Damp/mould problem in bathroom

mg1prg · Post by **mg1prg** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:01 pm

Hey guys, hope someone might be able to help or advise what's best to do..

in our bathroom, there's a patch of damp/mould that started off in the corner of the ceiling and has been slowly growing over time and looks considerably worse now. It's a patchy blackish-grey colour and rubs off slightly when you touch it like charcoal kind of.

The room is ventilated by a small window only, and with the heating being off most of the summer, I wondered if this couldve contributed to it allowing it to get damp?

I'd be really grateful if anyone could help with a short term fix or suggest how to help prevent it long term?

cheers

Jaeger_S2k · Post by **Jaeger_S2k** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:33 pm

Investigate the cause and eliminate the obvious.

Up stairs (I assume loft space) locate the corner inspect any pipes and the roof members. Check pipes for green residue or wet marks. Check the roof immediately above but also check the roof members as the leak may be somewhere else and the water is using them as a capillary and dropping.

If there's nothing evident then could be ventilation problem. Lots of rooms are vented from small windows but they have to open to work

Installing an automatic timed vent would help but that can be annoying in the night.

If you have a shower then an extractor would be a valuable addition and should be used when the shower is used or a steamy bath is run.

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:32 pm

Clean with a bleach solution to kill off the mold spores. When dry spray with stain stop to seal it and repaint using a silk emulsion. It is steam wetting the ceiling that has provided the hospitable environment for the mold to develop so you need to address ventilation. As Alan has said you need to get an extractor in there.

DWD

leebwk · Post by **leebwk** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:01 am

Hi mg1prg,

As jaeger has said rule out leaking pipes or water ingress from above, but 99% of the time it is down to ventilation installing a good quality extractor fan such as expelair or vent axia will usually sort the problem, i had a shower room with no windows and i did fit a 150mm timed fan that had an overun of about 8mins and we had no damp issues at all but our original bathroom had a large window and no extraction and this eventually succumbed to damp patches until an extractor fan was fitted.
Personally if you go down the route of extrator fans i would fit a 150mm size fan as the small 100mm are not as effective.
Hope this helps

mg1prg · Post by **mg1prg** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:31 am

thanks guys that's great - doesn't seem to be any leakages from above, so sounds like it's all down to ventilation - will look into getting a vent in there!