Damp in built in wardrobe Damp can be a major issue in the home. Find answers to questions or post your own here.

[spock]

I live in a 1900's end of terrace and have been stripping wall paper in 1st floor bedroom ready to decorate. There are two air vents in the room, one just above the skirting , the other just below ceiling. At some stage a wardrobe has been built in around what was a fireplace (now blocked up) and these airvents go into the wardrobe on one side. The wallpaper in the air-vented wardrobe came away very easily and there is some mildew. The wallpaper was pasted over sheets of very thin polystyrene. I don't know if there was a very bad damp problem in the wardrobe and the vents have helped or if the vents were due to the fireplace and that the damp is there because the vents allow cold air in which is trapped by the wardrobe and the resulting condensation creates the damp. The wardrobe on the other side of the fireplace (also on an outside wall but without air vents) is not damp. Should I remove the airvents and block them up or not?
Would really appreciate some advice

[Detective]

I live in a 1900's end of terrace and have been stripping wall paper in 1st floor bedroom ready to decorate. There are two air vents in the room, one just above the skirting , the other just below ceiling. At some stage a wardrobe has been built in around what was a fireplace (now blocked up) and these airvents go into the wardrobe on one side. The wallpaper in the air-vented wardrobe came away very easily and there is some mildew. The wallpaper was pasted over sheets of very thin polystyrene. I don't know if there was a very bad damp problem in the wardrobe and the vents have helped or if the vents were due to the fireplace and that the damp is there because the vents allow cold air in which is trapped by the wardrobe and the resulting condensation creates the damp. The wardrobe on the other side of the fireplace (also on an outside wall but without air vents) is not damp. Should I remove the airvents and block them up or not?
Would really appreciate some advice

It sounds like you are getting cooler damp air down the chimney which is causing the mould. Someone put the polystyrene on the wall because there was a problem there before and they hoped to stop condensation forming which was making the wallpaper fall off. As a test try blocking the vents in the wardrobe and see if it improves. If it does then you have damp in your chimney somewhere.