Our Mould Story
A few years ago, my partner & I noticed small clusters of mould spores starting to grow on the ceiling of our bedroom. This then extended to the areas of our loungeroom directly above where we were drying our clothes on wet days.
We found bags & shoes in our wardrobe with mould growth on them & knew we had to do something about the issue before it got worse.
We got a few free assessments from certified building remediators who all concluded that we had a ventilation/air circulation issue.
This issue arose for us mainly due to the building/unit design & layout. There was little to no way to create a cross breeze through the unit & all the humid air was getting stuck at the end of our hallway in our bedroom. Our bathroom/laundry is located on the inner wall of the unit meaning there are no windows in those rooms for humid air to escape. Add to this the hot, wet air being pumped out of the clothes drier, steam build up from cooking in the kitchen & poor fan extraction in the bathroom & laundry and we had humidity levels within our apartment at around 80-90%.
What did we do to improve our ventilation & humidity problem?
- Swapped standard clothes dryer for a heat-pump or condensing dryer – this means it collects all the water from the clothes as its drying them instead of pumping the hot, humid air back into the environment
- Placed ceiling fans in bedrooms to keep the air moving & create cross ventilation in the house, stopping any mould spores from settling & growing
- Upgraded bathroom & laundry exhaust fans to ensure damp air was getting extracted efficiently
- Purchased a good quality de-humidifier to extract water from the air during damp weather events, cooking or when needing to dry clothes inside
If you’d like to learn more, I highly recommend this free webinar from Dr Gupta & Nicole Biljama (experts on the area). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LQy_rk3xek
References & helpful resources
https://iicrc.org/aus/ - To find a certified mould remediator
Healthy Home & Healthy Family Book by Nicole Bijlsma
