Damp & mouldy

[Notters]

Purchased a de-humidifier last month and have been amazed at the amount of water it absorbs each day .

IMO every house should have at least one of these machines .

They use the same amount of electricity as a permanently on kettle as they try to dry out the whole of the earth's atmosphere. At 2 - 3 kw they cost up to £4/day to run.

 

[Mr H]

I bought one of these 2 months ago -EcoAir ECO DD122 Desiccant Simple Dehumidifier
600w on full power. 300 watts on low power.
Mine comes on for about 4 hours per day on low power
18p per day

 

[The Original]

We've used these guys in the past for damp treatment. Not quite as big a problem as yours but resolved first time and without fuss. Worth giving them a call:

http://rhsmithworthingltd.co.uk/

 

[Rogero]

No, I'm not talking about the contents of Ernest's pants, but sadly some of our walls.

We have a real condensation problem each and every morning and evening; we have to use a window vacuum emptying it about four times as we go around the house.

However, we can now see patches of mould appear, and only on one side of the house. All mainly upstairs too on the walls and ceilings. We've only been in the house a little over a year and the newly decorated daughter's room already has mould coming through the wallpaper. We have a dehumidifier upstairs on each evening but alas, the problem continues. We are popping the windows open as well as we are short on ventilation in the house.

With three little ones I'm keen to get this sorted quickly. Are there any experts out there with any advice or someone who works in the Worthing area who could take a look and let us know what we need to get done (and if they can do it?)

Do you dry clothes indoors. This can really affect humidity?

 

[greyseagull]

This is why I love NSC; there's a hell of a lot of helpful information here. Thanks everyone.

[MENTION=15768]The Original[/MENTION] - I've just given them a call, thank you.

[MENTION=3820]solly[/MENTION] - thanks for that advice. We've no TVs in any bedrooms but with a three year old and two twin babies we are putting more washing on the radiators than ever

[MENTION=18289]bravohotelalpha[/MENTION] - that does work a treat and I do give that a spray around the bathroom. Thank you.
[MENTION=16857]Guerrero[/MENTION] - thanks for that. I did try that before decorating my daughter's room but it's still coming through the wallpaper :-(

[MENTION=27032]Mr Bridger[/MENTION] - thanks for that. Rooms are heated via radiators and sadly we have no trickle vents (someone mentioned this to me yesterday as well actually)

[MENTION=24635]Greg Bobkin[/MENTION] - my father-in-law suggested this too and he recently had one fitted. I'm seriously contemplating this as an investment in the house

Thank you everyone else for your anecdotes and advice

 

[greyseagull]

Do you dry clothes indoors. This can really affect humidity?

Sadly yes, we are at the moment. Another thing we might have to invest in is a tumble dryer in the garage.

 

[Rogero]

If you dry clothes indoors you must really open the windows wide open.

 

[1066familyman]

We've had similar problems with damp and mould, always in the top of the house (town house), despite using dehumidifiers. There's six of us in our house and so this alone puts a lot of humidity into the air. Add in cooking, bathing and clothes drying and that's a hell of a lot of mositure to get rid of! We have trickle vents in the windows which we keep open but this winter the whole family has got on board with the following simple steps and it's made a huge difference.

1) Shut kitchen door when cooking and open the window. Turn on overhead oven extractor if you have one.

2) Shut bathroom door when bathing and open window.

3) Open upstairs windows both front and back of the house as often as possible to get a good through draft going. Even if you just do it for five minutes at a time throughout the day and evening. Get that air flow going!

4) Do not leave windows open for any length of time when it's wet & damp outside, it just lets damp air in.

5) Just bought one of them window vacs - very handy things! First thing in the morning I hoover up every bit of condensation that's formed on the windows overnight (mostly only forms on nights when the outside temp dips below 6-7 degrees).

6) Never ever leave anything touching an outside wall. These are the coldest walls in any house, especially north facing ones, and mould will guarantee to grow there if you don't keep them clear and well aired.

Hope all this might help you too. Good luck.