Newspaper articles on damp and mould in housing association flats

[Phoenix]

Theres a few articles such as this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...hree-left-sobbing-state-black-mould-home.html about at the moment after the tragic death of a kid a few months back

It might not be a popular viewpoint, but I think there is an elephant in the room that they always miss/ignore in that while issues with the building do have a effect (cold walls, inefficent heating systems which have to be used sparingly, in/opp fans, etc) usage factors have a big effect. The property in the story is a flat, so presumbly we can rule out rising damp and likly penetrating damp from the likes of leaking gutters etc, I suppose you are left with possible window issues, but you'd expect that to be more localised than the issues in the pictures. Apparently there are pools of water each morning, which must be comming from somewhere.

I wouldn't be at all supprised to find washing dried inside, windows never opened and trickle vents blocked up to stop draughts.

I'm not saying the building has no effect, I'm guessing a 60s block built from pre-fab concrete sections where the walls get quite cold (but theres not a lot we can do about that one - external insulation is clearly not a good idea, internal insulation and vapour barrier is possible, but would cost a lot in terms of reduced floor space, and internal refit works) forced mechnical ventilation is a possibility but then you do have daughts and loss of heat to contend with. I just think that folk tend to overlook the usage factors that have a big effect on problems and sometimes you have to live in a way that fits with the building.

 

[Murdoch]

People tend to ignore ventilation and concentrate on sealing up all the drafts. Houses need to “breath” all the tI expect unless they have proper ventilation systems installed.

mention this to tenants and they say this is incorrect

 

[UNG]

People don't realise how much condensation they can create just breathing

Aico organised some seminars around June last year highlighting the habitable homes legislation and promoting their Homelink kit, I attended the Manchester event and I felt at one point it was nothing more than landlord bashing as it seemed the landlord was responsible for the inability of the tenant to open a door or a window and properly ventilate the property

The problem with all the cases that are now appearing is the press are getting easy stories without looking at the underlying background of the problem and how these tennants

Insulate Britain's fight for more insulation in homes needs to be tempered IMO with better ventilation possibly using heat recovery systems to maintain the ECO agenda otherwise we will see the "sick home" problem multiply very rapidly

 

[Sharpend]

But what you are all forgetting is there are teams of professional people that have responsibility to design buildings and there needs/usage requirements, so what are they doing for their pay check?

Why does it take deaths and the friendliest forum to sort ALL the issues in the world?

 

[Murdoch]

The problem is once damp builds up it’s much harder to get rid of and hence why people must be educated to leave the odd window open - especially bathrooms, bedrooms and utilities

 

[Geoff1946]

Some of the pictures I've seen aired on TV suggest a total breakdown of basic household cleaning procedure rather than any major building problem.

 

[Murdoch]

Some of the pictures I've seen aired on TV suggest a total breakdown of basic household cleaning procedure rather than any major building problem.

meaning what?

 

[Sharpend]

I suspect these properties are throughout london boroughs? I have been into and seen some wretched ways of living/cleaning/mould. I do question the individuals ability to understand the how’s why’s and needs in many of the instances.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

People don't realise how much condensation they can create just breathing

as a side note, I remember hearing about various major museums in London having problems with some artifacts drying out too much, due to reduced humidity during the lockdowns, because of little or no visitors..

I know we are talking about vast numbers of visitors.. but they are also very big buildings...
So its all proportional building size-vs-number of occupants etc....
All introducing moisture into the air.

 

[ProDave]

I have almost given up commenting on this issue, but not quite.

I will just say 2 things. We had a rental flat that we let for about 10 years. We only had ONE tenant who had a problem with damp. On inspection, the flat was cold, heating barely if ever used, all trickle vents closed, bathroom fan switched off (that is when I learned NEVER have a fan isolator switch in a rental) and wet washing hanging everywhere.

No tenant before or after that one had any issues with damp.

But further, this is a symptom of the LOUSY state of much of the UK's housing stock with many properties having little or no insulation, very high heating costs, no proper house wide ventilation system, so unless you pump a lot of heat in you WILL have problems. But to properly fix this rubbish housing is a BIG job. That is the elephant in the room that people are slowly waking up to.

So what are these newspaper articles wanting? the landlords (whoever they are) to spend a fortune on every single rental property, to bring it up to a decent state of insulation?

 

[Geoff1946]

meaning what?

Meaning that a bucket of hot water with bleach in, and a bit of elbow grease would have left a picture not worth complaining about.

 

[mickey c]

I have recently installed 2 PIV's ( Positive input ventilation ). One in a bungalow where the owners use their heating all the time and one in a rented a flat, where the tenant didn't use the heating very much, dried laundry on the radiators etc. Within 48 hrs the issue was cleared in both properties. So the lack of fresh air seems to be the issue.

 

[BorisJ]

The property is a flat. Do the other flats in the block have similar problems? If not one can assume it’s the tenants way of living.

 

[binky]

tennants can be rather 'uneducated' with regards to damp caused by themselves. A bit like having no idea how to use night storage heaters. But, it's also fair to say we are famous for having the worst housing stock in Europe and there certainy isn't any 'one size fits all' answer to any of this.

 

[apprentice87]

At the end of the day, condensation will give you huge problems. Yhe ON:Y way you will stop this is to keep the temperature of everythiing in the building above the "dew point"

You have a freezing cold building, the outside temperature rises and all the warm air comes in and will condense on everything that is more than about 2 degrees colder than the air..

Only way you will stop this is heating the place. For a lot of people, the cost of doing this simply prevents them doing it. I work in a large hospital, we have large areas, such as our hall, that are not used anymore, so the morons turned the heating off. Terrible condensation, and not a single person in there..

john

 

[binky]

At the end of the day, condensation will give you huge problems. Yhe ON:Y way you will stop this is to keep the temperature of everythiing in the building above the "dew point"

You have a freezing cold building, the outside temperature rises and all the warm air comes in and will condense on everything that is more than about 2 degrees colder than the air..

Only way you will stop this is heating the place. For a lot of people, the cost of doing this simply prevents them doing it. I work in a large hospital, we have large areas, such as our hall, that are not used anymore, so the morons turned the heating off. Terrible condensation, and not a single person in there..

john

My garage is condensation central! Metal roof is permanently dripping this time of year, so much so I think I will insulate the roof this year as the dripping water is making things damp I would rather keep dry. This will probably move the condensation to other surfaces, like the walls, but I will deal with that as and when.