Any Builders Or People In The Know With Building Regs Give Me Some Adv

[stubert]

hello,

Basically moved into my house last Jan, came apparent there was a damp problem with mould growing, can see where the landlord has painted over previous mould and theres a bottle of mould remover under the sink. Before i knew about it there was alot of mould behind my sofa i couldnt see but noticed a weird smell, and my lung function actually went down during that time (from tests we have at work)

This winter its started in nearly every room, and i try keeping windows cracked but sorry during the winter with electric heating thats just not viable.

Main question is none of the windows have any sort of vents, theres a fan in the bathroom and one above the cooker apart from that the house has no ventilation, as for it having those bricks with holes in for ventilation i dunno, and would have thought adequate ventilation would sort of be in the building regs.

Also it wasnt mentioned atall in my inventory stuff or contracts etc have looked at them.

Thanks for any input

 

[Mikey1]

mould needs moisture to form....

first thing you need to do is find out THE SOURCE of the moisture.....this problem (whatever it might be) must be fixed first, simply cleaning and removing the mould is not going to get rid of it

after the problem is fixed you need to remove all the mould, this includes demolishing and looking inside of walls etc etc....this is a HUGE, messy, and time consuming job....

chances are there is about 10 times MORE MOULD then what is visible right now forming inside your walls

 

[stubert]

mould needs moisture to form....

first thing you need to do is find out THE SOURCE of the moisture.....this problem (whatever it might be) must be fixed first, simply cleaning and removing the mould is not going to get rid of it

after the problem is fixed you need to remove all the mould, this includes demolishing and looking inside of walls etc etc....this is a HUGE, messy, and time consuming job....

chances are there is about 10 times MORE MOULD then what is visible right now forming inside your walls

I have a few fish tanks, but ive had them for years, and NEVER seen any mould. My dad used to have about 15 open top tanks in a spare room and had no problems. Also i know loads of people with tanks and theyve never had any probs. And its happening in my bedroom where theres no tanks and the windows cracked most of the time.

Can upload pics but some looks like theres maybe water coming through the guttering, cos it looks more like a water stain, but its mainly around the windows its growing, and quite badly in the corner of my spare room, again that looks like its running as if its water. Planning on moving out anyway just wanted to know if there was any regs on window vents cos nowadays they normally do have them. Just not right to have to keep windows cracked open when its winter just to let moisture out, considering im not doing anything abnormal living wise and its a known problem which obviously hasnt been addressed

 

[tribalbrit]

If it is black mould its usually caused by condensation ie; hot air meeting cold air.
If it is on a chimney breast this is caused by cold air in the disused flue, this can be sorted by venting the flue, both inside the room and on the chimney outlet.
If its around windows this caused by the cold air entering around the window meeting warmer air in the room.
If its elsewhere in the room it may be that the walls are damp and the warm air from your heaters is drawing it out.

The only way to reduce the mould is firstly to remove as much as possible, treat with an anti fungal spray and re paint again with an anti fungal additive in the paint.
Then and this is the only way to reduce the problem reoccurring is to ventilate the room and have the heating on.
Having the heating on without ventilating causes moisture in the air that then encourages the mould to grow. The worst form of heating for this is the gas "superser" type fires.
Gutter and or roof leaks are always a good place to start looking if the mould is at high level.

Building regulations only cover new builds or alterations, extensions, etc. Existing buildings are not under their remit.
An air brick in the wall may help. Trickle vents in the window frames is another option.

But as said the best way is turn up the heat and open a window.

 

[stubert]

Well if ive gotta turn the electric heating on and keep a window open then i don't wanna live here, only rented so think i might just do one too much hastle by the sounds of it. When the mould was really bad i had the heating on constantly over winter thats when the mould was bad, this year not so much and its not as bad so i dunno.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[tribalbrit]

Odds are if its in your bedroom it could be as simple as a blocked gutter. People always under estimate how important it is to keep gutters clean and clear. It may be a rental but it only takes 20 minutes to put up a ladder and clean out the guttering, and its in your best interest to have a look. Or report it to your Landlord, have a look out side to see if any vegetation is growing in the gutter, if there is that's probably the problem.