Non-motoring > Is this damp mould? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Focusless Replies: 25
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:16 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
Taking old wallpaper off walls in one of our rooms revealed this:
s969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/focushj/walls/

The room sometimes smells like it might be damp, but the patches in the pictures don't feel or smell damp; it's more like coloured plaster. It's a 1930s house.

Any thoughts?
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:19 
 Is this damp mould? - Zero
Looks like it to me, Its low down too. Whats on the outside wall? is that a chimney breast?
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:23 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
Neither of those are outside walls, but they face each other and there's an outside wall running between them. There's no chimney breast in shot, but we think there is one in another corner of the room, now blocked in (behind paper).
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:24 
 Is this damp mould? - Dog
Looks like the kinda mould ya get from condensation, use a fungicidal wash on it and if ya a'gonna re-paper the walls, wallpaper paste contains a fungicide anyways.
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:30 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
I've added a couple more photos - shows the outside wall between the 2 with the black patches, and the (diagonal) 'fireplace'.
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:32 
 Is this damp mould? - Fenlander
It does look a little like a damp stain but in our 1920s house we found all sorts of weird coloured/shaded areas in the plaster behind old wallpaper. What we did find was if the damp was still present the wallpaper came off much more easily than the dry areas... was this true for yours.

I've had one of these for over 20yrs and it's a great help in makin g a diagnosis... but care needed drawing any absolute conclusions.

www.amazon.co.uk/DETECTOR-MOISTURE-PLASTER-CARAVAN-Battery/dp/B004LXXUC2/ref=pd_cp_ce_1

Remember though... rising damp is actually very rare... always look for other causes.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 6 Nov 11 at 22:35
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:42 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
Mmm... the wallpaper definitely came off more easily in some areas than others, but it didn't seem to correspond to the patches (Mrs F tells me - she did those bits).

Hopefully if it was a problem at one time it's not any more. Anyway I think we'll paper over it and see whether it stays up... :)
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 22:53 
 Is this damp mould? - Bromptonaut
Is the affected area normally behind furniture?

Had similar stuff in our previous house, mostly on outside walls. Mould formed around condensation in areas where wall was cold and/or had poor airflow. The presence of original 30yo emulsion paint was also a factor - bare plaster would have wicked the condensation more effectively.

Got much worse after double glazing removed natural ventilation from draughts!!

Agree with Dog, wash off with fungicide, use treated paste and monitor the finished room regularly.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 6 Nov 11 at 22:54
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 23:11 
 Is this damp mould? - bathtub tom
Never mind all that, I can see in picture 3 whoever's wearing a blue shirt taking the photo's, but who or what's that standing behind them?

Is the place haunted?
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 23:24 
 Is this damp mould? - swiss tony
>> Never mind all that, I can see in picture 3 whoever's wearing a blue shirt
>> taking the photo's, but who or what's that standing behind them?
>>
>> Is the place haunted?
>>
I would say that's a reflection in the outer pane of glass in the double glazing.
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 23:32 
 Is this damp mould? - Fenlander
Our last place had been damp to various degrees prior to restoring it and we found the black stains were in the 1920s plaster for good... even after it had been dried out for 15yrs. If your marks were significant current damp the paper would have been obviously soft or lifted so I'd not worry and just redecorate.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 6 Nov 11 at 23:33
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 23:44 
 Is this damp mould? - Dulwich Estate
Focus,

You appear to have two unvented chimney breasts. It is recommended that a disused chimney is vented at the top (externally) and at low level in each room. This keeps air flowing through as otherwise any damp penetration (rain) cannot easily dry out.

Knock a brick sized hole in each one about a foot off the floor and put in a metal vent - job done.

I didn't see any vents in the window either.

Happens so often - air bricks sealed, no trickle vents in the window and no chimney breast vents. Unfortunately it's the modern way.
Last edited by: Dulwich Estate on Sun 6 Nov 11 at 23:47
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 09:07 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
>> You appear to have two unvented chimney breasts.

AFAIK there's only one - the diagonal bit in the 4th pic. If you were also counting the sticking out bit in the 3rd pic, that's solid wall, as opposed to the adjoining section which is partition - we think it's something to do with the extension ie. the window is further out than it used to be. Or did you mean something else?

There's an open fireplace on the other side of the wall, which is perpendicular to the diagonal blocked-in fireplace, and presumably shares the same chimney. Does that make things better?

The bungalow next door to us used to be part of the same plot, and the old lady who lives there was one of the original owners. She pointed out that the well which used to supply the house with water is under our garage somewhere... :o
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 10:39 
 Is this damp mould? - Dulwich Estate
An open fireplace will help a lot, but not if there is damp in the "diagonal" chimney breast - a vent would still be useful here. The black staining may well be evidence of long dead mould, but I'd still give it a scrape and a good go with neat bleach before re-papering.

Opening the window for a while each day would help as would keeping the door open most of the time.
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 11:00 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
Thanks DE.
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 16:17 
 Is this damp mould? - AnotherJohnH
>>... She pointed out
>> that the well which used to supply the house with water is under our garage
>> somewhere... :o
>>

A bit deep for an inspection pit, then? ;-)
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 Sun 6 Nov 11 23:59 
 Is this damp mould? - Ted

Lordy, F...your office is a mess...paperwork all over the floor and how you can use the PC with that tiny lickle monitor on the window ledge, I don't know.

Like Brompy, we had similar mould behind furniture. It was behind a wardrobe which was in the corner of two outside walls. I only found it when I took out some little used motorbike boots and stuff that was mouldy.

The wallpaper behind was wet and hanging off. Ventilation was the key. I'd spent the winter sleeping without an open window. When I re-did the room, I put an extra window in the side wall and a single airbrick behind where the new wardrobe was to go......sorted

Ted
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 08:58 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
>> Is the place haunted?

yes www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=3387&m=68466&v=e
:)
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 14:53 
 Is this damp mould? - Bigtee
Just bought one of these today www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=11787520&fh_view_size=10&fh_eds=%3F&fh_location=%2F%2Fcatalog01%2Fen_GB%2Fcategories%3C%7B9372015%7D%2Fcategories%3C%7B9372041%7D%2Fcategories%3C%7B9372227%7D&isSearch=false

I'll let you know how it is later on i get some musty smell from the cellar as the tumble drier is down there and just put 2x extra air vents in this weekend making that 3.

Also with this healthy eating plan :-( the pans on boiling water etc more moisture in the air.

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 Mon 7 Nov 11 14:55 
 Is this damp mould? - R.P.
Is your tumble a condescending (!) one or a older one ?
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 16:23 
 Is this damp mould? - Armel Coussine
From the photos it didn't look like damp to me. Modern wallpaper and other adhesives tend to contain fungicides, but this is a relatively recent development. There are often patches of mould under old wallpaper that haven't been caused by serious damp.

There is some sort of device for measuring the amount of water in walls, but you can usually feel it with your hand if it's at all bad. I speak from long (but admittedly not very technically knowledgeable) experience.
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 21:14 
 Is this damp mould? - Focusless
>> From the photos it didn't look like damp to me.

Thanks AC - no, we're fairly sure now that it isn't.
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 Tue 8 Nov 11 09:55 
 Is this damp mould? - Mapmaker
>> >> From the photos it didn't look like damp to me.
>>
>> Thanks AC - no, we're fairly sure now that it isn't.

Probably because there's no such thing.

There's wetness. This means there is water in your walls.

There's mould. This is the black stuff that grows when there is water in your walls for a prolonged period of time.

There's a "damp" smell. Water doesn't smell. The smell is of mould/other nasties.
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 17:04 
 Is this damp mould? - Bigtee
The drier is approx 12 months old with a vent pipe to a tube in the wall to airbrick outside.

It still gives off heat & moisture as wet clothes going in etc.
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 Mon 7 Nov 11 17:04 
 Is this damp mould? - Mapmaker
Put a lid on the pan!
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 Tue 8 Nov 11 10:52 
 Is this damp mould? - Bigtee
Left it on 12hrs it collected 1700mls of water from the kitchen, the door glass and the windows evaporated and it has a clean air freshness to the room this morning.

Now it's in the cellar.......
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