Black mould/condensation on bedroom ceilings.

[mumof3angels]

We've got a 3 bed semi and since we bought it 6 yrs ago we've had the old steel single glazed windows taken out and replaced with upvc dg units and cavity wall insulation put in. We still have the air bricks/vents in each room and open the windows on the restrictor latch every day but every year from around now we have black mould appear on the eaves of our bedroom ceilings which spread down the outside walls slightly and round the windows. There is no insulation in the eaves which we believe is right. The rooms smell really musty and sometimes the eaves are really wet which obviously is condensation.
I've just spoken to a condensation control company and they've advised us to have a loft extraction unit put in for around �600. I was just wondering if anyone else suffers with the same problem or has had an extraction unit put in and whether they work or not. I'm just fed up of having to repaint the ceilings all the time- we've tried all the stain cover ups and mould paints but nothing works. Thanks.

[petal54]

as a temp. measure,have you tried using a de-humidifier

[Prudentia]

are the soffits vented, they should be, If not I recommend that you try that first before shelling out �600 on something which may not solve the problem anyway. If they are vented already, the next thing would be check the condition of the felt at the eaves, it should come over the top of the fascia.

[mumof3angels]

Our soffits are vented Prudentia, but whether the felt at the eaves is over the top of the fascia is something we'll have a look at. We haven't tried a dehumidifier- would we need one in all the bedrooms or just on the landing perhaps?
Thanks for the replies anyway.

[Prudentia]

get someone up a ladder to check, beware of local builders unless you have good local referees, if you were anywhere near to stoke on trent I would be happy to check myself for you, but do beware of any thing that involves an inspection by a builder by ladder must be suspect as very few want to follow him up and go and look for themselves and as an architect with over 45 years experience I have seen all the problems and been able to solve 99.99% of them.

[mumof3angels]

Thanks for the info Prudentia-I'll have a word and see if anyone recommends a builder.

[Prudentia]

Take you time and ask around, 90% are shysters who will tell you anything and rip you off, the answer to the problem is more than likley very simple as I said before

[leah1042]

Hi mumof3angels.
I hope your problems have been solved already...we also suffer with the same problem on our bedroom eaves and just cannot get a straight agreement of whether it is safe to insulate the eaves or not; to allow the house to breathe (we recently had our whole house assessed for insulation and they wouldn't do anything for the eaves for this reason).
However, the temp solution of the de-humidifier is definitely great if you haven't already tried it by now. We just have one and move it between the rooms (using it on the landing/hallway wouldn't be sufficient as it works best in a smaller enclosed space). I would really recommend this and you can also use it to dry your washing quicker! A few hours in the morning dries the whole upstairs.
Also as we are on the end of the terrace so have an extremely cold end wall as well as cold eaves with condensation. The solution here has been to build a stud wall with insulated plasterboard on the interior of the outside wall. It has been excellent and the room has really warmed up.
We are still looking for an effective permanent solution for the eaves, and are looking into the soffits recommended to you. If you've found this worked for you, please let me know...thanks

[mumof3angels]

Hi Leah1042
Actually we have had an extraction unit put in the loft. We had a company come round and they told us about the Drimaster 2000 by Nuaire. It effectively takes the warm air from the loft and filters it back into the house through a small vent in the landing ceiling. We had it installed about 2 weeks ago and the reason we had it done was because we have a 6 month money back guarantee if it doesn't work. We've used a fungicidal wash to get as much mould off the eaves and then we've repainted them. So far we've had no condensation- not even on the windows in the morning. But, then we haven't had a particularly cold night yet. You know yourself that this time of year is the worst time so we'll see what happens. The other thing is that my little boy suffers from slight asthma, and 2 days after we had it fitted he stopped coughing during the night. Apparently the air quality that the ventilation system filters back into the house, is so pure that alot of allergens and dust particles are removed, making it brilliant for asthma sufferers.
Nuaire have their own website www.nuaire.co.uk.
Oh, also it costs less than 5p a week to run-alot cheaper than dehumidifiers, and it doesn't dry the air out, nor does it make a noise. Plus the fact because it takes alot of the moisture out of the air, the centrla heating is a lot more effective heating the house quicker.
Fingers crossed it'll work and if not we'll get our money back.

[biggestdave]

A year on are you still happy with the Drimaster 2000 Mumof3angels? I'm looking to have one installed in my house, but want to check they work and should fix my condensation problem. Any feedback on it's performance would be helpful.