My kids thought the black mould growing in the bathroom and bedrooms was funny and nicknamed it the ‘alien mould’. I was not so amused. The nasty black mould was very persistent and no matter how many times I cleaned the walls with anti-fungal detergents it always grew back in a few weeks.
I looked up household mould on the Internet and basically most of the variations found in the home are bad for your health. This really worried me but no matter what I did I just couldn’t seem to get rid of it.
Is the Damp Taking Over?
As I work during the day there is never anyone at home. I don’t like to leave the windows open when we are all out as this is a security risk. This means that our house very rarely gets a good airing and it is understandable that condensation builds up. However I did feel that the dampness in our home was above the average expected. Sometimes you could see and feel the dampness on the walls and condensation would run down the windows. No wonder then that black mould was flourishing in my home!
I really did start to feel like the damp was taking over. If clothes or books were put away for a few months without being used they soon started to smell of the damp and mould. I decided to call in some specialist help to deal with the damp problem.
Specialists Fight Back
It was easy to choose a specialist damp proofing company online. I looked for a company that could offer a good range of services as I wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong with my house. The specialists that came to look around dealt with dry rot, wet rot, rising damp and more.
- Within just a few moments they tracked down the source of the dampness and this was rising damp.
- The problem all along had been the basement. It appeared that the damp proof course in the basement had been bridged and was failing to prevent moisture from entering the building from the floor and walls of the basement.
- This dampness was being drawn up into the house by capillary action until it had permeated all the rooms.
- This was causing the problems with excessive moisture in my home and providing the perfect breeding environment for black alien mould!
- The only solution to this problem was damp proofing the basement again. This would re-establish the damp-proof protection in this sub-floor area and prevent the moisture from making its way in from the ground outside.
- Solving the damp problem would involve installing a new damp proofing membrane. This would have to be carried out by experts to ensure the membrane layer was completely water-tight.
- Although it is possible to do it yourself it does take skill and experience to get this right first time. Otherwise you will just be wasting time and money on damp proofing only for the moisture problems to continue.
- Another benefit of using specialists when damp proofing the basement of your home is that the good ones will offer you a guarantee.
- This can be anywhere from five to twenty years. With a guarantee you can get peace of mind as if anything does go wrong with the new damp proofing you will be able to get someone back to sort it out free of charge in most cases.
Banish Alien Mould
After successfully damp proofing the basement I went through each room of the house and treated all of the walls with the anti-fungal detergent again. I then washed or threw away anything that smelt of mould. I was determined that this would be the last I would see of that nasty stuff again!
New damp proofing proved to be the right solution to the problem and my home felt like it had been transformed. The walls and windows no longer ran with moisture and much to the kid’s disappointment (and my relief) we never saw the alien mould again.
Don’t suffer in silence if black alien mould is taking over your home. I called in specialist help and the new damp proofing installed in my home transformed it from damp and mouldy to dry and cosy.
