HI,

I posted a question a few days ago about Damp. Since this is slight
different I am raising another

I live in an end of terrace house. Upstairs in the middle bedroom I
can see what looks like mould in the corner. It is black stuff that
does not wipe off, towards the floor, and skirting. It goes up about
2ft up the wall.

It is in the inside corner of the room and the two walls in question
are external walls. I cannot see this anywhere else in the room.. I
have other rooms with corners where both walls are external, but there
is no sign of that there

I am about to decorate the room so my question is. What are possible
causes of this. How can I remove it and what shoud I be doing to
prevent it re-occuring.

I have looked at the corner externally (not on a ladder just from
ground level) and cannot see anything that looks odd (i.e. loose bricks
etc). However there is SKY dish fixed to the wall further up and the
wire is tacked down the wall near that area. Could this be causing it.

Thanks

Bhupesh

bp wrote:
I live in an end of terrace house. Upstairs in the middle bedroom I
can see what looks like mould in the corner. It is black stuff that
does not wipe off, towards the floor, and skirting. It goes up about
2ft up the wall.

I am about to decorate the room so my question is. What are possible
causes of this. How can I remove it and what shoud I be doing to
prevent it re-occuring.

It's probably from where some furniture stood close to the wall,
restricting ventilation.

Go over it with some ordinary bleach ("thin" bleach, not lavatory
cleaner), dry it off, and decorate.

I have looked at the corner externally (not on a ladder just from
ground level) and cannot see anything that looks odd (i.e. loose bricks
etc). However there is SKY dish fixed to the wall further up and the
wire is tacked down the wall near that area. Could this be causing it.

Anything that lets water drip or run down the wall won't help, but
that does not sound significant.

Chris Bacon wrote :

It's probably from where some furniture stood close to the wall,
restricting ventilation.

OK thanks for the quick reply.
This sounds likely as the wardrobe there was a freestanding one, but
had been screwed to th wall. I have tapped the plaster and it all
seems sound - that is a good sign I take it?

Anything that lets water drip or run down the wall won't help, but
that does not sound significant.

Ok, but there is not much I can do about this is there. Moving the
cable will move the problem (if there is any. But iill go up and see
if the tacking has loosened any mortar/bricks etc

bp wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote :

It's probably from where some furniture stood close to the wall,
restricting ventilation.

OK thanks for the quick reply.
This sounds likely as the wardrobe there was a freestanding one, but
had been screwed to th wall. I have tapped the plaster and it all
seems sound - that is a good sign I take it?

Anything that lets water drip or run down the wall won't help, but
that does not sound significant.

Ok, but there is not much I can do about this is there. Moving the
cable will move the problem (if there is any. But iill go up and see
if the tacking has loosened any mortar/bricks etc


One other thing. As you say the two walls are external I assume that
they form a corner externally. Is there a downpipe on this corner? We
had a similar problem and it turned out that the downpipe was not
properly aligned with the gutter and when it rained rainwater was
dripping down the side of the house.

The message
from Richard Conway contains these words:

One other thing. As you say the two walls are external I assume that
they form a corner externally. Is there a downpipe on this corner? We
had a similar problem and it turned out that the downpipe was not
properly aligned with the gutter and when it rained rainwater was
dripping down the side of the house.

Or water running down the inside of the roof timbers from a hole. Seen
that several times recently.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Guy King wrote :

Or water running down the inside of the roof timbers from a hole. Seen
that several times recently

There is no downpipe on that corner. The guttering at the top end
there. I will check next time it rains hard to see if it is leaking or
overflowing due to blockage etc.

As for water running down the inside of the roof timbers, I can go into
the loft quite easily. What should I be looking for. Do I need to
wait for heavy rain, or is there some damage that I can look for. Note
the mould is towards the floor not near the ceiling - would this be in
line with this type of fault?

Thanks

Bhupesh

bp wrote:

HI,

I posted a question a few days ago about Damp. Since this is slight
different I am raising another

I live in an end of terrace house. Upstairs in the middle bedroom I
can see what looks like mould in the corner. It is black stuff that
does not wipe off, towards the floor, and skirting. It goes up about
2ft up the wall.

It is in the inside corner of the room and the two walls in question
are external walls. I cannot see this anywhere else in the room.. I
have other rooms with corners where both walls are external, but there
is no sign of that there

I am about to decorate the room so my question is. What are possible
causes of this. How can I remove it and what shoud I be doing to
prevent it re-occuring.

I have looked at the corner externally (not on a ladder just from
ground level) and cannot see anything that looks odd (i.e. loose bricks
etc). However there is SKY dish fixed to the wall further up and the
wire is tacked down the wall near that area. Could this be causing it.

Thanks

Bhupesh

i have had a similar situation in my end terrace, the gutter was rotten
and also the dryer downstairs was not vented to outside so it way
causing condensation on the external walls. remedy was to vent dryer to
outside and i think it cost me around £14 and an hour or so

Gav wrote:
bp wrote:


HI,

I posted a question a few days ago about Damp. Since this is slight
different I am raising another

I live in an end of terrace house. Upstairs in the middle bedroom I
can see what looks like mould in the corner. It is black stuff that
does not wipe off, towards the floor, and skirting. It goes up about
2ft up the wall.

It is in the inside corner of the room and the two walls in question
are external walls. I cannot see this anywhere else in the room.. I
have other rooms with corners where both walls are external, but there
is no sign of that there

I am about to decorate the room so my question is. What are possible
causes of this. How can I remove it and what shoud I be doing to
prevent it re-occuring.

I have looked at the corner externally (not on a ladder just from
ground level) and cannot see anything that looks odd (i.e. loose bricks
etc). However there is SKY dish fixed to the wall further up and the
wire is tacked down the wall near that area. Could this be causing it.

Thanks

Bhupesh

i have had a similar situation in my end terrace, the gutter was rotten
and also the dryer downstairs was not vented to outside so it way
causing condensation on the external walls. remedy was to vent dryer to
outside and i think it cost me around £14 and an hour or so


I imagine you have penetrating damp so some treatment to the outside
wall is essential. If it's already painted, try a solvent based masonry
paint. If it's brick, consider re-pointing and applying a sealer to the
faces of the bricks.
Could be condensation of course but this is unlikely in the summer months.

The message om
from "bp" contains these words:

As for water running down the inside of the roof timbers, I can go into
the loft quite easily. What should I be looking for. Do I need to
wait for heavy rain, or is there some damage that I can look for. Note
the mould is towards the floor not near the ceiling - would this be in
line with this type of fault?

Generally it'd be in the top, but you'd be amazed where damp can end up!

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

bp wrote:

There is no downpipe on that corner. The guttering at the top end
there. I will check next time it rains hard to see if it is leaking
or overflowing due to blockage etc.

Quite common to get blocked gutters at corners, so it could be overflowing
from there.



--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

I would like to offer another suggestion form my own experience of
suffering from black mould in a bedroom. I'lll tell the story and see
if any of it matches your problem.

18th century stone cottage in Scotland - 3ft thick walls. In the
1920's the four cottages were knocked into 2, with proper suspended
floors and ventilation. They also strapped the walls and put lath and
plaster. The cottages may have been cold before but would have been
even colder after this as they ran the underfloor ventilation right up
behind the plasterwork into the roof space giving only an inch of
plaster as insulation when there was a wind blowing. We had mould on
every external bedroom wall as these rooms weren't heated regularly and
any moisture in the house just condensed out onto the cold plasterwork.

All this plasterwork had to be ripped off and replaced with new
strapping, insulation and plasterboard, and there's never been mould
since.

Rob



Stuart Noble wrote:
Gav wrote:
bp wrote:


HI,

I posted a question a few days ago about Damp. Since this is slight
different I am raising another

I live in an end of terrace house. Upstairs in the middle bedroom I
can see what looks like mould in the corner. It is black stuff that
does not wipe off, towards the floor, and skirting. It goes up about
2ft up the wall.

It is in the inside corner of the room and the two walls in question
are external walls. I cannot see this anywhere else in the room.. I
have other rooms with corners where both walls are external, but there
is no sign of that there

I am about to decorate the room so my question is. What are possible
causes of this. How can I remove it and what shoud I be doing to
prevent it re-occuring.

I have looked at the corner externally (not on a ladder just from
ground level) and cannot see anything that looks odd (i.e. loose bricks
etc). However there is SKY dish fixed to the wall further up and the
wire is tacked down the wall near that area. Could this be causing it.

Thanks

Bhupesh

i have had a similar situation in my end terrace, the gutter was rotten
and also the dryer downstairs was not vented to outside so it way
causing condensation on the external walls. remedy was to vent dryer to
outside and i think it cost me around £14 and an hour or so


I imagine you have penetrating damp so some treatment to the outside
wall is essential. If it's already painted, try a solvent based masonry
paint. If it's brick, consider re-pointing and applying a sealer to the
faces of the bricks.
Could be condensation of course but this is unlikely in the summer months.