My wife owns a flat that she's been renting out for the last 6 months.
At the handover between one tenant and the next, she's found mould
behind just one radiator in the flat. We're curious to know why it's
there, and what we can do about it.

There isn't any mould anywhere else in the flat. The radiator is in the
smallest bedroom, which might have been left unheated. The radiator is
on an external wall, which might therefore have been quite cold. The
wall itself is (I think) plasterboard mounted onto the external wall,
with a void between the two. The plumbing runs through that void.
There's a hole in the plasterboard, behind, roughly, the centre of the
radiator, through which the plumbing is fed to the radiator. The other
radiators in the flat have the same arrangement, but they all have a
metal plate with small holes covering the larger hole in the
plasterboard, and the plumbing is fed through the small holes. The mould
seems to be centred on the large hole in the plasterboard, though it's
spread outwards and downwards more than it's spread upwards.

Is it possible that the missing plate is letting more cold air onto the
room-facing surface of the plasterboard, causing enough condensation for
the mould? If so, we should probably get a plate installed? I guess it
would be sensible to recommend that that radiator is left on, at least
on a low setting, and at least in cold weather? Any other
recommendations or suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Simon.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Simon Morris
wrote:
My wife owns a flat that she's been renting out for the last 6 months.
At the handover between one tenant and the next, she's found mould
behind just one radiator in the flat. We're curious to know why it's
there, and what we can do about it.

There isn't any mould anywhere else in the flat. The radiator is in
the smallest bedroom, which might have been left unheated. The
radiator is on an external wall, which might therefore have been
quite cold. The wall itself is (I think) plasterboard mounted onto
the external wall, with a void between the two. The plumbing runs
through that void. There's a hole in the plasterboard, behind,
roughly, the centre of the radiator, through which the plumbing is
fed to the radiator. The other radiators in the flat have the same
arrangement, but they all have a metal plate with small holes
covering the larger hole in the plasterboard, and the plumbing is fed
through the small holes. The mould seems to be centred on the large
hole in the plasterboard, though it's spread outwards and downwards
more than it's spread upwards.
Is it possible that the missing plate is letting more cold air onto
the room-facing surface of the plasterboard, causing enough
condensation for the mould? If so, we should probably get a plate
installed? I guess it would be sensible to recommend that that
radiator is left on, at least on a low setting, and at least in cold
weather? Any other recommendations or suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Simon.


Are you sure that one of the pipes isn't leaking water onto the
plasterboard?
--
Cheers,
Roger
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Roger Mills wrote:
wrote:
My wife owns a flat that she's been renting out for the last 6 months.
At the handover between one tenant and the next, she's found mould
behind just one radiator in the flat. We're curious to know why it's
there, and what we can do about it.

Are you sure that one of the pipes isn't leaking water onto the
plasterboard?

That'd be well worth a more careful check than we made - thanks.

S.

"Simon Morris" wrote in message
...
Roger Mills wrote:
wrote:
My wife owns a flat that she's been renting out for the last 6 months.
At the handover between one tenant and the next, she's found mould
behind just one radiator in the flat. We're curious to know why it's
there, and what we can do about it.

Are you sure that one of the pipes isn't leaking water onto the
plasterboard?

That'd be well worth a more careful check than we made - thanks.

S.

What are you really saving by having the radiator off?

John wrote:
"Simon Morris" wrote in message
My wife owns a flat that she's been renting out for the last 6 months.
At the handover between one tenant and the next, she's found mould
behind just one radiator in the flat. We're curious to know why it's
there, and what we can do about it.


What are you really saving by having the radiator off?


It'd be crazy to keep the radiator off - but the tenant might have been
doing it anyway... We'll warn the next tenants to keep it on, at least
at a low level, at least in cold weather.

S.