Mould is forming at the foot of our double glazed bedroom window. Mrs. Ambo wants to zap it with a steam cleaner. Is this a good idea, what with the plastic frame?
I favour using a fungicide solution.
(I realise a long-term solution should be sought but that is another issue .)
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 29 Oct 15 at 21:30
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I wouldn't - good chance of breaking the glass I would have thought.
It should wipe off easily - try baby wipes, they are remarkably effective at removing all sorts of things.
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Have seen a hand held "steam cleaner" type device being used by contractor in my lad's university flat years ago so might do the trick but heavy use could , I imagine, cause damage to seal etc.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 29 Oct 15 at 21:32
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We get a bit of black fungal mould on the white rubber sealant round our bath and basin.
The cleaning blokes who surprised me when I got up the other day removed some of it but left plenty. Fungicide works but it's nasty stuff isn't it?
If you have a warm house whose windows seal when closed, you get one lot of funguses. If you have a cold draughty house you get a different lot. Of course the ones on our feet and toenails are always with us.
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Mould forms due to persistent dampness/condensation.
Using an antifungal is like spraying an airfreshener in a room someone has crapped in.
Turn the heating up in the bathroom +/- ensure good ventilation.
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>> Turn the heating up in the bathroom +/- ensure good ventilation.
Turning up the heating in one room, or one group of rooms in this quite small house, is possible in theory but difficult in practice. 'Good ventilation' in anything but summer weather means a cold bathroom, which we don't like.
The heating is underfloor and takes several days to stabilize after control inputs. But the feeling of warm tiles and floorboards under your feet in cold weather is most agreeable.
Always open a bedroom window when I remember. It's a traditionalist's habit. And one can hear the howling and hooting of the wild beasts and birds in the forest, and the guineafowl up in the field. The cousins have a fine cockerel which starts clearing its throat and tuning up before dawn. Keeps you in touch with reality sort of thing. There must be a lot of people these days who have never heard a cock crowing.
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Solution: open the window. And rub vinegar on the mould. I sense the steam cleaner will just spread mould spores round the house.
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Problem started with water, a too damp atmosphere. So ask yourself, in the light of this, is a steam cleaner which makes the area wetter a good idea?
And yes, it will spread the mould spores nicely, hard to find a better way of propagation...
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Will the steam not kill off the spores? I was just thinking it sounded worth a try until Mapmaker's comment.
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I'd use a steam cleaner on PVC windows, but not on timber.
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I didn't notice whether the cleaning blokes had a steam cleaner.
What they did do was get all the flies and dust off the outside of the windows and bang the rubber seals back in where they had started to droop. I don't know what they cost but it was worth it in those ways. The SiL commissioned them and failed to inform me.
Might give vinegar a try on the mould.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 29 Oct 15 at 16:57
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I have used a steam cleaner on UVPC windows frames, it does get rid of the mould and it does not damage the frames.
The mould will come back unless the cause is cured.
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>> The mould will come back unless the cause is cured.
How can that be done? More airborne spores are arriving all the time.
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Underfloor heating - YUK.
I once lived in a flat with that and the feeling of one's feet cooking was not nice.
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>> Underfloor heating - YUK.
>> I once lived in a flat with that and the feeling of one's feet cooking
>> was not nice.
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DON'T QUOTE ME. Never start a sentence with a 'but' they said. But, and I may have posted here before. It is my understanding that underfloor heating is quite unkind to dogs and perhaps cats too. Don't know much about it so do yer own rear search just in case it's true.
I was always advised that Dogs can overheat and become quite ill. That in no way explains our two Labradors who can lay in front of wood burners to the point where they cannot be touched. When politely asked to remove themselves their look is one of complete disdain.
Mind you, both female so. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Doesn't hurt cats. They like it.
Roger complains of his feet 'cooking'. Can't his heating be turned down?
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>> That in no way explains our two Labradors who can lay in front of wood burners to the point where they cannot be touched.
We had an old cat that used to lay in front of the fire. We'd have to physically move him when his fur started singeing - you could smell it. He used to have several brown patches during the Winter.
I use an old toothbrush and water during the cooler months to remove the mould around my bathroom window edges. Doesn't everyone have some old toothbrushes in the garage?
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>>How can that be done? More airborne spores are arriving all the time.
Heat AND ventilation.
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Perhaps a more powerful extractor fan, so that damp air gets sucked out and has less chance to condense?
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>> Perhaps a more powerful extractor fan
>>
Possibly, but I don't find them of much use really. Several in our gaff, but we find opening a window for a while much more effective.
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>>>Perhaps a more powerful extractor fan, so that damp air gets sucked out and has less chance to condense?
>>> I don't find them of much use really. Several in our gaff, but we find opening a window for a while much more effective.
Properly sized fans in bathroom/s, kitchen and utility are the answer. Folks rarely have powerful enough fans, many of those fitted (100mm) have just 20%-50% of the extract capacity needed for a bathroom with shower. Many are also ill suited to pushing air through ducting, particularly the "easy to use" corrugated flexy type often seen which is very resistant.
Opening a window may clear the steam/condensation in the room concerned... but often only because it pushes that moist air through the house to be absorbed by its fabric.
Houses will always have a pressure gradient due to wind (and internal heat) which is increased when a window is opened. This only really works as a natural extractor if the source of steam/moisture is upstairs on the leeward side from the prevailing wind.
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This is another way of going about it, I had one in the loft of our Truro house, I had no idea what it was, so I got rid of it :)
www.wisepropertycare.com/condensation/treatment-solutions/air-ventilation/positive-pressure-ventilation/
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Years (possibly decades) ago, Wickes sold a system that drew in outside air and passed it through a heat exchanger. It also drew out inside air that it passed through the other side of the heat exchanger.
Clever I thought, but it needed a drain for the condensate collected from the outgoing air.
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This was quite an old unit by the looks of it, without any ducting or wiring fitted. I wondered if it was an air con unit.
The house was of 1930's build, and had four fireplaces + it would have had some nice pitch pine windows at one time, but previous bods had replaced all the windows with Upvc and blocked orf all the fireplaces & airbricks ... and they wonder why they get condensation :)
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>> >> Perhaps a more powerful extractor fan
>> >>
>>
>> Possibly, but I don't find them of much use really. Several in our gaff, but
>> we find opening a window for a while much more effective.
>>
But then it's a bit chilly having a bath or shower with the window open in winter. If you have a fan it creates a continuous flow of warmer air from the rest of the house, drawn in under the door.
iI's important to remove the damp air while it is being created before it has a chance to condense. If you wait until you have finished before starting the ventilation it's too late.
If I lie in a hot bath with the fan off I watch condensation running down the walls. If the fan is on the walls stay dry.
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extract from bathrooms has been mandatory in the Building Regulations for many years.It's generally interpreted as mechanical fans, but this:
www.practicaldiy.com/self-build/ventilation/passive-stack-ventilation.php
is perfectly acceptable.
Neil
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The mould growth in our conservatory was exacerbated by damp, so we invested in a dehumidifier from Screwfix in time for last winter. One of these www.screwfix.com/p/12ltr-dehumidifier/72503 ISTR that it was on offer for £99 at the time.
I only dug it back out of the garage and set it going again a couple of days ago; it does a great job in the conservatory, but you'll have to speak to Lygo about too-dry air in bedrooms.
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I use a de-humidifier in the garage sometimes. They have the useful by-product of distilled water, which if you live a hard water area (you looking at my bird...) is good for steam irons and car radiators.
Don't need it as much though now I've fixed the roof.
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>>>ut you'll have to speak to Lygo about too-dry air in bedrooms. <<<<
???????
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>> ???????
Lygonos , our resident doctor in the house.
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Steam cleaners and double glazing mould - RichardW
