Damp issues and i dont know what is causing it

[platforminc]

Hi,

We recently moved into a 3 bed semi as a temporary place, 1930's house with solid walls, and I have noticed that the box room suffers from severe damp issues.

This is the room upstairs to the side elevation. Few facts, we have the heating on all day, and controlled by the thermostat, set at 21. This particular room has a vent, which the previous occupiers blocked off, I noticed this 2 weeks ago, replaced the vent with a hit & miss one and left it open permanently. I must admit the window is not left open most of the week, it also doesnt have a tricke vent, but the door is always open.

Please see the areas in red from the exterior.

The mould was growing agressively by the corner of the room facing outside, well, 2 walls in the room face outside, one on the front elevation and hte other on the side elevation. Its by the lower corner, about 1m from the ground that is worst affected. I cleaned it out 2 weeks ago with water & bleach, now its back in full force.


The room does not have a radiator, but the door is always opened to allow for circulation of heat, all the other rooms have radiators and also there is a radiator by the staircase landing.

The rooms facing the road suffer from condensation around the window areas.

I am not sure what to do here.

 

[noseall]

I am not sure what to do here

Insulate the walls internally.

 

[platforminc]

If the walls are insulated internally, will that not just hide the problem ?
I want a lasting solution, please confirm if this will fix the underlying issue.

 

[noseall]

Black-spot mould is indicative of an internal problem - i.e. condensation related damp occurring on poorly ventilated walls (usually stagnant air trapped behind furniture).

Robustly insulate and VCL the walls.

 

[^woody^]

We recently moved into a 3 bed semi as a temporary place,

You're other thread says you are extending your house, a different house, so presumably this is a rental in which case you can't do anything but plug in a heater, and wash the walls with a proper biocide solution.

Btw, when you say that you are leaving the door open to heat the room, you are not. What you are doing is letting moist air at lower temperature into the room, and this air just at the perfect state to release its moisture on the coldest surfaces it finds.

So if you did contact your landlord, as you should, he may well say "you're causing it" and he may well be right.

 

[platforminc]

Black-spot mould is indicative of an internal problem - i.e. condensation related damp occurring on poorly ventilated walls (usually stagnant air trapped behind furniture).

Robustly insulate and VCL the walls.

Thanks for the reply.
Yes there is furniture behind the wall in the form of a bed.

Please what does VCL mean ?
Also if we are to insulate the room. Please can you describe how this should be done and what specification.

Thanks

 

[platforminc]

I should correct myself. Leaving the door open was to encourage airflow and not heat the room.

So apart from insulation, washing with bac 50 solution. Is there anything else I can do. Also, can you please specify the insulation please.

I will get an electric heater and put it in there. Its just disgusting having a wall like that and little kids around.

You're other thread says you are extending your house, a different house, so presumably this is a rental in which case you can't do anything but plug in a heater, and wash the walls with a proper biocide solution.

Btw, when you say that you are leaving the door open to heat the room, you are not. What you are doing is letting moist air at lower temperature into the room, and this air just at the perfect state to release its moisture on the coldest surfaces it finds.

So if you did contact your landlord, as you should, he may well say "you're causing it" and he may well be right.

 

[^woody^]

The door open/encourage air flow concept is ok as long as that air flowing is not the same damp air from the cooking, bathing, fish tank, general living etc. In other words it's not always that suitable as a concept.

As for the electric heater idea, I would bet that it will be used for an hour in the morning when the kids get up, and same again at night when they go to bed. In other words intermittent and instant hot/ cold cycles are the worst thing to do. Heat needs to be almost constant with gradual high and low changes - just as you get with wet radiator heating.

Insulation wise, you are looking at at least 15mm of some sort of foam/ polystyrene product. But then you need to be careful that you don't just shift the problem to the next cold surface such as the windows or ceiling.

Perhaps just use a dehumidifier almost constantly daily and heat when required, if the place is temporary.

 

[JohnD]

I must admit the window is not left open most of the week, it also doesnt have a trickle vent, but the door is always open.

Or, to put it another way, the room is not heated, but the door is left open to allow warm, damp air to diffuse into the room.

Fresh, dry air enters from outside. You say this does not happen.

By what means is moist air removed from the kitchen and bathroom, to reduce humidity in the house? powerful extractor fans that are always used?