Hello
I live in a one-bed flat and in the bedroom we were having a problem with condensation causing a bit of mould between the top of the wall and the ceiling. I have a dehumidifier and I keep the windows open a bit when I can to air it all out.
The first time I saw it, I cleaned it off as best I could with mould remover. It came back, and went to the local DIY shop and asked what to do. They gave me Damp Seal and the tin said I could paint it straight on, so I didn't clean the mould off first. Now I'm worried that I should have cleaned it because it could be growing under the paint!?
I only put the seal on about a quarter of the room right at the top, so hardly painting whole walls!
We also had it quite bad bit behind a drawer, but I scrubbed off all the mould before painting that corner and moved the drawer so it ought to be fine. There was no black in sight before I painted that so it ought to be fine?
What should I do!?
I am a new homeowner and am doing my best to look after the flat properly.
Can I scrub off the Damp Seal? Or should I sand the area down and re-do it? I have an electric sander and it wasn't a large amount of mould.
Advice appreciated!
Thanks
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
Hi Victoria, the priority would be to locate the cause of water penetration, or to find the leak, there could be more than one. Starting with the gutters, make sure all rain water from the roof ends up in an unblocked drain, not overflowing gutters and splashing on the building.
Then, keep ventilating and see if it helps.
You don`t have to reapply the mould paint.
Hi. This does sound like a condensation issue and not water penetration ( if you had the problem behind a drawer then thats a strong indication of high relative humidity, the moisture in the air condenses there and as there is insufficient air flow mould grows)
Youre doing the right thing to control the humidity now.
Ideally you should have cleaned the mould off first but the damp seal may do the job. The critical thing is to create a barrier to prevent mould spore re-growth.
I use zinsser b.i.n to cover areas that have had mould, 2 coats and it prevents re-growth and blocks the stains caused by the mould.
Consider now painting the walls and ceilings with an anti-mould paint.
There are many to choose from, a good independant decorators merchant will stock a selection.
My 1st choice is zinsser permawhite, this can be purchased at a decorators merchants and tinted to pastel colours.
If however you just want white ( certainely for the ceiling) screwfix stock the white at a very reasonable price
Hi, both previous answers sound like good advice to me. If your flat is suffering from condensation then I would strongly recommend any future decorating to be done with Acrylic Eggshell (like a soft sheen finish) Johnstones decorating centres do all colours and there's has a class 3 scrub rating meaning any marks or mould can be scrubbed or wiped off time and time again without affecting the said wall! Hope this helps.
