Cold Bridging

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13 Dec 2004
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Lincolnshire
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United Kingdom
Just fell across this forum and from what I've seen it looks to be pretty comprehensive.
I have noticed a few patches of mould appearing on the ceiling/wall joins in some of the rooms of the bungalow I'm living in. I am guessing they are something to do with either cold bridging or condensation build up as the place it watertight, no holes/leaks in the roofspace.
A while ago I fitted an extractor fan into the ensuite (one of the rooms, in fact the worst room, for the mould is the main bedroom) thinking that the problem was just a buildup of condensation from the shower. I now want to look into the possibilty that the problem is with cold bridging.
Could anyone give me any ideas as to what can be done to find/remove the problem. I've checked in the roofspace and from what I can see everything seems to be ok but then I'm not really too sure as to what I should be looking for as to the cause of the cold bridge.
Any advice would be most gratefully received.

Thanks in advance...
 
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You say the house is watertight, that could be your problem right there.

Whats the external wall? Cement render? Pebbledash? Or just plain brick?

Any cavity wall insulation?
 
Thanks for the reply Tom,
The external wall to the front of the house is red brick, the sides and back have been dashed. As far as I know there is no cavity wall insulation. The house itself is probably around 9 or 10 years old I would say.
The majority of the mould (in fact pretty much all of it) is only present in the main bedroom with a very small amount of it in the second bedroom, both these rooms are to the front of the house which, as the back of the house faces almost due south, doesn't really get too much in the way of sun - not that there is that much sun over here anyways!!
It also seems the black areas are occuring in line with the ceiling joists. Had a look at the joists over the weekend and they seem to be in good condition, no rot or anything on them. Is it possible that the joists themselves are acting as the cold bridge??
 
Sounds very much what is known as "trap condensation" meaning it need more ventilation. You may have a condensation pocket which need movement of air.

See this
 
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Mullin, Masona's advice sounds good. When I first got this place there were problems as you describe, the main culprit being the downstairs shower room which had zero ventilation - and a ceiling covered in dark mould. The house had been unlived in for several months.

I suggest you open your windows a crack (if they're modern you can lock them ajar), and the problem should go away. Make sure you clean the mould off with soapy water.

My house has 4 chimneys, 2 of them are open (1 is used as a real fire). It might get a bit nippy at times, but its worth it to keep the damp at bay. In the long run, damp can be more expensive than the odd draught.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, the link was a great help. Looks like I'll have to trawl through the hardware shops/builders merchants of Ireland over the weekend and find some trickle vents I can fit to the windows. unfortunately the windows though PVC aren't the nice fancy ones with either a vent already fitted or with the facility to lock the windows slightly open.
Have you ever tried fitting these trickle vents, from the website it looks fairly straightforward, just drill a couple of holes through and fit the vents either side - hopefully it is that simple!!

Thanks again....I'll get the kids busy with some soapy water cleaning the ceilings too!!!
 

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