Condensation & Mould in Shared Housing

The local 'Landlord Accreditation Scheme' has been overwhelmed this week with debates about mould, condensation and damp - I think the local council guys were surprised how big an issue this is for most landlords, especially this year.

My thoughts follow:

This is a perennial problem – Portsmouth’s terraced housing stock was designed before central heating and double glazing and even if the knowledge had existed to handle issues such as damp in these houses, it is unlikely they’d cope with 4-5 adults in a house, having daily showers and drying washing.

The houses were built in a time when ‘having a bath’ was a weekly event and open hearths and single glazing ensured maximum ventilation. So damp and condensation would never have been an issue.

However, maximum ventilation equates to cold and uncomfortable from a modern perspective so we have rectified that with blocked hearths, double glazing and central heating. This lack of circulation or the ability for a house to ‘breathe’ is exacerbated by laminate floors, fire doors and particularly with students, the fact that all internal doors are closed most of the time.

You then add moisture to this equation with regular showers and much washing (remember when the houses were built, wash day was once a week and all washing was dried outside) and unsurprisingly, we get condensation and the resultant mould.

I find the worst spots are the corners of walls where the ‘cheap/quick’ cavity wall insulation leaves cold spots and it does not help in student houses that they let the houses get quite cold. One of the reasons more and more of my houses are now ‘all inclusive’.

So what can be done? Humidity sensing extractors in bathrooms are a must. Set them to 50-60% humidity.  The surfaces in the bathroom also need to be mould proof – think all surfaces tiled or covered in vinyl, otherwise you will decorate annually. Having fixed the bathroom, the other problem is how to dry washing.  Tumble driers are the ideal answer – but students paying electricity bills will not use them and where I have used them in ‘all inxclusive’ properties they have been overused and bills have been huge, so they have now been removed.

What we need is a low cost alternative to a tumble drier that dries clothes without allowing the moisture into the air in the house. Outside washing lines are good but during the student year, it is often too wet and cold for this to be of use – so they dry on small airers indoors.

Many council maisonettes have communal drying rooms – slatted walls front and back allowing the wind through but coupled with the roof, keeping the rain out. These work well but in the limited space available in the average HMO, are probably not practical unless a loft conversion is planned anyway.

I remember in days past my family used a ‘Flatley’ which was an electric drying cabinet for washing. Not ideal as it did not capture moisture but a modern day alternative based on electrically generated airflow rather than heat would definitely prove popular in all of my houses.

The more interesting question is what happens when current housing stock is replaced with Code 4 or even Code 6 building standards? These will ensure that even small families will experience condensation and mould where today, it tends to be restricted to houses at full capacity.