Mould on Walls and Ceiling

goodlad

Hey people,

Im hoping someone will be able to offer me some advice on this.

My house is only 6 years old and is timber frame.
I notice that a lot of mould builds up all around the windows in every room, that wasnt too bad as its cleaned off easily.

But the last few months patches of mould are appearing on the ceilings and on the bedroom walls and all over the inside of build in wardrobes. I have cleaned it off but the damn stuff just re-appears within a week.

Is this just something that happens with timber frame houses?
We dont use the heat too much but at the moment, but even when we were using it a lot the mould would still be appearing.

Has anyone some ideas of what could be causing this and how we can stop it?

archtech

Sounds like condensation.

goodlad

I figured condensation was the cause of the mould around the windows alright.
But i didnt think it would cause the patches on the ceilings and in the wardrobes, although thats a wild assumption on my part

I have tried opening up windows for a few hours every day to get some air flow going thought the house. Tried using the heat a bit more, i have left it on timer during the day to pop on and off to keep a small bit of heat in the house.

Although thats doesnt seem to be helping.

firesidechat

Mold will appear in areas where there is poor air venting.
Is there a wall vent in the room?
If not it is a very easy task to install,
Vents can be bought at your local builders supply and can be installed simply enough especially as it is timber frame.
Mold must be treated by the correct cleaning agent,I dont have the name right off here but your local hardware shop would be able to help you.
It is important that you kill the mold partricles as you have seen it only continues to spread.Water and bleach will not do the job.
You have a problem with air ventination that must be addressed or you
will continue to have this problem.

goodlad

firesidechat wrote: »

Mold will appear in areas where there is poor air venting.
Is there a wall vent in the room?
If not it is a very easy task to install,
Vents can be bought at your local builders supply and can be installed simply enough especially as it is timber frame.
Mold must be treated by the correct cleaning agent,I dont have the name right off here but your local hardware shop would be able to help you.
It is important that you kill the mold partricles as you have seen it only continues to spread.Water and bleach will not do the job.
You have a problem with air ventination that must be addressed or you
will continue to have this problem.

Thanks for the reply.
The room that is effected the worst does have a vent, to be honest it kinda crappy the way the vent is in, it looks like the previous house owner did a bad DIY job putting it in himself.

The house also has small vents around the outside of the house where the first and second floor would join. But they are pretty damn small, maybe 1cm each but there are lots of them.

I will look into putting more vents in soon. With a baby arriving in November i dont want any sign of the mould around the babys room.

Carlow52

as noted earlier u have a serious condensation problem which manifests itself because the condensation being produced in the house is not being moved out of the house.

Do u have effective extractor fans in all bathrooms?

Do u have an effective extractor fan over the hob in the kitchen.?

Are these fans used?

Do u have a dishwasher ( electric- not ur other half:) ]?

Are the wall vents in all bedrooms actually working.

Retro fitting vents is a TF house is not as easy to do correctly as it seems: if u want to do it come back and I will explain why. dinner beckons:)

ps, if u want to 'dry' the house out after u address the issues, rent a dehumidifier but use with care: if u over do it u will fry out the timber frame too much

blindman

You need to consider the source of condensation. You know what happens in your house better than anybody else.
Do you dry a lot of clothes indoors?
Are there a lot of people showering (or one person hogging the shower)?
Do you cook with gas?
Do you steam your food?
Do you use parafin heaters?
Have you done any recent building work?

fintonie

It sounds like air ventilation problems as said by the other posters,

I have seen this problem before as severe as you are talking about, and when I checked it out the air vents were blocked card boarded up,

I'm not saying this is what your problem is but check to see the air vents are working properly.

I hope you get it sorted soon, nothing worse.

firesidechat

Don't forget,
Get the correct cleaning solution from you'r local
hardware shop.
Bleach and water will not kill the mould and it will only continue to spread.
The small air vents you can see on the exterior of your home are required in all timber framed dwellings,But they alone can not alleviate you'r present problems.Check and make sure all wall vents are clear of any blockage and that all extractor fans are vented out of the house and not just drawing moist air into the attic or some other part of your home.

MicktheMan

As well as ventilation and the removal of moisture by extract fans, dont forget that the background heating is also very important. It is very common to have mould showing up in rooms (especially north and east facing) which are not heated to the same level or extent as the "living" area of the house. In my experience, the following three issues need to be addressed to eliminate the conditions for mould to thrive:
1. Rel humidity of the air in the cooler rooms (the same moisture level will give very different rel humidities depending on the air temp)
2. Ventilation
3. Room temp (wall temperature)

So,
reduce 1, get 2 right and increase 3!