Good morning all,
This is my first post and (sorry) it might be a lengthy one…. I have a problem with our house that I could do with some sound advice and guidance on…
Please let me set the scene
My wife, Gill, and I live with out 4 kids in a suburb of central Bristol; we have a 3 bedroom Victorian and of terrace house and the gable wall is rendered (there is a damp course in the house). My wife has lived in this house for 5 or 6 years and moved into the house with her ex-husband before they divorced - we got together around 2 ½ years ago and we got married this year.
The previous owner had installed double glazing but the windows are not very good quality.
So here’s the problem.
We seem to suffer really badly and constantly from mildew/household mould. When we wake up in the morning the windows in the bedrooms are always covered with condensation.
We quite regularly get mould growing on our clothes
At least once or twice a year we have to scrub the walls clean with bleach.
With the recent very damp late-summer we have had it has produced what look like large damp spots that are, in fact, mould patches.
The rooms (especially the lounge) always smell musty (this is horrible!!)
Recently I cleaned the walls in my sons bedroom and noticed that the paint was flaking away from the plaster in places and, in some places, the plaster seems to be loose itself (this is the gable wall)
(I could go on!)
In our own bedroom we recently pained the walls with ant-fungal paint (and then coated this in emulsion) which seems to have done the trick to stoop the mould growing back on the walls – but we still get mould on our clothes.
I’m sure that you can guess this is all very depressing – lovely old house but a crappy place to live. It feels like the house is constantly ‘sick’…
We have a dehumidifer that we have to keep on almost constantly; we've been advised to kep the windows shut and the heating on all the time - but this is no a long term solution...
So – I guess what I’m asking here is what remedial work do I need to do to stop the rot (if you’ll pardon the pun) – I know we need to find the cause of the problem(s) first (and I cant help feeling it’s got something to do with the rendering)…
Is it worth paintingthe gable wall in some form of coating - or would that just make it worse...??
So – can anyone suggest what the cause is and how I go about fixing it…??
Thereafter, I’m sure, there will need to be several thing done to get the place into a healthy state…
Any help and suggestions much appreciated.
I am 'okish' at DIY; a few years ago i did renovate an old Victorian house that I lived in with my ex-wife; we did the whole place from top to bottom but witht he help of friends from different trades. Onthe whole I did most of the labouring and friends did the rest; like most DIYers I do make the occassional cock-up but, generally, i'm sound and prepared to have a go...
Warmest Regards
Osh
(Mikey)
