DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi. I have recently found lots of mold on the back of my daughters Ikea wardrobe which is located in the alcove in her bedroom. We moved into this property two years ago and found a lot of damp on this wall after removing the wallpaper in her room. Last year after being advised we removed the plaster on the outfacing wall, fitted PERMASEAL DAMP PROOF MEMBRANE to the brickwork then replastered. When I pulled the wardrobe out the wall appears to not be effected, just the back of the wardrobe? During the winter my daughters room does get a lot of condensation on the windows first thing in the morning, we have now bought a dehumidifier to tackle this. This morning I checked behind my daughters Ikea drawers and these to have also been effected by mold. Both the wardrobe and drawers are about two inches away from the wall creating an air gap. I was thinking of fitting an air brick on the outer wall to help prevent further mold from gathering in my daughters room, would this work? Any advice would be great.

If the room is prone to condensation/humidity already then the air brick is a good idea either way, I'd say give it a go and it may well sort the issue, if not it's not all bad since it sounds to be necessary for the room anyway.

Would a dehumidifier not be an option for this?

We need ventilation, however we don't want to lose heat, so best idea is the heat recovery unit, you can now get them where the 4 inch pipe to outside is the heat exchanger so now as easy to fit as an extractor fan.

Main problem is gas cooking, that puts moisture in the house, with electric cookers carbon filters in cooker hood is enough, with gas it needs to vent outside.

Likely the moisture is not from bedroom but from rest of house, and her room is slightly cooler so it condenses there.

Years ago before double glazing there would be small holes to outside at bottom of window and a tray which caught the water and directed it outside, the window was a natural de-humidifier, also all fires had open flues so loads of drafts, we have stopped using open flues, we have fitted double glazing, so we also need to fit heat recovery units to remove the moisture from our bodies.

Oh and as a foot note, Mold is where I live, it is the name of a county town in North Wales, what you have on the walls is mould.

Thanks for that. I’ve now purchased a heated ventilation system which is installed in the loft space and is supposed to circulate clean air around the house thus stopping condensation and hopefully the mould. Also thanks for the heads up on the spelling mistake

The Americans are to blame for you insulting our Welsh friend - they always spell it MOLD!

Mould is a form of FUNGUS - all of which thrive in cold and damp environments with minimal oxygen [that's why they're damaged by improved ventilation].
Condensation forms from warm damp air wherever there's a cold spot - so, as mentioned by another contributor, it will form on cold window-surfaces and on walls where the insulation is poor. Someone else made the vital point that COOKING puts a lot of moisture into the air within a house - especially from an unvented gas cooker.
So minimise the moisture input [appropriate heating and cooking systems] and maximise the moisture output [by ventilation].
Beg, borrow or steal an optical thermometer and check the temperature of the walls behind the cabinets. If they are significantly colder than the other walls in the room - there's your explanation for the damp and the damp will encourage mould.
The damp-proof membrane prevents moisture coming IN from the outside - but does not prevent heat-loss - which lowers the temperature enough to form condensation.
You may have to add insulation to that wall - ideally by sticking on one of those slabs of foam+plaster-board.