The perpetual " Cornish" problem - damp and mold.

Do you mean dangly bits?

Although I do know someone from Korea, I could ask him next time I see him.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog
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bout wet and damp weather and condensation in old ( and over insulated ma ybe?) houses.

or heat the rain and the wind outside. My condensation and mold problems a re 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.

not leaking roof, guttering or anything else. I have cut back trees and che cked under the floor. This is a condensation issue - beyond stopping breath ing. I am at a loss.

all manner of energy efficiency - and I did - problem made worse! Its st ill biggest in the kitchen ( where I have both a de humidifier and a heater now)

with the kitchen at around 15 C). I have even had one heater on all summer .....

) which promises to sort it out ( but, hey, promises, promises?)

Most condensation problems originate from moisture generated inside the bui lding and are best tackled at source.

EG cooker hood to get rid of steam from cooking. Extract fan in bathroom/shower cubicle.

Don't forget, You have to let air in to replace that extracted.

Reply to
harry

If you warm up the same moisture laden air the (relative) humidity will go down, humidity is just a measure of how much moisture the air ( at that temperature will hold) e.g.

15C 100% humidity air warmed to 21C will be 70% humidity. So letting colder air in will not necessarily let in more moisture.
Reply to
Robert

In message , Jeff Layman writes

I have no idea how sound the science behind that claim may be, but it certainly makes a lot of sense. We really didn't see mould in most ordinary houses 50-60 years ago, but these days, it is everywhere. Why? My grandparents, like so many people then, had a room which was only used on high days and holidays, yet it was never mouldy. No central heating of course, and the fire lit Boxing Day.

Reply to
Graeme

Exchanging warm moist air for external drier air with some sort of smart heat exchanger might help a bit. Letting some more air in from outside will help but getting rid of the wettest internal air will help more.

It shouldn't be that bad unless you have a lot of people in the house all taking a shower every day and no air extraction in the bathroom.

Its the pans of boiling water that are the biggest source of water vapour - do you have an extractor hood over the cooker hob? Any other extraction in the kitchen?

A hermetically sealed house can end up with silly levels of humidity inside if you make it completely draft proof. But I can't see that a

1950's house would be all that sensitive to being insulated. A Victorian building with lime mortar and no damp course you have to be very careful what you do since disturbing the moisture equilibrium in the brickwork can cause serious trouble. Makintoshes Hill House is an example of what can go wrong (he believed the claims of Portland cement render at the time of building and it is now a nightmare to control humidity inside).

Bad problems once the impervious render ages and cracks water can get in trapped against the brickwork but cannot get out except into the house.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Why not just knock the place down and start again?

Reply to
Capitol

bout wet and damp weather and condensation in old ( and over insulated ma ybe?) houses.

or heat the rain and the wind outside. My condensation and mold problems a re 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.

not leaking roof, guttering or anything else. I have cut back trees and che cked under the floor. This is a condensation issue - beyond stopping breath ing. I am at a loss.

all manner of energy efficiency - and I did - problem made worse! Its st ill biggest in the kitchen ( where I have both a de humidifier and a heater now)

with the kitchen at around 15 C). I have even had one heater on all summer .....

) which promises to sort it out ( but, hey, promises, promises?)

Dehumidifier really is the way to go. Ventilation achieves less RH reductio n, and in winter at much higher price. HRV beats bare ventilaion but still DH is better.

Options: A 2nd dehumidifier Adding a 400w building type type - but as they're more noisy and use a big fan you may want to just run that when you're out. And is the current dehumidifier working correctly?

For paint there are various additives you can put in, eg copper sulphate, z inc sulphate, aspirin. Cleaning existing moudy areas with bleach can help.

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NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

That's easy enough to isolate - run the duhumdifier, get the humidity down to whatever it is outside, and go out for the day. If the humidity's significantly higher than outside when you get back, you have water coming in. Mentioned without wishing to wind you up further :-)

I'm sure you've checked - but the obvious might be bridged DPC (rubbish against the outside walls), brdiged cavity, poorly sealed or blocked chimney, failed DPM/poor underfloor ventilation, poorly functioning gutters.

And things like uninsulated walls combined with walls with no solar gain are always going to be against it even with normal use. That can be a quick and cheapish fix - I've put 25/50mm of celotex into alcoves and a south facing wall - made a huge difference to the comfort and measurements.

Then again, as you suggest, it could be environmental, and you're just in what is in effect a swamp bed. Do your neighbours have similar problems?

Reply to
RJH

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