Mold caused by no vents

bernyh

hi

we own our apt, have done for a five years now, a friend of mine was visiting the other day and told us that our apt was damp, we knew that already due to me having to throw out clothes from my wardrobe and change our flooring and blinds yearly. The friend works in the building trade in the UK and says that our apt has NO vents fitted except the ones in the en suite and the hob extractor. We had not really much clue as we thought we had adequate ventilation and thought that we would have been blamed for drying clothes indoors etc, although we have a condenser dryer and don't dry on airers.

My question is after all this time are we able to have recourse agains the builder we got a quote of 350 euro per room to add a vent point.....

BostonB

Can you not leave the windows open a bit?

bernyh

BostonB wrote: »

Can you not leave the windows open a bit?

eh yeah but if some bugger burgles us when we are out our insurance is invalid.....

BostonB

Many windows can be locked ajar. Or just do when your there. I remember as a kid it was always the leaving the house routine, checking windows were closed, because they were left open for ventilation a lot.

Another immediate option is a dehumidifier.

mlmcelligott

Do you have double glazed windows. It might be much cheaper to get the window manufacture to call out and quote you to get a window vent fitted to a window in each room.

No need to start drilling holes in walls when you dont need to.

BostonB

Vents in my house are a cause of major heat loss, and cause of serious draughts. Seems a bit mad to make it all insulated then knock a whole in the wall. Bit 1950's to me.

You could replace a window with vents. How effective or not I don't know.

There are also heat recovery systems, but I don't know much about them. Seem to be very expensive.

mlmcelligott

just to clarify you dont replace the whole pane of glass with a vent but instead fit a strip vent to the top of it. One of these in each room should be good enough to keep some fresh air ventilating

BostonB

Didn't realise that. That looks less draughty than the hole in the wall vents. To they work for the regulation where theres a gas appliance in a room?

mlmcelligott

BostonB wrote: »

Didn't realise that. That looks less draughty than the hole in the wall vents. To they work for the regulation where theres a gas appliance in a room?

Not sure about that, i think they recomend you need 450mm2/kw. When did that regulation come in? Was your house built previous to it?

BostonB

Its been there for many years. I don't know the details of it, at the moment I can't find the specific details online.

Maybe this...http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=54108299&postcount=4

ou need 450mm2/kw
a standard 9*6 vent directly to outside will be sufficent
the above is from is813 table 6 gas installers standards
the law regarding this can be found under the gas act sub advantageous ventilation. its your responsibility to ensure you have adequate ventilation as it could seriously affect the draw on your chimney

Maybe it doesn't apply to bernyh as they may not have gas

Pkiernan

bernyh wrote: »

hi

...

My question is after all this time are we able to have recourse agains the builder we got a quote of 350 euro per room to add a vent point.....

Unless the apartment is several floors up and scaffolding is required this quote of €350 per room is insane.

I did all the sleeping rooms in my dads house - you are just coring a 4" hole through the wall, inserting 4" pipe, sealing around the pipe and putting internal and external vent covers on.

The cost of materials should be €15 per room.

We paid a lad €120 to set up the scaffolding.

Shop around for quotes.

Your contractor could even rent a Charry picker van for €250 for the weekend if scaffolding is too pricey.

BostonB

You've not paid for your own time and labour in your comparison.

Jehuty42

I've you've been replacing the floor and the blinds every year for 5 years, you probably have a serious problem with damp that needs some professional attention ASAP.

Pkiernan

BostonB wrote: »

You've not paid for your own time and labour in your comparison.

We knocked out 4 rooms on the second floor at approx 1 hour per vent. Less than 1 days labour.

The OP was quoted €350 per VENT - that's insane unless a HSE consultant is putting the vents in for him.

Daithio_poster

Have had similar problem in a large room with four exterior walls which has no ventilation. It depends on the time of year and weather conditions, I find it happens towards the end of the summer when the weather starts cooling down.
We got a really great dehumidifier from Argos for about £69 UK (you should bill that to the property management co/builder), and you have to ventilate the place by leaving windows and doors open and getting a cross draught - obviously don't leave windows open when you're not there - but this doesn't need to be constant - it can be a Saturday every couple of weeks.
Don't dry clothes inside if you can avoid it.

The main thing though is that if there are any mould spores left these will multiply. If you don't wan't to throw out cloths that have a bit of mold on them, rub them in hot water with lemon juice and a bit of salt, which kills the mold. Then dry thoroughly. Check any wooden fittings, for instance, we found it on the bed frame, which then got into the mattress but we caught it just in time. If it's in your mattress leave it out in the sun for a few hours which also kills the spores.

I like the idea of those strip vents that everyone is talking about - but I guess that would involve replacing the entire pain of glass with a smaller one and would end up being very expensive, not something you can do retrospectively.

delllat

Pkiernan wrote: »

Unless the apartment is several floors up and scaffolding is required this quote of €350 per room is insane.

I did all the sleeping rooms in my dads house - you are just coring a 4" hole through the wall, inserting 4" pipe, sealing around the pipe and putting internal and external vent covers on.

The cost of materials should be €15 per room.

We paid a lad €120 to set up the scaffolding.

Shop around for quotes.

Your contractor could even rent a Charry picker van for €250 for the weekend if scaffolding is too pricey.

its illegal to erect scaffolding without a ticket ,its also illegal to driver a cherry picker without one

doing it yourself on yor own property might be ok but dont allow anyone who might claim off you to take any risks on your property

you will be liable if anything goes wrong

Pkiernan

delllat wrote: »

its illegal to erect scaffolding without a ticket ,its also illegal to driver a cherry picker without one

doing it yourself on yor own property might be ok but dont allow anyone who might claim off you to take any risks on your property

you will be liable if anything goes wrong

I know that.

You can find literally thousands of people with both tickets who have no work at the moment.

€350 per vent is an outrageous price. Assume 3 rooms need a vent - that's over a thousand euro!!! The Celtic tiger is long dead, it would appear the OP's contractor has yet to realise that.

OP:

Another issue you may face is that if you ever want to rent the dwelling there will have to be vents in all sleeping rooms to comply with EHS regulations.

Shop around, and if you pay more than €500 for the entire job you are getting ripped off - unless you apartment is way up in a high rise.