I bet you all wish you were leading a life as exciting as mine… tidying, vomiting and coping with damp.
Seriously though, as if it wasn’t the weirdest phase of my life ever these past few months (if you’ve never been pregnant, wait until you have a sprog growing inside you and then try and put that into words) and I wasn’t already panicking about a) pending finances, b) labour and birth (mm, pain) and c) actually buying all the shit that I don’t have like baby clothes, a cot, etc, the fact that we have an ever increasing problem with rising damp is just about ready to push me over the edge. And I’m sorry for the epic run on sentence.
We’ve had problems on and off with damp since we moved into the flat. It wasn’t so big a deal at first, we cleaned it up and got on with things. However, because we’ve had some rain but the weather has still been warm (and thus we’ve not had the heating on) the muggy / humid atmosphere is really bringing it back with a vengeance. We have quite bad mould growing on one of our walls — it just so happens to be the wall to my little ‘office’ room — and it’s badly affecting both Karl and myself.
Now struggling with the idea of breaking out of our tenancy agreement early to get away from it (which may cost us financially) or putting up with it until Feb which will affect both us and sproglet physically (it’s not healthy, let’s put it that way). Landlords are aware and are sorting out replacement guttering, which is apparently one of the causes, but I don’t think that will solve it all as I’m sure we have rising damp down by the front door.
Bah. All very tiresome, and seriously affecting my Internet access as I daren’t go in the little room at the moment.
18 Aug at 6:39 pm
In Singapore, we have this little household 'gadget' (should I even call it a gadget?!) called 'Thirsty Hippo'. It's a container with a pink lid with some form of powder inside which absorbs moisture from the surroundings. Not too sure if you guys have it there. No harm checking it out, though! Damp is *indeed* an annoyance. :(
And I can't wait for the arrival of little Jem. (Or little Karl?) (;
18 Aug at 6:41 pm
This is the first time I've heard of damp. Learning something new every day~
I had a mold in my room once (damp results in mold, right?) that I spent half a day getting rid of. I got sick. I don't know much about damp, but it sounds like one could get pneumonia from it. So, I hope you don't. Good luck deciding what to do. I would not compromise my health, if I were you.
18 Aug at 8:30 pm
I hear labor can be tough (I was lucky and didn't have it that bad) but once you get the epidural it's all better, and almost instantly. =)
As for the damp, surely you could get out of the lease and avoid fees since you're living in hazardous conditions, right? assuming the landlord fails to fix the problem in a timely manner.
18 Aug at 9:07 pm
Damp, how fun! We had a lot on our walls some months ago but the landlord wouldn't do anything about it. The person living above our bathroom was constantly ill.
Not something you want to live with when you've got a kid on the way, good luck in getting rid of it.
18 Aug at 9:42 pm
You need to either remove the mold permanently, or get away from it!
18 Aug at 11:53 pm
Holy crap, this is completely unsanitary. I don't know how these things work in the UK, but can you point it out to your owner and ask to have it removed or you be moved? My brother went to his owner when a mold problem in the apartment he was in made his girlfriend horribly sick, and he was moved in another building (mold-free so far) owned by the same guy. Not to mention you are pregnant, and it's a serious health hazard.
19 Aug at 3:06 am
I'm sorry about the mould issue; I had some of that going on a couple apartments ago. I don't think I ever got rid of it all, I just ended up moving out before too long because my lease was up.
Neato, you spell 'mould' like I spell 'mould'. I dunno why I ended up learning the British spelling, but that's the one that sticks with me.
19 Aug at 4:59 am
Hey Jem! I haven't talked to you in forever. I can't believe you're going to have a baby!!! I'm so happy for you! Anyways, I was just thinking about you and missing you and wanted to see what you were up to, so I did a bit of sleuthing to find you and here you are! Are you on Facebook?
Take care and miss you lots!!! Congrats!!!!
Marsha (from SFH/NP)
19 Aug at 5:17 am
Hmm…yeah, not good. Not sure if I have any useful advice (other than checking around the web for solutions?). But good luck getting rid of it. Protect yourselves and your little sprog! d-('-')o
19 Aug at 7:15 am
This may provide some advice Jem, I will scour the net and see what I can find re: early termination of your tenancy etc. Hang in there, I'm sure an ideal solution is just around the next corner :)
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/RentingAHome/DG_4001394
19 Aug at 10:14 am
Mould can be such a pain to get rid of. My parents are struggling with it in their house, and have been for years now. It just keeps coming back in new places. :(
I hope you get it sorted out asap – like you said, it's not good for any of you, especially not for the little one.
19 Aug at 1:17 pm
Ugh, I don't envy your situation. I would be so paranoid about it's effects on my unborn child. But then again, I'm paranoid about everything. Best of luck to you!
19 Aug at 7:39 pm
Found your blog through Twitter :)
Seriously Jem, get rid of the damp or get out of that house. It's not good for you and certainly not good for sproglet!
Brenda's tip is a good one, they sell those things here (Netherlands) too – and eventhough they're just a temporary solution, it's better than doing nothing.
What a surprise to read about your pregnancy. Don't worry about giving birth, as much as it can hurt, you'll forget all about that once you hold your baby in your arms – promise!
x Antoinette (TFL)
19 Aug at 8:51 pm
Ugh, good luck sorting it all out with your landlord. I'd think you'd be able to get out of the agreement since the place is affecting your health in a dangerous way. People are usually always very careful about health violations when pregnant ladies are involved so I'd use your little sproglet to your advantage. Either the landlord gets it fixed up stat or doesn't charge you for breaking your agreement early. Still, that'd mean real estate searching so I hope it doesn't come to that for you. Best wishes.
20 Aug at 4:39 pm
Mold on the walls and near the floor is a good sign that there's water damage inside the walls. That's just horrible. If you want to make a smaller financial investment (opposed to the hundreds it may cost you if you break your lease) maybe you should consider buying a dehumidifier. It's supposed to suck the moisture right out of the air. ;)
21 Aug at 1:44 am
Wow, really? Here in Vancouver damp never seems to be a problem, despite the fact that it pisses rain three quarters of the year.
Pregnancies are so exciting!!
23 Aug at 6:09 pm
I'm sure you already know this, but mold can be quite dangerous for your health. I hope that you and Karl are able to find a new place to move to soon.
Here in the US there is a product called Damp Rid. Perhaps you might be able to find something like that to use as a short-term solution? My husband and I used it in a little house we had rented for a while several years back. It worked quite well, though seeing all of the moisture it had drawn out of the air was pretty gross.
24 Aug at 1:41 pm
Isn't there a possibility to get out of the lease without paying (too much if anything) if your reason for leaving is the damp and the health hazard for you, your baby and Karl?
Getting the guttering fixed isn't going to get rid if the unhealthy green things growing on your wall(s)! As landlords they have to take immediate action to get rid of the problems that are a serious health risk for their tenants (well it works that way in The Netherlands and it might just be the same way for the UK)
So if they won't get rid of the mould on your wall immediately I would look into getting the lease terminated on grounds of health hazards in the house. Maybe that's an option you can look into?
28 Aug at 4:25 pm
Hmm, aren't the landlords required to get all of that taken care of? In CA they have to, I know that much– my friend's apartment had a terribe black mold problem and the landlords had to pay to replace it all.l
Oh, and to solve the damp problem, buy a dehumidifer. A decent one that'll keep an apartment dry runs about $150 at Home Depot, and they're a godsend when you're stuck in damp climates.
12 Sep at 5:32 pm
They need to sort out the flashing, that's what's causing the damp at your place. Lead is expensive though, that's why they won't want to do it.