Mould in corner

KevinC

I am a looking for some advice on what to do.

I have a square bay windows in the living/dining room. At the bottom there is a consistent patch of mould on the wall. Not too much but consistent.

The house was built in the 60's and the bay was is standard in the estate.

The front of the house (at the bay window) is raised a good bit from the ground as it is on a slight slope. So it is about 1 - 2 feet off the path.

The floor is wooden. When I lift the carpet the wood looks damp.

The bathroom is 20 feet away no real sign of damp. I would imaging that some drainage/sewerage goes by the window but I'm not totally sure.

What should I do? Start pulling up floor boards? Call someone in? Who to call in? What damage is likely to be done. How/much should it cost to fix?

Thanks in advance

MicktheMan

KevinC wrote: »

I am a looking for some advice on what to do.

I have a square bay windows in the living/dining room. At the bottom there is a consistent patch of mould on the wall. Not too much but consistent.

The house was built in the 60's and the bay was is standard in the estate.

The front of the house (at the bay window) is raised a good bit from the ground as it is on a slight slope. So it is about 1 - 2 feet off the path.

The floor is wooden. When I lift the carpet the wood looks damp.

The bathroom is 20 feet away no real sign of damp. I would imaging that some drainage/sewerage goes by the window but I'm not totally sure.

What should I do? Start pulling up floor boards? Call someone in? Who to call in? What damage is likely to be done. How/much should it cost to fix?

Thanks in advance

You ask a lot of questions!
First a bit of history. How long has the mould been on the wall? Wgat type of windows are in the house and if they have been replaced when was this and is there any correlation of mould appearing and changing of the windows?
What is the make up of the wall with the mould and what is the wall orientation.
What do you mean that the floor timbers under the carpet looks damp - any photo's.
My guess is that you have water vapour condensing on a the wall, in the corner and causing the mould caused by poor ventilation. Are there any other signs of mould elsewhere in the house (maybe on windows in the morning)? Give me a call if you have more questions. I'll pm you later.
I will pm you my details

KevinC

How long has the mould been on the wall?

I've bought the house in the last 6 months. I was there from the start but it has got worse. Maybe the previous owned masked it some how.

What type of windows are in the house and if they have been replaced when was this and is there any correlation of mould appearing and changing of the windows?

Are you psychic? Previously there was single glazed windows. We replaced with doubles about one month ago. The mould seems to have gotten worse since then.

What is the make up of the wall with the mould and what is the wall orientation.

I believe the wall to be normal exterior - two layer of blocks, with no insulation between. Not sure however. North facing window, south facing mould, no sunlight to the mould.

What do you mean that the floor timbers under the carpet looks damp - any photo's.

The floor consists of timber. I'll get some photos in a few days.

My guess is that you have water vapor condensing on a the wall, in the corner and causing the mould caused by poor ventilation. Are there any other signs of mould elsewhere in the house (maybe on windows in the morning)? Give me a call if you have more questions.

Now that you say it there is no ventilation in this room or the bathroom which also has some mould. Thinking back also the surveyors report sited poor ventilation.

I never noticed condensation on either the outside or the inside. The old windows did have some in the mornings on the outside but that was went the problem was lesser. Since we only lived here for 6 months I don't know how the situation will be all year round.

Assuming this is mould, I guess we need ventilation installed.

MicktheMan

Not psychic! Just that I have seen this problem over and over. In the last 6 to 8 weeks it have gotten a lot worse for people at the cold spell has highlighted the problem for a lot of people. Adequate ventilation is very important.

KevinC

MicktheMan wrote: »

Not psychic! Just that I have seen this problem over and over. In the last 6 to 8 weeks it have gotten a lot worse for people at the cold spell has highlighted the problem for a lot of people. Adequate ventilation is very important.

Just to give an update. I got close-able vents retro fitted in the windows (PVC) which should do the trick. This should do the trick for now. Painted over the mould.

oxygen_old

have you a link for the trickle vent windows? Are they effective. I have a similar mold problem in my upstairs, and am going to get double glazing in. I had thought I need to drill vents in each room, are these trickle vents as effective?

KevinC

I have no link to the vents.

When you order the windows you can specify them as an extra. It cost me 130 to have them installed afterwords for 4. Using that price you can deceide to get them pre installed.

Only time will tell how effective they are but I can imagine that they are. You certainly feel the difference when fully opened. Certainly they are very neat.

My understanding is that new windows will make your problem worse as less water will be able to escape.

The chap that installed mine also installs windows. You maybe save money ording windows from yourself and get them installed seperatly.

I'll pm him you his details if you like.