cavity wall and mould

[chilliabc]

We live in an end terraced 1975 house.

We suffer from 2 mouldy bedrooms on the outside walls and over the UPVC windows (which we think are about 15 years old) There is a small patch of mould on the ceiling of one bedroom. We try to have a small window open during the day which may have made the mould slightly less.

The external wall in the living room feels freezing cold and a thin layer of mould grows on this wall, the sofa is against this wall. We have now moved the sofa an inch or so off the wall.

Today, we have been invited to have cavity wall insulation for FREE!! Is it worth it? Could it help to stop the mould and cold wall or could it make it 100 times worse?

Thanks

 

[ajrobb]

If the DG windows are mouldy then I suspect you have a severe heating/ventilation problem. Have a look at DriMaster ventilation system.

I have a 1977 end terrace with foam CWI from c1985. This only recently had a mould problem due to inadequate heating and ventilation. If you don't heat the house, it will likely go mouldy as the surfaces fall below dew point. I think the usual recommendation is to keep surfaces at least 5°C above dew point.

With adequate heating, insulating the walls will help behind the sofa. Likewise, loft insulation will help the ceiling. You ought to keep the entire structure above dew point, so consider a vapour proof layer (e.g. acrylic paint) near the inside surface.

 

[^woody^]

It's certainly worth having the walls insulated, but it wont be a magical panacea for the mould - which tend to be more lifestyle related, so you will still need to address it separately

 

[noseall]

It's certainly worth having the walls insulated, but it wont be a magical panacea for the mould - which tend to be more lifestyle related, so you will still need to address it separately

Is that you back out of nick then Woodster?

Welcome back you old scrote!

 

[KenGMac]

the problems of condensation can at times be "reduced" by a few lifestyle alterations such as.

1/. If the bathroom does NOT have an extract fan that "runs on" after the light is switched off this can allow warm heavily moisture laden air into the rest of the house, especially the cooler bedrooms where it will condense out on the cold external walls.
If there is no fan, then prior to exiting the bathroom after a shower or bath, open the window, exit the room as quickly as possible to reduce the volume of moisture laden air entering the house.

2/. If the cooker has a vent hood fitted, but the hood does not extract the air out of the house then this too is a major source of heavily moisturised air getting into the rest of the property. If poss re-arrange the vent, or fit one to evacuate a huge volume of steam from cooking directly out of the kitchen not allowing it to migrate into the house. If no fan is fitted, simply close the kitchen door when cooking [especially when cooking tatties / pasta that will generate vast volumes of steam]

The two tricks above will decrease the volume of warm very damp air from getting into the property, that is contain / remove the steam

As for the CWI? personal preference is no, but? I like the insulation that is built into all new property however the retro-fill can at times be no answer at all. it is not supposed to be used on "exposed" sites. Prior to having it fitted I would have a really good look around the external of the property looking for cracks in roughcast render, open brick joints Etc, anywhere that rain water could get into the cavity.
There are hundreds of tails for and against CWI its all right to have in injected Free but what cost to remove it? if it is a failure?

 

[^woody^]

Is that you back out of nick then Woodster?

Welcome back you old scrote!

Yes. They couldn't prove most of it, and one witness, an engineer, was deemed too unreliable.

All my matchstick models are on ebay if anyone's interested ..... plus lots of soap which I managed to pick up