With winter approaching and the air getting colder homes are more susceptible to damp.
Student homes even more so due to factors such as limited ventilation, enclosed spaces filling up with moisture faster and the age of buildings.
Many students feel unsure what to do when dealing with damp and can often feel panicked to raise concerns.
Student Taliah Kyd has recently experienced damp and mould issues in her home.
She said: “It was concerning, we could smell it in the kitchen, in the cupboards, in one of the girl’s bedroom her carpet was wet to the touch at one point.”
After moving back into their shared house Taliah and her house mates discovered one of the bedrooms had become rife with damp.
“We were all really worried, it’s getting closer to winter none of us want to be ill… her room genuinely felt unliveable,” she added.
So, what can students do? Many students like Taliah are left feeling helpless in situations like this.
Jordan Stone from Luxury Student Homes, issued the following advice:
- “Always report this to your landlord/ agent as soon as you see it, if you leave the issue for a prolonged period of time before reporting it can lead to it becoming worse and can make the works to remove it more intrusive
- Surface mould can be caused by lack of ventilation Opening windows regularly, drying clothes on radiators and not using the radiators when the cold weather comes all contributes to a moist environment. This moisture will then cling to the coldest parts of the room i.e walls with windows.
- Black mould is often found in bathrooms this nine times out of ten is because of poor ventilation. Opening the window along with leaving the extractor fan running whilst showering and for a short period after will relieve the excess moisture in the air.
- Rising damp does not reach any higher than one meter up the wall so if you have a damp patch on a ceiling or high up on a wall it’s not rising damp and is evidence of water penetration, this could be from a leak that is allowing water to find its way into the property
- If it is Rising damp issues need to be dealt with a lot differently to surface mould and ventilation issues, these need to be dealt with by a specialist who will determine the best steps to eradicate this issue.”
