what causes damp walls?

Martin_Man

Martin_Man

Martin_Man

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Hey peeps, I've been living in my flat now little over 2 months and have started noticing dampness appearing on the walls. What causes this to happen and what can I do to prevent it?
 
Lack of ventilation.

Failing that are you attached on either side, it could be a problem with their walls/roof.
 
My old house suffered from dampness. I cured it by getting cavity wall insulation, installing a cooker hood that vented moist air from cooking (e.g. cooking pasta) to the outside, not drying washing in the house (vented dryers for the win) and using the trickle vent setting on my double glazing.
If you do get mould then Polycell now do a spray on solution that kills it. It's about £5 for 500ml and it works well. http://www.polycell.co.uk/products/polycell_mould_killer.jsp.

Good luck.
 
Bad insulation (or lack of)
Cold bridge
Condensation
No damp proof course, or broken damp proof course at the foundation
High humidity with lack of ventilation

There are other unforeseen but it's likely one of the above.
 
You can get moisture traps from Amazon, Lakeland etc which work surprisingly well. I have a couple I put on the window sills in my flat during the winter months when moisture starts to appear on the windows, really helps reduce condensation and the inevitable build up of mould/mildew on the window frames. The amount of water they catch is quite significant too.
 
Ok.... back to the subject, it's now getting worse as winter is approaching. I've made a little video of the worst part of the flat. What are your thoughts and would you say this is a sign to get the hell out and look for somewhere new? The lanlord say's it's not a serious problem :S.

Sorry for my induction to the video. I'm no good at doing these things.

 
That is quite bad! Looks like the majority of that is condensation, in my house I only get it on the back of the letterbox.
 
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