Damp

I think there are some proprietary products on the market (Polycell sp? I think), but I haven't tried it.

I use Dettox "Anti-Bacterial Mould & Mildew Remover" which, judging from the smell, is largely just bleach. But it works fast and thoroughly and requires just the most minimal of wiping.... I hate to gas us out that way, but it's a lesser of two evils: breathe bleach fumes once a week or breathe mould spores day in and day out.... 

I thought that the dryers weren't condensing.  They seemed more like the dryers I was used to back home.

Can't do a lot about the hands, sorry !

Bugger!

Bugger!

No, not that either !!
Behave yourself !

Behave yourself!

Moi?  *sheepish grin*

I use Dettox "Anti-Bacterial Mould & Mildew Remover" which, judging from the smell, is largely just bleach.

I wonder if this isn't more than bleach.  The fumes are horrid.  I use thin bleach each week to disinfect our bath mat, yet it doesn't stink as bad as Dettox

Hey AnneG, we had similar problems in several of our flats. A couple thoughts:

First, be careful sealing the windows too much. Cooking, laundry drying, breathing all contribute to damp inside the house. Sealing the windows will just keep it in and give you worse problems like mold growing on walls between them and your furniture.

A good de-humidifier should tell you what sort of area it will cover. If your house is small, one may do the trick. Especially if you can have it somewhere near the stairs. We had one in our last flat and lemme tell you, we emptied it all the time.

Do open a window at least once a day - especially when cooking (if boiling water in particular) and when drying clothes.

Do run the heat whenever you can.

Look for a new place as soon as possible but be very careful - our experience has been that inevitable we exchange one set of problems in rented accomodation for another.

Your landlord is typical of every British landlord I've ever encountered in the UK. The least amount of attention to the property for the most rent.


 

Do open a window at least once a day - especially when cooking (if boiling water in particular) and when drying clothes.

Even in the dead of winter, i keep the bedroom windows open about 1 inch.  Even though we dont have a damp problem, i like having fresh air in the house.
I also keep the window in the kitchen open for an hour or 2 first thing in the morning (no matter how cold outside) and always keep it fairly wide open when i cook. 

Good luck.. it must be a nightmare living with damp. 

Moi?  *sheepish grin*

Toi !

Even in the dead of winter, i keep the bedroom windows open about 1 inch.  Even though we dont have a damp problem, i like having fresh air in the house.
I also keep the window in the kitchen open for an hour or 2 first thing in the morning (no matter how cold outside) and always keep it fairly wide open when i cook. 

Good luck.. it must be a nightmare living with damp. 

I do the same thing.  I run the exhaust fan in the kitchen or crack a window.  I also run a fan at night in my room (mostly for the white noise) and that seems to help keep the condensation down in my bedroom.  Leave the heat on most of the time helps as well.

I hate the damp as well but I am not too sure of being able to find a rental place without it.  All the places I have lived has had it.  I open the windows a crack for several hours a day and just wipe them down in the morning.  At least it is the only bad thing about where I live now.

I use Dettox "Anti-Bacterial Mould & Mildew Remover" which, judging from the smell, is largely just bleach. But it works fast and thoroughly and requires just the most minimal of wiping.... I hate to gas us out that way, but it's a lesser of two evils: breathe bleach fumes once a week or breathe mould spores day in and day out.... 

As it happens there was a programme on television yesterday, "Houses Behaving Badly".
In this, a team of professionals including professionals go in to clean up a house that the occupants have allowed to get into a mess.

The cleaner often gives tips and in this particular prog she was using bleach to remove mildew.

I'm a big fan of letting the house breathe. When we moved in to this property, there were obvious damp issues that had been ongoing for years. But when we investigated the causes, we found that humans were the culprits. Fireplaces and gutters were left to clog up. When we fixed those two simple problems, the cause of the damp stopped. We also added central heating, so while the house would have naturally dried up, the heating sped it up quite a bit.