mold and damp on a house wall and floor

Top tips for getting rid of damp and mould in the home

Does your house have black mould on the internal walls?

This could be a warning sign suggesting your property is suffering from penetrating damp.

This is a common problem often found in older homes, and unless dealt with quickly, can seriously affect your health.

This article will give you some actionable tips to not only find the damp and mould in your house, but also ways that you can permanently cure the problem, and make sure it never returns.

Mould and dampness is not something people generally enjoy living with.

In some cases, constant dampness inside a house can lead to serious illness and breathing diseases.

It is also worth noting that in many cases, there is no quick or cheap fix to permanently cure damp, but following these tips will help you identify and cure damp in your home.

How to quickly identify damp, the cause, and the cure, with this guide to damp proofing the walls of your home.

 

Firstly, let’s look at damp itself; what is it, and why is it important to take action as soon as you find damp?

Damp in the home is generally best summed up as water or moisture getting in where it should not be getting in.

The exterior walls, foundations, windows and roof of your property, if maintained correctly, will give years of trouble-free existence and prevent against damp or mould appearing.

If any of the above items are not kept in good condition, getting damp in the house is inevitable.

What is the difference between damp and mould?

Damp is where water has got into the home, and onto surfaces, or into places, where it’s existence will encourage spreading of the affected area and the problem becoming much worse.

Damp is the reason mould grows. Damp is WATER in your house where it should not be.

Mould is the same as any plant matter, it needs water to grow, and that is why exterior waterproofing of your home is the paramount step in combatting mould.

Damp comes in two main forms, penetrating damp where the water comes in through the walls, and rising damp, where the water in the ground that would normally be stopped by the damp proof course, somehow makes it way past that and upwards into the house.

Rising damp always appears at lower parts of the wall, no higher than 5 feet, which is due to the “water table”, the water table is defined as:

The water table is an underground boundary between the soil surface and the area where groundwater saturates spaces between sediments and cracks in rock. Water pressure and atmospheric pressure are equal at this boundary. nationalgeographic.org

There are some steps that you can take to get rid of mould and damp.

If your house has got damp, in many cases, work would need to be done to the house to stop the cause of the problem, or any damp removal will be in vain because it will only come back again over time.

Sorry to tell you that there is no easy way or quick cheap fix in getting rid of damp and mould. If you want it gone, it has to be done properly.

mold and damp on a house wall and floor

Black mould spores? Uh-oh!

When your internal walls become wet, they are an ideal breeding ground for damp mould spores, the worst kind of which are known as Stachybotrys chartarum , and this is a deadly strain which exists in an alarming number of homes in the UK.

The mycotoxins (naturally occurring chemicals produced by Mould)  are toxic and can cause people to suffer toxic symptoms including: Respiratory and breathing  problems, Haemorrhage problems, inflammation of the skin, Irritation of the mucous membranes, constant tiredness or the feeling like you are going to be sick.

Even if the source of the water ingress is found and stopped, the mould can become powdery on the wall, and this is when it starts to release the spores in the air inside the house.

Did you know that mould spores are actually worse for your health than smoking cigarettes?

How to cure rising damp

Rising damp is caused either by a faulty DPC, or the lack of one.

It can also be caused by blocked air bricks and mud piled up against the base of the house outside near to floor level, breaching the DPC.

If the latter is the case, simply trench back with a shovel, the earth away from the walls and make sure it does not build up again.

A faulty or missing DPC can be easily remedied.

To resolve the issue, an injection can be done with a chemical compound into the lower part of the wall after drilling a long section of holes, spaced around 5 inches apart with a special machine.

The chemical, when injected, will dissipate around the DPC level and settle inside the wall, giving a barrier against damp rising up. This is not really a DIY damp proofing system, you need to contact a professional to do this.

Please note, our company only does injected damp proof courses if we are doing work on curing penetrating damp with one of our damp proof wall coatings, we do not attend your home to only inject a DPC, however if you look online for “injected DPC company” you should find a company local to you who could carry that work out for you.

It usually only takes about a day to install a damp course.

Although a DPC machine is really a “trade” tool, a competent DIY enthusiast should be bale to get the hang of it, but its hard work.

How to cure penetrating damp

If the damp mould or wet patches on the walls are higher than 5 feet, or even wet walls upstairs, this indicates that the outside walls have lost their weatherproofing qualities and are now letting water into the wall, which is coming into the house and causing problems.

You may notice a stale or musty smell inside the house, or in certain rooms. Your clothes and soft fabrics may also be affected and feel soggy.

If your home has penetrating damp, it may always feel cold even with the heating on.

A quick examination of the walls outside will often show cracks or hollow rendering with flaking paint or even green mould or mildew, indicating there is a problem with the walls of the house and that is why you have wetness inside.

This may also indicate a need for external wall rendering if you can see cracks.

You will not cure damp in the home simply by “opening the windows” no matter what some keyboard warrior on Twitter tells you.

If you cannot see the damp or diffused moisture, then it is best to investigate by looking behind furniture, at the back or wardrobes, and anywhere the walls inside feel damp or wet, or maybe where the paintwork inside is flaking away or becoming powdery.

person holding a bottle of cleaner and a rubber glove

Tips you can take to get rid of mould

Now we have explained the work needed to get shot of the mould, we would encourage you to speak to a damp proofing company and get someone around to check the dampness out.

When you have had the work done, you need to get rid of the mould that is already in the house, because if the source is fixed, the problem should not come back.

Here are some tips to assist with the process and how to clean off mould that you find in the home

There are various ways that you can keep the mould at bay, but remember if you don’t deal with the cause of the dampness, it’s going to come back.

Cleaning the damp off the wall

To clean the damp from the wall, you need to get some suitable old clothes to wear and face and hand protection from the chemicals you may be using.

Tip one: Ventilate the house

Mould spores don’t like fresh air and yes even though it may be cold outside, you can start by getting some fresh air into the house, although as stated above, this is NOT a cure for damp so don’t be lulled into a false sense of security.

If your bathroom has mould, this is an indication of bad ventilation inside the bathroom and you should always in future open the windows after having a bath or shower, to allow the damp air to dissipate out the window, and not to condense on the colder wall surface.

If your bathroom has painted walls, which most do, then you need specific BATHROOM PAINT which is specially made to inhibit moisture colleting on the paint surface and causing mould.

If you use cheap emulsion paint in the bathroom it will attract mould. The paint you used in the hallway or lounge is not the same paint you should use to decorate your bathroom.

In future, if your windows have trickle vents, open them!

Tip two: Invest in a good mould cleaner

To put to bed a popular misconception, you should not use spray bleach to kill damp on the wall as it will only work when you try and clean mould and mildew from tiles or other non absorbent surface.

If you use spray bleach to clean damp and mould on a wall, it will create more damp because the water contained in the bleach will be sucked into the wall, giving the damp the water it needs to start growing again.

To remove mould from interior walls in the home, use something like a mould remover kit for £29.95 from Twistfix (item #MCSKITBOX) which includes all the protective wear needed too, or a cheaper option would be to buy Domestos Professional Mould Free Cleaner 750ml Ref 7517945 from ukofficedirect.co.uk for only £4.54. Other brands are available.

dehumidifier in a room with mold

Tip three: Rent or buy a dehumidifier

This is a short term solution for getting rid of the moisture and damp in the air, inside the house.

Once again, it should only be used when you have had work done to stop the cause of the ingress.

You can rent a heavy duty industrial dehumidifier for about £270 a week from http://www.hss.com or if you like, you can buy one, a smaller but less powerful one, from www.screwfix.co.uk for about £150.

Tip four: Invest in new fabrics and clothes

If your home has been suffering from the kind of things we are talking about here then it’s likely that your carpets, bedding and soft furnishings have inherited a horrid smell.

There are various cleaning companies who can at least try and rescue beds and sofas etc., but in many cases, the damp eats away at the fibres in the fabric and its often best to throw it all away and buy new.

You will never get the smell out so don’t waste your time and effort. And, of course, only invest after you have had the damp problem addressed.

Tip five: Seal tiles and grouting

Mould growing in bathrooms, wet rooms, kitchens and utility rooms is a very common occurrence of the nasty stuff. There’s lots of moisture in the air in these rooms that’s great for mould.

When you dry a wet towel for example, the radiator will make the water in the towel evaporate into the air but sometimes that water settles on a cold wall and that’s when the mould appears.

To prevent this happening on your home, spray the walls with a dedicated antimicrobial treatment and then seal the grouting lines around the tiles with two coats of grout sealer. Both are available from B&Q.

If you take the tips above, and the advice on getting a damp proofing company in to fix the issue, you should not have any further problems with damp.

How to get a professional company to cure penetrating damp.

If your home suffers from damp and mould, I have to be honest with you, there is no cheap, quick fix to the problem.

Damp is usually caused by poorly maintained exterior walls, and no, putting some ordinary paint on the walls will not cure the damp, ever.

The best and most permanent way to cure instances of damp and mould in your home is to choose a Never Paint Again exterior wall coating, which is supplied and applied by our expert team.

It is available in a coloured textured coating, or a clear, transparent and damp proof coating, and if you click those links, you will learn more.

If the product interests you, do get in contact with us.

P.s. our company cannot and will not cure damp from inside, we always treat the walls externally, and the damp will then go.

Please also note this is not a cheap job, nor a 5 minute task. Thank you.

NOTE: If you are browsing for info only, we appreciate your visit to our website, but please do not click to contact us if you only want advice.

Drop a comment on our Facebook page for information and advice.

However, if you are looking for a reputable company to come around and cure the damp in your home, then please do call us on 0800 970 4928.

Scroll to top