Damp house - chest pains

[nickymanley]

Our bathroom piping leaked a few months ago and led to damp walls in the hallway. We contacted the buildings insurance company and they are going to come round and bring a dehumidifier and re-decorate. However, at the end of last week I started to get chest pains (what I thought was indigestion but tablets didn't work). We went away for the weekend and put the central heating on for 2 hrs a day. Got back last night and the smell of damp was horrendous. This morning I woke up with awful chest pains again (they went away on the weekend) and shortness of breath. I am guessing that the damp is causing this but the builders aren't coming for another week or so - any ideas?

[Scarlett]

As a child I had really bad asthma and eczema because we lived in a damp house. Could you not phone the insurance company (after getting a note from your Doctor) and insist that they re-house you for a few days until the work is done? Would they pay for you to stay in a guest house nearby? More to the point, if you have chest pains and shortage of breath, you need to work out if it IS the damp- and not something else. A stay in another house would eliminate that.

You could also buy yourself a dehumidifier- they are worth having anyway, regardless! If you left the heating on, it would just contribute to the damp atmosphere, and make it worse-- what you need is to open all the windows and get air circulating round to dry it out. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I've always been told.

[tetherend]

I agree with scarlett.  She has given you sound advice nicky.