Updating post from Reddit.
My husband and I moved into our property 3 years ago, we're now on a rolling tenancy (for the past year). When we moved in, the smallest bedroom had orange stains on the walls. We mold treated it ourselves just incase, and painted over it with anti-mold paint.
The past month, the wallpaper in that room has started to come away from the wall and the walls appear quite bumpy and uneven. The wallpaper feels very cold, almost damp and the corner is two exterior walls. Behind the wallpaper are black spots which I am concerned is mold.
I've just called the property management company and explained all this to them, they're coming next week to have a look. I'm concerned they're going to say this is our fault and its going to jepodise thr tenancy. The room is ventilated and heated.
I guess I'm asking landlords here, if the room(s) are always heated and ventilated...Will they say this is our fault?
If it’s heated and ventilated you have done everything right. They may question why you painted it without their consent maybe.
Hi, thanks for coming back to me! So, when it was painted it was with the original estate agent. The landlord changed over to his own property management company the first year we were here.
What temp were you heating it to?
Its our little ones room, so typically 18⁰c - 20⁰c.
That should definitely be warm enough to prevent condensation on the walls. Sounds like there could be a problem causing the damp so I wouldn't worry.
Thank you. So very much.
The mistake you made was treating it yourselves instead of documenting it and reporting the problem. If the mould is coming up though the paint, it may be a sign of more than poor ventilation or drying clothes with a dehumidifier, which would cause wallpaper to peel or mould to grow on top of the paint. If it's an exterior wall, there may be a structural issue. If it's an interior wall, is there anything behind it which could be causing damp? People often block chimneys at the bottom to reduce draughts, without capping the top, which allows rain or damp air in. There's no ventilation, so this leads to damp in the brickwork that eventually seeps through the walls.
Hi! It's an external wall and has caused no issues for 3 years. Clothes are not dried in the bedrooms, but in a condenser dryer in the kitchen with the windows open and no chimney in that room.
Think about exhaling on a cold day. What do you see? Water vapour. That's water coming off your lung surface. On a not-cold day, it's exactly the same, the only difference being is that you can't see the clumps of water globules because it's warmer. Now put two of you sleeping in your room with the windows closed and all that water vapour will condense on any cold surface. Hence, it's not surprising that the walls feel damp and there's some Aspergillus taking hold.
It's not the end of the world. A dehumidifier will sort a lot of it out and a 4% of household bleach will kill any spires and the parent mycelium.
So this room only has a small child in it. Has the door open, is heated via trv radiators and the window is opened twice a day for 30 minutes in the winter.
I'm asking if our landlords will say this is our fault, as it seems to be behind the wallpaper.
Sounds reasonably well ventilated. The fungal growth could be historical, I guess. Dunno. Is the landlord going to look behind that wallpaper? Bleach it, let it dry and paste it back down.
Whilst I appreciate your response, I'm looking to see if our landlords would try to say this is our issue and not how to treat it. That bit we can do, but thank yoi.
As a landlord myself, I'd probably let it go. It's wear and tear but doubtless there are some greedy landlords out there who'd make a fuss. If so, tell about all your mitigating actions and tell him he can't prove it wasn't there before. If he withholds the deposit, dispute it.
Okay, thank you. I've let them know how it was treated before. Thanks for this.