Uncontrollable damp - renting

[Terbinator]

Hi guys,

The damp in my apartment is really bad in the bedroom and all but uncontrollable as the window doesn't open, it's a metal window frame and a single-glaze window at that. Obviously as it's getting colder it's starting to rain a lot more and even wiping the damp away it returns in a week.

The damp has spread across form the window now to parts of the wall which look to have been previously plastered over (you can see the cracks). The bedroom is noticeably colder and louder than the livingroom/kitchen too - almost as if the window isn't actually installed correctly.

There are also patches in my livingroom/kitchen area around the windows but nowhere near as severe as we can open the window here. Even so, having the window open in the current temperatures isn't ideal by any stretch.

I've reported the damp to my LL but what else can I do or can be done to counter it?

[Zak33]

Damp comes from many many places, and if it cant get out and be replaced by warm dry air, will always be a problem.

Washing hanging to dry indoors,,... showers and baths...... loads of wet coats and boots etc...all will create increasing levels of damp which, without warmth and a constant release of moisture to the outdoors will build and build

Opening windows can and will help, on dry days but clearly A) the windows need to open and B) the moisture needs to escape and not be replaced

Single glazed windows are cold, by their nature, and so moisture will condense upon them faster, and if it'd dried off and got rid of... it will HELP lower moisture levels in the room. But that's a constant job, and wiping with a towel that then stays in the building wont help, clearly. The towel just dries into the room, releasing it's moisture again.

I know this sounds excessive, but it's worth considering spending some money on a dehumidifier and emptying it regularly. It will cost purchase price plus electricity, but I have one in a small flat where moisture COULD have been an issue and it's been a godsend. Moreover when the bloke upstairs had a water leak, that dehumidifier helped dry my ceiling out in record time

It is used regularly in winter, when I run a shower or cook on the hob, and the sheer amount of moisture it extracts is astounding


It's not a cure to the problem... it's a removal of the moisture.



https://www.amazon.co.uk/EcoAir-DC12...s=dehumidifier

that's what I mean.
Then you also need warmth, ie a radiator.

But the dehumidifier creates a little heat and blows dry air out so if you position in against a wall it will help.

[Zak33]

as an aside, I once visited a terraced old house in Nottingham which DID have uncontrollable damp.

the bloke who owned it had a permanent moisture issue, and eventually found he had... a basement full of water. A proper cellar, under the main living room... 3 feet deep in water. The door to it had been blocked and the floor boards he walked on, every day, were 6 feet above a lake.

that wouldn't get cured by a small dehumidifier.

[kalniel]

as an aside, I once visited [..] Nottingham

I try and avoid that where-ever possible

[DDY]

I had a similar problem sometime ago in a rented house, one particularly poorly insulated wall of my room would turn in to a mouldy waterfall during the winter. I complained to the landlady and asked for a dehumidifier, she bought one and I think it was pulling between 1-2L of water a day - for a small 2.5 x 2.2m room! Solved the damp problem though.

[Terbinator]

Damp comes from many many places, and if it cant get out and be replaced by warm dry air, will always be a problem...

Appreciate the post. Already picked up a cheaper/smaller dehumidifier which is drawing about 250ml a day without rain. I don't know anyone with a larger one I could lend to see if going bigger/better would actually work.

In terms of heating we're a bit stuck too as they're crap storage heats which throw out hardly any heat relative to how much they must be costing. The actual heater itself is warm but you can't feel it at all unless you're touching it.

As you mention wiping down with a towel only moves the moisture around and obviously living in a flat, I have to dry my clothes in-doors (in the room with the window.)

I think there is another issue at play in the bedroom specifically because as I mention, it is noticeably colder and we have a plastic windowsill that extends beyond the window and there is a clear damp line above the plastic where the wall/plaster meets it.

I've informed the LL like I say - I'm just paranoid they are somehow going to try and spin it on me (cause and/or cost) rather than have someone come out and re-cover the paint with some sort of damp-resistant paint.

[GoNz0]

As daft as it sounds put a fan in the room as well to move the air, it really does help. When I put the dehumidifier in the bathroom with the trickle extractor turned off and window shut to give it the best shot at drying the air and raising the room temp (refrigerant type dehumidifiers work best at 30 degrees c) it fills the water tank in 3-4 hours on a fresh wash when it took 8 hours with no fan moving air.
Turn the fan on full what while you are out of the room and let it move the air round to help the dehumidifier.

Tbh you need a working window and by the sounds of it a trickle extractor fan. I fitted one in the bathroom to replace the one that ran for 5 mins after I turn the light out as the damp was a problem, now it isn't as the smart fan ramps up it it detects a lot of humidity, might be worth asking for one as you have to have one to meet new build regs now.


You need at least a 10lt dehumidifier if you are drying indoors, bite the bullet and get the one linked above, you wont regret it. (and a fan as the dehumidifier on it's own won't dry a bad wall unless you move it around all the time)

[ik9000]

is there mould in the room?

Do you have any vulnerable occupants (young children/elderly)

If so hello environmental health officer, and an enforcement notice for improvement against your landlord.

[Dashers]

Bedrooms are worse than other rooms as you give off a lot of moisture too. My other half had a flat where the bedroom was like this and it's a constant battle to deal with.

Try and keep your heating constant instead of on-demand. Temperature fluctuations cause condensation when the air cools. Condensation is what happens when water vapour held in the air cools enough to become solid water droplets. It's usually cold surfaces such as walls or windows that triggers this. So, as above, if your air isn't holding a lot of water then there is less to condense.

I'm not sure how much leeway you have being rented. But other things that can be done is boosting insulation (ultimately, external wall insulation, but that's a big expense). You can get insulating wallpaper that is better than nothing. You can also install secondary-glazing to single-pane glass which helps massively. And at the very minimum you can apply a removable thermal film to the glass which provides marginal gains.

If you get any mould, make sure you kill it, chemically, it's nasty stuff (both mould and the chemicals to kill it).

[scaryjim]

... Do you have any vulnerable occupants (young children/elderly)

If so hello environmental health officer, and an enforcement notice for improvement against your landlord.

Don't need vulnerable occupants; it sounds to me like the property doesn't provide adequate heating & ventilation, which are part of the essential requirements in a rented property. Your landlord might get away with claiming the storage heaters are adequate (although it sounds to me like they're not working properly if they're not actually heating the space effectively), but if the landlord doesn't take appropriate measures to try to sort the problem within a few weeks, it might be worth contacting the private housing team of your local authority anyway, just to get some advice and make them aware that you might have an issue.

If you want to stay on good terms with your landlord, why not ask them if they're willing to pay for a couple of space heaters (something like those little halogen ones, which are quite effective/efficient), that they can add to the inventory so they get left in the house when you move out...? Better heating is likely to at least alleviate some of the problem whilst they sort the ventilation out...

[Zak33]

I've informed the LL like I say - I'm just paranoid they are somehow going to try and spin it on me (cause and/or cost) rather than have someone come out and re-cover the paint with some sort of damp-resistant paint.

.. walls aren't supposed to get wet and painting them in yacht varnish indoors isn't the solution

[Zak33]

who pays the elec?

If it's you, then it's time to ponder the best type of heating.

Im my experience of small rooms, the best sort as called skirting board heaters, and Glen make a superb one that's 500W and works well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glen-500-W-...g+board+heater

I have to dry my clothes in-doors (in the room with the window.)

drying clothes indoors is phenomenally bad for YOU. really bad. the moisture levels indoors from clothes drying will, over time, become more newsworthy.

In fact, you need to determine an experiment

Washing and drying in a launderette MAY be cheaper than running a dehumidifier and a big heater all day!

[Terbinator]

who pays the elec?

If it's you, then it's time to ponder the best type of heating.

Im my experience of small rooms, the best sort as called skirting board heaters, and Glen make a superb one that's 500W and works well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glen-500-W-...g+board+heater

Argos seem to have the same one for £40 - does that sound about right to you?

My Bedroom is about 12ftx12ft - do you think this will be hot enough to warm it and help alleviate the damp?

How would this compare to those oil based heaters you can get?

[Zak33]

Argos seem to have the same one for £40 - does that sound about right to you?

My Bedroom is about 12ftx12ft - do you think this will be hot enough to warm it and help alleviate the damp?

How would this compare to those oil based heaters you can get?

I have tried both and I prefer that little skirting heater, 100%

its v low.... but you must NOT block it

unlike the oil heaters, which are like a radiator, the little skirting heater needs airflow.

yes I think you have a very good chance it will radically help

[Dashers]

Ideally, put the heater under your window. Which is the normal placement of radiators. It seems counter-intuitive, but it works. The coldness from the window draws the hot air which creates movement which is very important for getting the rest of the room warm and not just having a warm spot.

Also having warm air next to the window will reduce condensation on the glass.

Yes, you'll lose heat out the window, but that's an insulation problem not an internal heating problem.

[Zak33]

Ideally, put the heater under your window. Which is the normal placement of radiators. It seems counter-intuitive, but it works. The coldness from the window draws the hot air which creates movement which is very important for getting the rest of the room warm and not just having a warm spot.

exactly right.

cold air falls off the window.. it literally slithers down the glass and slides down the wall .... and hits a warm air rising.. and pushes into the room