Owning your own home

Sent this to a neighbour who was asking about damp control measures the other day. Thought some peeps on here might find it useful:

The main problem is that the building wasn’t designed for double
glazing and now that everyone has it, there is no proper ventilation.
This means moisture from showers, drying laundry and cooking stays in
the flats. Then because the external walls don’t have a cavity that we
can insulate it means when it’s cold outside, the inside of the
exterior walls get cold to the touch. This in turn means when the
heating comes on, the warm damp air in the flat will condense into
water droplets on the cold walls. We looked into getting the
building insulated and had lots of surveys done but for a variety of
reasons, it’s just not possible. So it’s really down to individuals to
do what they can in their flats. We’ve done a whole raft of things to
try and get it under control and seem to be finally winning the battle
after two very damp and mouldy winters. These are all the things we’ve
done:

• Bought a dehumidifier which stays on pretty much full time from autumn to spring
  
• Stopped drying clothes in the flat and bought a little tumble dryer which sits in the porch and vents out the front door.
  Stuff that can’t be tumble dried gets hung up outside or by a window
  with the heating on
  
• Fitted a new bathroom extractor fan with a humidistat (which switches on automatically when it detects moisture)
  
• Fitted a heated towel rail in the bathroom which stays on all the time
  
• Fitted a “tube heater” in the walk-in cupboard in the bathroom which stays on all the time. That’s really helped. It used to
  be damp and mouldy in there and now it’s warm and dry
  
• Bought a Karcher cordless “window vacuum” with which we hoover up all of the water off the tiles and bath after we shower.
  This has made big difference!
  
• Bought a new thermostat and checked all the radiators are working properly. We have that new Hive thing which is quite good as
  you can move it around the flat to make sure the temperature is even.
  Keeping the temperature constant rather than having big fluctuations
  through the day seems to help keep the condensation under control too
  
• We try and keep windows open as much as possible although this isn’t easy in a ground floor flat. I’ve bought ventilation locks
  so I can lock them open a crack but haven’t fitted them yet though.
  Doesn’t seem to be much point when it’s damp outside too And that’s
  about it. I think we’re winning the war though. Much less black mould,
  no damp smell and the windows don’t get soaked with condensation
  anymore. The walls seem to be staying dry too. I’m sure our
  electricity bill will have quadrupled come spring but I don’t care.