How to stop mould spreading?

pinkowl

pinkowl

pinkowl

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So we are renting a flat and as the winter arrived so did the mould. Ive been putting up a fight but Im losing it as it keeps coming up no matter how much bleach+water solution I use to try to wipe it off.
I also air the rooms everyday when its not raining, bought a dehumidifier and try to dry off clothes in the dryer rather that on the airer in the lounge, have the heating on so that the rooms dont go cold and have the fan on when I cook and fan on for when shower and leave it on for 15mins or so after and yet still it keeps appearing everywhere.

I meantioned this to our letting agency (they deal with everything) and they just said to keep opening windows and wiping it off. All this would be somewhat ok but now its spreading on my furniture which I will have to get rid of at somepoint when I move if I dont want to take the problem with us to a new place... And its not nice to have mouldy furniture that we dont have that much money to replace. I keep them off the walls too so it is annoying me a lot atm as I did what I could from beginnig and still get this problem.

So is there anything else I can do as I dont want the mould to spread to all of my furniture/stuff, Im really worried about the sofa and our new bed as they are the most expensive furniture we have :/ I would be more than happy with any advise as Im getting bit desperate with this.
 
Cheap option we have just started using is silicone cat litter in old socks to absorb moisture. We put them by the windows. Good airflow helps too.
We scrubbed the mould we found in one bedroom window with a mould remover last year and so far it's been fine.
 
I will try that next. Although I might have to get nice coloured socks to make it look nicer and fit in the decoration :D
how do you do it? Just fill the sock with the litter and tie it and thats it? Also what litter is it that you use? And can you tell when it wont absorb anymore?

As said I keep airing the flat when ever it is possible and when not I run the dehumidifier which is on right now in the lounge for the night and I own mould remover sprays but yet it keeps coming back :/ It doesnt help we are in ground floor flat I suppose...
 
I found that thick bleach (not bleach and water) helps. I coated it on the parts of the wall where the mould was...and it ain't been back for the best part of 2 months (yet)
 
Im bit worried to do that as we are renting and bleach well... bleaches things so we might end up making the wall look horrible. Thats why I have been using it mixed with water. I did use just mould removal spray on our dvd stand as that one will be thrown away when we move, the mould was just too bad on it.
 
^^^ Thats the only way to get rid of it. Wiping it down with bleach only removes the surface spores but the kit above penetrates the wall to kill the mould itself.
 
I replaced the kitchen and have now noticed there is some mould between one cabinets. Also, noticed said mould stops right where I repainted with good quality kitchen paint. Can't help think if I repaint it all, will it go away.
 
Richie said:
^^^ Thats the only way to get rid of it. Wiping it down with bleach only removes the surface spores but the kit above penetrates the wall to kill the mould itself.
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The only way actually is to remove all the infected parts and build a new wall which is not really a option here :D Mould is one of the hardest things to kill and it will always be in the structure if it doesnt get replaced. It just needs longer time to penetrate through the new paint and the chemical used but it will definitely be there in the structure.
But either of these arent going to help us as again rented flat and we cant just do what we want. I might contact the letting agency to see if they would be ok with us doing that...
 
I was thinking of asking this myself recently. I normally go around with a black mould treatment spray which does the trick for a 3 or 4 weeks and try and keep on top of it.

However, we've only had a problem upstairs since having cavity wall insulation installed. Whilst the insulation is great for keeping warm air in it traps in the moisture too which can't escape leading to damp, condensation and mould. tbh, i wish i never had it done.
 
Warm moist air would be trapped regardless of insulation or not, though as you say, it's likely warmer therefore condensation is more likely going to occur.

The hot warm air needs to escape somewhere. Trickle vents on windows work well, or keeping windows cracked open. Unibond make some dehumidifiers which I've not tried but heard good things about. Try HG mould spray, worked really well for us, and then paint over with mould resistant paint.

The main thing is maintaining a flow of air, or trying to reduce the amount of moist air in the atmosphere (ie use a tumble drier rather than hanging clothes out to dry, open the window after a shower, breathe less etc).
 
In the past I had mould issues in my apartment

Cleaned it off using appropriate cleaner then used a dehumidifier and run it overnight to keep the whole place clear of condensation. Also used in the bathroom when showering. No issues for the last three years. Havent had to reclean any of the areas. If there is condensation on any of the windows it gets cleaned off asap esp after ironing in the living room. Heating is poor in the apartment - Econ 7 which is pretty useless at keeping the whole place warm.
 
bloodiedathame said:
The main thing is maintaining a flow of air, or trying to reduce the amount of moist air in the atmosphere (ie use a tumble drier rather than hanging clothes out to dry, open the window after a shower, breathe less etc).
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And what if when youve done all of this and yet it still doesnt work?
Ive also noticed that cold damp air does far more damage than warm air. But I try to have warm dry air. We dont get condensation on the windows anymore really as I do everything I can and keep opening the windows and so on. Also the vents on the windows made the condensation worse on rainy days so now I got them closed and I just open windows as much as possible when it is dry and keep the wet air out on rainy days amd run the fans and dehumidifier instead. The air is much better now anyways than when we moved. When we moved the whole flat was just humid and I couldnt sleep very well in the dampness.

All I just want really is to manage it through the winter so I dont lose my furniture and then we hopefully will be gone from this place for next winter to sowhere with a bit less mould problems...
So I shall try the socks for extra moisture absorbing first and see how it goes from there...
 
Are you on a ground floor flat?

Only reason I ask is that my first house had terrible issues with damp and mould (single block construction) and the main issue for us was the level of the substrate against the outside walls were higher than the damp course. I dropped the level of the drive/gravel and sorted 90% of the issue.

Knackered guttering/facias don’t help either as well as poorly painted exterior won’t help the situation.

A has been suggested getting as much airflow in the flat can only help. Dehumidifier is fantastic bit of kit but I recommend you always go for a good quality one – ours cost a packet when we got it 15 years ago (Delonghi) but as long as the filters are hovered regularly it still collects 5 litres every 2 days (and in our new house we have never had any obvious damp issues). Plus it keeps the missus stocked up with deionised water for her ironing!

Getting good ventilation throughout flat is key but of course you are limited in what you can do. Leaving windows open (if you can) at opposite ends of the flat (through-flow) is the key.

Also those anti-mould paints are pretty good for bathrooms/kitchens but are a waste of money if you can’t get good ventilation.

For the furniture I would just make a point of regularly cleaning it with good quality furniture polish, leather polish etc and if it's natural wood then perhaps coating it with beeswax or clear osmo oil etc will help.
 
Yeah we are ground floor which is one of the main reasons it is so bad. We have dirty windows all the time too which is driving me crazy (Im not good with mess and dirt) as they are not so easy to clean there is massive fence on the front to block the windows as we are on the road side...

We only have 2 windows both on the same outside wall as there is the hall for other flats on the other side so there is no real flow I suppose. The mould problem is mainly on the outside walls and bathroom (not so bad now as I have used a lot of the mould removal spray there) so I should imagine it is due the fact that this is ground floor and all the water just comes down on that outside wall.

Luckily we just got the new dehumidifier for present and it seems to be pretty good and has half filled with water with only few nights run in the lounge.
 
I have a slight bit of mould in the corner of the bedroom,always used bleach but this time I used vinegar,and its yet to come back

seems to keep it away for longer than bleach,so far anyway
 
I don't have issues with mould right now but I am getting a lot of condensation on the windows which is difficult to shift. Opening the windows at night / day doesn't really seem to help at all. I might try those moisture absorbers mentioned above..
 
wazza300 said:
I have a slight bit of mould in the corner of the bedroom,always used bleach but this time I used vinegar,and its yet to come back

seems to keep it away for longer than bleach,so far anyway
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Might give it a go when it appears again. I have just used vinegar first time on washing clothes and they came out smelling more fresh and looking more clean than normally so it does make sense to use it for wiping the mould off the walls...
 
That is what I use! Well for the worst of it and in bathroom. It is good. What ive done is i just spay it and leave it in the bathroom tiles and dont even rinse it off and there hasnt been any more mould on the tiles. On the lounge and bedroom though i use bleach + water or just one spray + water
 
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