How to Avoid Mould and Damp: A Simple Checklist

Use this quick checklist to keep your home warm, dry, and healthy all year round.

There are some key factors we need to balance in our homes - these are air, heat and moisture. The dryer a home is, the cheaper it is to heat.

Check for structural issues / leaks

• Leaks and structural issues can be a major cause of damp and mould. If you have issues, or have high humidity but aren’t sure why, arrange for an independent damp surveyor to visit your home. Avoid free surveys as these tend to end in the surveyor selling you their mismatched chemical ‘solutions’ such as damp proof coursing.
• You can access free advice from trusted experts at Mums Versus Mould.

Allow moisture to escape

• Every morning and evening, do the daily detox. This is where you open up all external windows and internal doors wide for 10 minutes to allow excess moisture and other pollutants to escape. The air sweeps through your home. You may hear this described as cross ventilation.
• Open windows regularly, especially during cooking, showering, or drying clothes indoors.
• Always use extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms before generating moisture and leave them on afterwards until all moisture has left the room. Not sure if they are working? Get a piece of tissue and hold it close to the fan front - if the tissue stays when you move your hand away, it’s working.

Improve air circulation

• Declutter your home. A cluttered home restricts airflow and allows pollutants to stick around longer.
• Keep furniture a few inches away from walls, especially in colder rooms.
• Avoid overfilling wardrobes and cupboards, which can trap moisture.
• Replace curtains for wipe clean blinds - windows are a natural place for condensation to collect, which means curtains can become mould hotels.
• Don’t block up any natural ventilation that is part of the building structure - this is designed to be there to help the building’s air balance.
• Vacuum your extraction fans to keep them free of residue which may mean they aren’t working as hard as they should.
• Make sure trickle vents (small vents built into windows) are always open - these are designed to be open all year round.

Keep wet activity to wet rooms

Dry rooms are not designed to cope with moisture, so these doors should stay shut when you’re busy generating steam in kitchens and bathrooms.

Drying laundry indoors

• If you can dry laundry outdoors, that is always the preference
• If you can’t, the next preference is to use a tumble dryer to get rid of the moisture quickly. The cost of using a well vented tumble dryer far outweighs the health and remediation costs of living with mould caused by clothes slowly drying indoors.
• If you haven’t got a tumble dryer you can use an airer or clothes horse in a bathroom or kitchen with the door shut and the window open. See the indoor laundry drying guide at www.indoorairaware.co.uk
• Some households choose to use a dehumidifier to remove the moisture from the air to speed up drying. This tends to end up more expensive than zapping the moisture using a tumble dryer.

Control indoor humidity

• Use a dehumidifier in damp-prone rooms. Make sure the dehumidifier is maintained to avoid mould growth inside.
• Keep lids on pots when cooking and use pan lids or extractor fans.
• Keep kitchen and bathroom doors closed to dry areas of the house, and doors to dry areas (living rooms / bedrooms) shut to avoid moisture entering them.

Heat your home efficiently

• Maintain a minimum of 16 degrees in unused rooms and 18-21 in rooms that are occupied.
• Use the thermostat to control heating - not a timer. Timers encourage yo-yo heating meaning rooms can become very cold which means surfaces enable condensation to form. Mould spores are everywhere all the time - when they land on condensation they start to colonise (grow) and once it’s started, it is very hard to stop it.

Check for leaks

• Inspect pipes, gutters, and roof tiles for signs of leaks or blockages.
• Deal with plumbing issues quickly to prevent moisture build-up.

Insulate properly

• Insulation helps keep warmth in and moisture out.
• You may be eligible for grants to improve insulation—check with us to find out.