it really wouldnt be practical. The ki tchen once had a boiler/fire aga style set up but the kitchen has been re s tyled ( circa 1980) and it would mean massive disruption to get that chimne y opened
I am not keen on open fires ( I have a fire / open flames phobia ever since childhood). It wouldn't be my first choice, but I will consider it.
Those are interesting observations and since I was a kid in the 1960's I would also think valid. I cannot recall my parents, grandparents or any of my aunts and uncles having issues in their cold , often icy in winter , homes.
Sulpher...... I am just wondering now. 'Tis true they have banned the most effective cleaners and products that kill mold. Nothing works. Bleach is about the best now.
I have been using kitchen and bathroom paint ( stuff from the DIY shoups. I think the last one was Crown brand. However, a friend of my husbands who i s a painter and decorator ( and he has done some painting for me) said the re was a better quality paint available from the building merchants but I have not tried that yet.
Thats what I have been thinking. I am thinking the house has been bubble w rapped and is hermetically sealed because of all the "eco drives" that have led to too much insulation and not enough air movement. So, just a better ventilator or a Nu Air?
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