Home DIY

I'd have thought it would be more than that to get a gas main run in?

I wouldn't. Gas is piss easy. Pop pipes in, paint 'em yellow, do pressure drop test, bingo!

They quoted me £2,000 just to move the fucking gas meter, and I can do that myself!

Glad I found this thread;

This is probably an easily answered question. Me and Mrs. Spenceey are living in quite an old house which suffers from damp which is mainly (my guess) caused from us drying clothes in the house and the air bricks in the house barely seem to work.

Now what can we do in the upcoming months since It's going to be crap outside and clothes will probably get more wet out doors than inside? Is it worth buying a dehumidifier? Perhaps drying all our clothes in the kitchen and leaving the window open in there?

It doesn't seem to bother me too much to be honest but the mrs is getting annoyed about it and even out clothes are starting to smell damp - requiring another wash!

Rented house or your own?

Rented - also forgot to mention I'd rather not have the answer of 'put the heating on all the time.'

We have the exact same problem in our rented flat. It's a ground floor Victorian purpose built flat, our clothes dry after 3-4 days and smell damp, so annoying. I keep having to take my clothes to the laundrette to dry them and they charge a £1.50 premium because I haven't washed the clothes there, feel like I'm living in Eastenders!

I'm starting to think about drying all our clothes in the bathroom and leaving the bathroom window wide open. That should circulate air enough with the door shut to not cool the rest of the house down.

Dehumidifier.

Seems like a good solution, although they use a lot of leccy don't they?
I'm also going to speak to the landlord and see if we can have some kind of extractor fan fitted in the kitchen and bathroom.

Kitchen with the window open is my best bet at the moment too, I thought of a dehumidifier but not sure where to start when it comes to choosing the best one for the job. We have an extractor fan in the bathroom but it's not up to much really, make a lot of noise though!

Extractor fans need cleaning frequently.

Good point, we only moved in a couple of months ago and the flat had only been superficially cleaned. Bet that's going to be a lovely treat when I check it after work!

Glad I found this thread;

This is probably an easily answered question. Me and Mrs. Spenceey are living in quite an old house which suffers from damp which is mainly (my guess) caused from us drying clothes in the house and the air bricks in the house barely seem to work.

Now what can we do in the upcoming months since It's going to be crap outside and clothes will probably get more wet out doors than inside? Is it worth buying a dehumidifier? Perhaps drying all our clothes in the kitchen and leaving the window open in there?

It doesn't seem to bother me too much to be honest but the mrs is getting annoyed about it and even out clothes are starting to smell damp - requiring another wash!

Had a similar problem at our house. The problem was more that we had mould growing on two corner walls - one bedroom one living room. Because we couldn't leave the window open all day (at work) we did two things. One was putting the heating on, but not all day just for 10 mins here and there on the timer - this kept the temp up. The other thing was to install a drying rack in the bathroom where we could leave the window open.

It worked for us. I did toy with a dehumidifier but tried this first and it worked.

^ this is good advice regarding damp.

Old houses don't take well to double glazing/fitted carpets/blocked up chimneys/modern plastic based paint and modern render/plaster - as there is nowhere for the air (and thus humidity) to go - very similar to the old riding in a waterproof mac idea :)

Keeping the temperature up keeps the walls warmer - therefore lessens the condensation that forms on them, other things to look at are the paint

Good info here about caring for old houses (ie pre 1930): http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussion_forum.htm

Had a similar problem at our house. The problem was more that we had mould growing on two corner walls - one bedroom one living room. Because we couldn't leave the window open all day (at work) we did two things. One was putting the heating on, but not all day just for 10 mins here and there on the timer - this kept the temp up. The other thing was to install a drying rack in the bathroom where we could leave the window open.

It worked for us. I did toy with a dehumidifier but tried this first and it worked.

Sounds like a good idea. So like 10 minutes in the morning and the same in the evening?

I no like DIY

I had the same problem as mr and mrs spenceey. The thing that we first noticed was that the windows were almost constantly dripping with condensation. I put it down to drying washing indoors and not having an extractor fan in the bathroom (or the ability to open the window as the counterweight is gone). We ended up getting a De'Longhi DNC 65 dehumidifier. Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but it's made a huge difference. Clothes now dry very quickly and we've had no problems with condensation on windows after having it on around 16 hours a day (not at night). The money that you spend in leccy, you save on your gas bill. A dry house heats up much more efficiently than a moist house. We've noticed that when the heating clicks on the flat is toasty warm significantly quicker than it used to take.

If you were to own a damp flat/house I'd definitely recommend it. Maybe not if you rent.

Another 'moisture in my flat' question:

I just started hacking off the tiles in my bathroom in order to re-tile, but once down to grit and plaster I find that there is moisture in the plaster, especially to the left of the window and concentrated mostly at the lower part of the wall.

The soggy plaster comes off easily of course, but I hesitate to continue with the work before I can understand two things:

1) How can I make 100% sure I understand where the moisture comes from? I am fairly sure it has to do with the clumsy construction of the windowsill (wood in zone 3 of a bathroom) but are there other possibilities?

2) Once wet plaster is off, will I need to worry about moisture damage to the concrete behind it? The concrete looks fine so far and no smell of fungus, but I don't want risk re-plastering and potentially sealing in something damaged.

Any tips as to rebuild/recreate windowsill with concrete and tiles will be much appreciated.

Is there a shower? Looks like the spray from the shower is running off the cill to the left but the cill probably doesn't have a fall to the front so it just gathers against the left reveal and eventually soaks into the plaster. It'll be fine when it Dries out but it might take a while. As for how to stop it? Move the bath, but I'm guessing it's not an option or it wouldn't be there. Fall the cill to the front or get another shower curtain across the window. You could also chop the cill out, cast it in concrete with a waterproofer in it and tile it.

B.

I) a.Investigate the exterior of that window and take whatever steps are required to make it weatherproof. You don't want to be tilling if its getting wet from outside.
b. If you're satisfied the window is weatherproof, let the plaster dry out on the inside. Any blown plaster will need removing and making good.

2) I wouldn't worry about the concrete? ( do you mean bricks and mortar?) as long as it drys out.

Was there anything situated next to that wet patch which would explain it being wet? Shower, washbasin bath etc.

To be honest, if you think the window is not weatherproof it might be worth biting the bullet and replacing it. Got any photo of the outside?

I love this forum.

Yes you're both right. Shower is normally in the corner photographed, so you shower whilst standing IN the bathtub, then the bathtub goes along the wall underneath the windowsill. I just moved in 4 months ago, but previous owner supposedly showered with no curtain in front of cill+window for 20 years, so plenty of time to get things nice and soaked.
Changing from bathtub to shower has been suggested to me before, but I don't think I will as there is just not enough space for a decent shower cubicle.

Will investigate window externally thanks, but don't expect to find problems. OK, will not worry about damage to concrete (bricks and mortar) then.

But yes, I think B's suggestion is spot on. Have not worked with casting anything in concrete before. Build up scaffolding on the front and pour the stuff in? Will only need to make an inch's worth of concrete cill so could be a fun job actually.

Below is how it was before I started taking tiles down.

I'd go with the suggestion of tiling it all over. A few people I know have run in to problems with wooden window cills in bathrooms near the shower and bath surprisingly too.

It* is *probably water penetration from the shower spray through the wooden cill. The advice to remove the blown plaster is correct, definitely let everything dry out before making good. Check to make sure there is no water penetration from outside.

Is it a Victorian house, with lime mortared bricks and lime plaster? If so, the original plaster is not really a proper substrate for tile in a shower-especially if the shower is used often.
When I do showers in this situation I strip back all the plaster (to bare brick) and replace it with something impervious, cement render, WBP ply or Wedi board (last two options are great if you don't have good plastering skills or lots of time but cost more and need to be properly joined. They also allow for lime mortared bricks to move a bit which they do- a too strong cement render will fight this characteristic and cause problems.
This is all more expense and takes a lot more effort but provides a sound flat plumb surface for tiling and you know its going to last.
But I get paid to do this.
If the house is later (post 30s) or has been re-plastered and you have Gypsum based plaster then patch it up, don't use bonding though as it is very absorbent and shouldn't be used on exterior walls especially next to windows, or in shower enclosures- use cement render (with a multifinish skim if you want). If the repaired substrate is dry, flat and plumb go ahead and tile on top.

I would get rid or the wooden window board (interior window cill) and replace with tile. Tack up a bit of board/ply/whatever to act as a former/shutter, make it level and the same distance or more from the glazing as the vertical reveals, then back-fill with a sharp sand and cement mix (5:1) or you can just use good tile adhesive (I always use Mapei and not just cause of the cycling connection) The adhesive will be flexible, dry faster/take tiles sooner but costs more.

I do this for a living.
:-)