Screwfix marketing flier handed over with the bootlaces I just bought. Ten products on top pages, "Everything you need to prevent mould and damp".

How many of the ten are snakeoil?
How many are actively harmful?
Can you spot where they're trying to get in ahead of the penny dropping for small scale private landlords about #AwaabsLaw ?

#blackMould #condensation #damp #HousingPolicy

Send SAE for details of my eccentric hobbyhorse -- that the only solution to the UK's housing crisis being to compulsorily purchase and demolish millions of buildings - pretty much everything older than 75 years - and replacing them with safe, climate-proofed, properly insulated, energy efficient replacements!

This is the worst but 3 others similar, water ingress in stairwell in Belsize Park 24/05/25 19:06 #water #blackmould @tfl @wemakecamden @camdennewjournal @mayorofldn @tulipsiddiq https://bit.ly/3SFpROJ

— Steve Karmeinsky (@stevekennedyuk)
May 24, 2025

May 24, 2025 at 07:10PM

via Twitter https://twitter.com/stevekennedyuk

My experience of black mould is that it's generally endemic to a property. Home owners as well as tenants struggle with it.

There may be structural issues that are allowing damp to enter. These can be hard to identify, let alone fix, unless they are obvious.

Otherwise it's down to moist air and lack of adequate ventilation. Drying clothes, cooking, bathing etc all produce moisture.

Often, when people are out at work all day and it's cold in the evening, windows don't get opened. Especially when heating bills are high!

Working from home over the pandemic I saw the mould levels in my flat drop dramatically because I had at least one window open for most of the day, even in winter.

It was easier for me to do some laundry and stick it outside to dry, knowing I could get it in if it rained.

You need to keep treating mould. But again, you need to open windows to do this: anti-mould chemicals are toxic.

Dehumidifiers help.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rq2g0kz1lo

#blackmould #damp #condensation