I’ll try to be quick:
Last year we had mold in one of those cupboard/wardrobe built inside the wall (basically one side of the wardrobe is the wall itself, the wall that face outside).
The regie sent somebody who simply sprayed some stuff and painted on it. I had one of my suit ruined by the mold and i had to throw them away. The regie refused to pay as it’s not their fault, and also my Assurance Vaudoise said that they wont pay as the mold wasnt due to a water leak, but bad insulation.
One year passed and we found again more mold (more clothes to throw), also in the kitchen inside a cupboard built in the same way and touching the same wall.
At this point i got scared for the sofa in the living room attached to the same wall, and indeed there was so much mold behind.
Ive cleaned all and we are waiting Monday to call the regie and send somebody asap.
My questions are:
– we dont know for how long we been living with this mold, how bad it can be for our health, what to do with the sofa as we cant remove the fabric and see the inside, and what to do with any other furniture in every room (bed, sofa, carpets, clothes).
– we might have to spend so much money to throw stuff away and replace them. Though as the problem happened again with a normal usage of the apartment, there is clearly a problem with that wall. Can we force the landlord to do a proper examination to proof that nothing is wrong?
– last time they simply painted a wall and didnt check anything else to prevent it again or suggest to check similar spots in the house, like behind the sofa. Can we say that they have been negligent and didnt help to avoid for it to happen again?
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1q3uofg
Posted by Cheap_Explorer_6883
14 Comments
Move to another apartment as soon as you get the chance. You are breathing that.
You need to contact Mietverband or your legal insurance. This can be really dangerous.
run
Buy an anti mould spray and spray it thoroughly. Then wait overnight and repeat.
This level of mould should be dissolved by the spray.
Buy a meter to measure humidity in the room. Vent regularly for a decent amount of time to get excessive humidity out.
And buy a dehumidifier, that should solve the problem.
We had the same problem and solved it by what I described above.
We plan to insulate our home from the outside in spring to solve the issue long term. There’s no other solution.
Leave as soon as possible. By your drescrition it will be quite difficult to get rid of it, in particular if the landlord doesn’t want to put measures.
If you have ASLOCA or equivalent, it will be a good time to use it.
How the eff did it get to that point? Why did you wait so long?
run run run
You can ask for a partial refund on your rent. I had some minor mold in the bathroom, and I received a 15% rent reduction until the issue was resolved.
What’s next? Apartment in the mold
Are those walls on an „outside“ wall? It was very cold the last few days. When the walls are not enough insulated water begins to condense and soon you have those things.
Use Fungizid or call a specialist, of course its not very healthy, if you let it like this, but if you get rid of them there should be no problem. Then find out, why the wall is getting wet.
How is the humidity of your appartment? Do you have a ventilator in your shower?
Never place furnitures on an outside wall.
We had once fungus on an inside wall, but the humidity was like 80 to 90% ( in sunmer) 😅
While you look for a new place, you can clean the mold with hydrogene peroxyde it slows down regrowth. To help slow down regrowth, we were advised to keep all heaters on maximum and all inside doors open, plus opening all windows and doors for 15 minutes twice a day to help the air get completely renewed. Since we’ve been doing that, the humidity level of all rooms has dropped and mold has not regrown. We have to do this until construction work will be done in spring for the roof, external isolation of walls and the windows.
And for your health, I suggest buying an air purifier to put in each affected room. We’ve noticed an improvment using them.
Do you have a humidity sensor? How humid is the air?
The mold is not severe. You can use hyperoxide on the affected surfaces. Don’t use vinegar it will not do the job.
A lot of over reaction in the comments with the likes of ‘run’. I get why because Switzerland doesn’t have these issues like the UK does. (I live in England but I visit Switzerland often because my friend is Swiss)
That damp is nowhere near as bad as what people have to put up with in the UK. I have had damp in various apartments and learnt how to keep it away.
That mould on the walls can be treated.
Ways to prevent damp and mould is to:
1. Open windows, especially when drying clothes, cooking. Air needs to flow to get the moisture out of the rooms. I do not care how cold it is outside, the rooms will warm up again but the moisture will not be there.
2. Do not put furniture and clothes (or any object) against walls. (I used to do this and learnt the hard way because it caused mould.) Air needs to be able to circulate around cold surfaces (walls) otherwise moisture will condense and create micro environment for the mould.
3. Given my body slowly evaporates everytime I visit Die Schweiz, I never thought I would say this: Purchase a good electric dehumidifier.
4. Buy a temperature and humidity sensor. I got mine from a coop in Basel because they are hard to get in the UK.
5. Don’t live in the UK, it’s a damp island.
Edit: Corrected a missing word.