Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with damp

How can I fix/prevent damp car interior?

srs airbag — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:45:16 -0800

It's a 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback. Apparently cars of this type and age have a tendency to develop a leak around the tail lights. This leak was fixed recently but the car either hasn't dried out from that yet or is damp *again.* The windows are perpetually fogged up and often need towelling and the seats (fabric) are suspiciously cool. How to dry it out and keep it that way? Thank you!

Winter Damp Solutions?

mary8nne — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:26:12 -0800

Damp Mouldy London Flats: Cheap simple solutions? We moved in to a new flat in May and now that the could winter is coming the flat seems to be getting rather damp and there are some mould (mold) issues. What do we do? Does anyone have experience with any of the following:
- Electrical Dehumidifiers; How do they work? are they very effective?
- buckets of dessicant / moisture absorbing substance?
- turning up / turning on the radiators?

In the mornings the windows are usually covered with condensation (whereas none of the neighbours flats are).

We don't really use the radiators much as the flat is not double glazed so it seems wasteful. So most days lately the ambient temperature inside is around 18C - 19C inside. I know this will result in a higher relative humidity. What temperature to people usually maintain indoors in winter?

Due to the damp / condensation there seems to be a bit of dark mould starting to grow in the corners of the sash windows, would treating those areas with anti-bacterial type stuff kill off the mould?

Second-floor toilet is leaking, can you help me figure out the best course of action regarding the floor?

joshwebb — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:07:20 -0800

Second-floor toilet is leaking, can you help me figure out the best course of action regarding the floor? About two months ago I replaced the toilet, tile and substrate in our second-floor bathroom. Today I noticed two golfball-sized water stains in the ceiling below the bathroom. After removing the toilet, it looks like a quarter of the visible wood is soaked (is this considered to be rotten at this point?) The other 3/4th of the exposed wood is dry, FWIW.

Here's a gross picture of the flange/wax ring with arrows pointing to the wet areas:

http://cl.ly/image/2s1O3Z3O0f2O

I'm not sure how far the wetness extends below the cement-board substrate, but from the little bit of substrate exposed in the photo, the wetness seems to only extend about an inch or so. My hope is that since the spot on the ceiling below is relatively small (especially considering that it has been presumably been leaking for over a month,) that means the damage isn't too terrible.

Do I need to rip everything up and replace the floor? Obviously, I don't want to, but I do want to fix this the right way (even if the right way isn't the easy way.)

How can I set up a mildew-free workout space in my unfinished basement?

wexford_arts — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:32:13 -0800

I want to use my unfinished basement as a workout space and have laid down some interlocking foam tiles on the bare concrete floor. However, the floor under the tiles has started showing mildew after a few weeks in place. How can I set up a comfortable workout space in a typically humid but not wet basement without having to lift the tiles every couple of months to scrub out the mildew? * My workout space is about 8 feet by 8 feet, with enough space for floor exercises at one end and a weight bench at the other end of the tiles. I could keep the tiles under the bench all the time (removing them as needed for cleaning) and lay down the free tiles only when I work out. Or I could just give up on tiles beneath the bench, although that would make the transitions for some exercises awkward.

* Would laying down a plastic sheet between floor and tiles help or hurt? I have seen plastic bags left on the floor for a long period also start showing mildew.

* I cannot afford to put in any permanent flooring yet. I need a relatively simple and cheap solution. If the only real solution is real flooring, I guess I'm scrubbing the floor periodically. (I've removed other areas of mildew with cleaner, bleach and elbow grease.)

Cheap DIY way to dehumidify a basement during a rainy spell?

MultiFaceted — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:43:49 -0800

What is the best creative way to dehumidify a basement without buying an expensive dehumidifier? I don't want to run one constantly, but with all the flooding rain, I need to do something. I live in Southeast Missouri, land of flooding rainwater at the moment. I rent a townhouse and I have a basement that is 1/2 finished with the other 1/2 simply a concrete room, separated by a paneling wall and door. I use the concrete room for laundry and storage. The finished room is where a bookshelf, my file cabinet, printer, dining table, and TV sit. I tend to use it for a home office...so not a lot of "living" down there but some.

It's been raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock for over a week, so everyone and everything is waterlogged. I do have 3 leaks in the basement, but I manage those by soaking up the water with towels then laundering them. The water hasn't completely covered the floor but will make large puddles if left alone. I pulled up the carpet in there this weekend because it was funky and I was tired of it (and could immediately tell a difference in the air quality based on my allergies). Now I have a solid concrete floor and three outer plaster/cinderblock walls (other walls are paneling and studs...not sure there's insulation in them).

Knowing that the rain won't last forever, and that normally the basement isn't that damp, does anyone have any ideas on how I can lower the humidity down there without spending $150 on a dehumidifier that I probably won't use forever? I have a couple of fans circulating the air right now. Anything creative I can do? Should I be running the central air conditioner (it's in the 50s today though...too cold!)? The heater? What about an electric space heater?

I'd guess the part of the basement I'm concerned most about is about 10ft x 10ft (maybe 10ft x 12ft...not good with judging distance!) with a door at the top of the stairs (leading into the living room) that I leave open for easy cat access. You can definitely tell where the air changes on the stairs though, both in temp and in humidity.

Any and all ideas welcome!

So, my kitchen is collapsing...

Catseye — Mon, 24 May 2010 05:24:41 -0800

UK (Scotland) tenancy issues. How long should I expect major kitchen repairs to take, and what are my rights as a tenant while the work's being done? A rather unpleasant followup to this question: it turns out that my kitchen is in a bad, bad state.

My letting agents sent some builders to do some repairs elsewhere in my flat, and I asked them to take a look at the kitchen while they were here, since it still smelled of damp and the floor seemed uneven in places. It turns out, after some investigation, that the dishwasher has been leaking for some time, perhaps for several years. The kitchen floorboards are soaked through and rotted over about half the kitchen, which would explain the floor and the damp smell. The fridge and washing machine are gradually sinking into the floor, which is not only uneven but actually soaked through and spongy in several sizeable areas. The builders guessed that fixing this would require taking out the fitted kitchen, pulling up the whole floor, replacing it and putting the kitchen back - presuming the joists aren't affected, which is still unclear.

I've only been in this flat since December, and the builders are sure that the damage dates from long before that. So I'm not on the hook for repairs... but, I still have a problem.

My letting agents are, as is the way of letting agents, dragging their feet and being generally unhelpful. ("You phoned when? Oh, I'm afraid that girl left the company, she must have forgotten to pass on your message," etc etc.) They are now promising to chase up the company that does repairs and maintenance work for them to get an actual quote, as well as a guess for when the work might start. They've told me that the work probably won't take "anywhere near as long as you're claiming the builders said, maybe your floor just needs to dry off for a couple of days or something," and have absolutely refused to be pinned down in any way on what I'm entitled to if I can't use my kitchen for any period of time.

So, here's what I'm wondering:

1) How long might work like this (ripping out kitchen, replacing floor, fixing any damp issues that might have got into the walls, replacing kitchen) be expected to take, roughly? Obviously I'm not looking for an exact schedule, but my letting agents seem to want me to just give the builders a set of keys and cross my fingers that it won't take long - and obviously, I need to make some quite different plans if I'm kitchenless for three weeks as opposed to one day.

2) Related: if I do end up unable to use my kitchen, what are my rights re: compensation and/or being put up elsewhere for the duration of the work? I'm sure I recall there being something in Scottish tenancy law about this, but hunting for it now isn't turning up anything.

3) If they do just refuse to fix it, am I right in thinking that living somewhere with substantial rotting/damp issues is probably not great for my health?

I'm happy to talk to the CAB about this if needed, but in my experience with them from bad landlord issues of years gone by, they work best when they have something concrete to go on: "I am in X situation, which needs Y, and my landlord is only offering Z." Because so much of this situation is vague and wooly - my letting agents really don't want to give me definite answers on things like 'How long will this take?' and 'Will you give me any kind of compensation in the meantime?', just handwaving promises that they'll answer that in the future - I'm trying to gather as much information as I can before heading down that route.

(Oh, and there might be similar issues going on in the bathroom too, with what I thought was a broken floorboard under the lino that just happened to be right next to the bath. That would be just joyful...)

So, um. Any ideas?

Severe damp in rented house: What are our legal rights?

bollockovnikov — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:00:04 -0800

We rent a shared house in London. There are damp issues in a downstairs room which are known about by the landlord. We have just noticed a severe case of black mould infesting an upstairs wall. What are our legal rights as tenants? The damp has largely been ignored by our letting agent and landlord, although we do have an air dehumidifier in the downstairs room which was probably bought by them for previous tenants.

The black mould in the upstairs room is completely new and we reckon it has only appeared over Xmas whilst we were away (perhaps brought on by the cold spell the UK has had).

Having only recently signed a rental agreement and contract we now believe that we have legal rights as tenants to a damp-free environment. Is this true? Are the letting agents within their rights to just give us an air dehumidifier and leave it at that? or should we be pushing to have the whole property properly checked by an expert?

How much damp is legal and what rights do we have as UK tenants?

How can I dry out the insulation under my car's carpeting after a big leak?

Askr — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:48:32 -0800

How can I dry out the insulation under my car's carpeting after a big leak? How can I dry out the insulation under my car's floor carpeting when I can't pry up much of the carpeting?

I found a puddle in my car's passenger side the other day, flowing back and forth from back to front as I accelerated and braked. I'm not positive how it got in there, but I'll work on that separately (sunroof, window seals, underside plugs, etc.).

Here's what I've tried:

+Bailed out as much water as I could, then got as much as I could with a wetvac, but I could still hear water moving under there when I pressed down on it.

+Pried part of the carpeting away from the rear footwell as much as I could, which is just barely enough to snake a hand in there, and have been sticking a chamois cloth and little carwash towels in that opening to absorb and then wringing them out a couple times per day, hoping that wicking action will draw water from as far as the front all the way to the back there.

+Bought a dehumidifier, ran an extension cord to the car, sealed up the window where the cord went in and let it run all night and all day. I got almost nothing that way. Could be a bum dehumidifier, I suppose, but maybe the problem is that the water is not exposed to the air enough.

+I leave the windows open whenever I can to air it out.

There's no more standing water, but the insulation is like a sponge, still wet enough to keep making the towels pretty damp. I can't get under the carpet in the front - I can't see how to remove the paneling to even get at the edge of the carpet to pull it back. I'm sure mold is happily colonizing by now, five days later. It stinks up close in the area where I've peeled it back, and the whole car stinks if I have to leave the windows shut for a while. I don't want that permanent stink, but that will be a separate issue I'll deal with and I've seen other questions here that address that. What else can I do to dry it out quickly?

I looked at DampRid, but that seems to be more for moisture in the air, which won't do much if a dehumidifier didn't do much. I read about people running a hair dryer on it all night, but that sounds like a fire hazard. Other internet forum ideas on this topic haven't quite hit it.

Ideas?

Rusty frets, no obvious damp?

chrissyboy — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:10:56 -0800

I recently got one of my guitars out of its case to find the frets covered in green stuff, and small patches of rust on a few of them.... ... No other patches of rust appear to have worsened on the bridge etc (it's a '78 tele). I plugged it in and it was very crackly, which it wasn't before.

I checked my other guitar that I don't play regularly and found it to be in a similar condition. Both guitars have been kept in their cases - the tele in a hard fur lined hiscox case, and the strat in a gig bag.

The room they're stored in isn't apparently damp - I don't have central heating in my house, however the room the guitars are stored in does have a storage heater, and is the only room in the house kept at a decent temperature. The only thing I can think is the room is next to the bathroom.

My question is this: How can i prevent this from happening - would a de-humidifier help?

And does the rust on my guitars frets indicate the end of it's life? if not, how can i treat the frets? And am I better leaving the guitar out of its case?

any suggestions appreciated, really panicking about it.

I have a car! But it smells funny. How can I fix it?

MadamM — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 22:19:18 -0800

How can I make my car smell better? I have recently been passed partial stewardship of a family car and I want to fix it up. It's a good car, but recently it's had some window issues that have, in turn, led to some smell issues. Basically the windows wouldn't stay up, so a certain amount of water would get inside it when it rained (especially because we park it outside, uncovered, sometimes). Not a lot of water, because the windows were never stuck more than an inch or two open, but over the course of a few months I think it's made the car smell sort of... funny. Add to that the fact that my father smoked in it when he was the primary driver, and you get a car that smells somewhat unpleasant- not awful, but it definitely has a musty funk that I would like to keep from getting any worse. The windows are fixed now, which should help, but I'm worried about mildew.

I'm going to have access to the car this week because my brother, the other driver of the car, will be out of town. I have plenty of time and effort to devote to this project, but unfortunately not much money or other resources (including any knowledge of cars or how they're made). I can maybe spend/convince my mom to spend about 30 bucks on supplies beyond what we already possess, but not much beyond that. I want to make this thing smell good. What do I need to do? What parts can I easily clean without having to dismantle the car beyond what I'm comfortable with? I want to do the best job I can.

(I did search for and find other questions about wet cars, but they didn't really apply to this situation because most of them dealt with soaked cars. This is more a matter of dampness.)

Hair damp make look.

Citizen Premier — Mon, 28 May 2007 02:34:50 -0800

Can I (a dude) use some kind of fabulous product to make my hair look the way it does when it's damp, all the time? I'd dare say my hair looks pretty sexy a few minutes after I leave the shower, when it's a mix of dark brown and my regular brown color. I'm not looking to tame my wild curls, though--I'd just like something that preserves the feel and look of my damp hair. Incidentally, I learned what shampoo and conditioner do about this time two years ago, so I'm pretty clueless when it comes to hair. Is there a product for my need or should I just carry around a spray bottle of water?

Packing slightly damp books for storage

fire&wings — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:18:09 -0800

I'm planning on storing a large amount of (very slightly damp) books. Advice required. I'm looking to put around 150 large format/hardback books and 250-300 paperbacks into storage. The books have been in a slightly damp environment but the majority are not badly damaged. The cheap ones have wrinkled slightly but most are normal or close to normal. They have no great value but I'd like to keep them as nice as possible.

My plan is to lay them out in a dry environment for 24hrs then pack them into cardboard boxes with the covers facing upwards. To me this would offer the best chance of keeping the pages straight and would minimise any bending or buckling that packing them with the spine facing upwards (or other methods) might cause. The books will be stored in boxes in a normal environment after this.

Any advice is welcome on how to best combat/resolve the dampness. Is silica gel an option? Any other tips? As I say they are just showing the first signs of dampness - I want to make sure it won't get any worse. Thanks.

What can you store in a damp basement, and how?

gottabefunky — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:39:07 -0800

What can you store in a damp basement, and what's the best way to do it? We just moved to Portland, and our new (rental) place has an unfinished basement that just screams damp, mold and mildew. The owner says water collects occasionally in one corner.

Storage space on the living floor is tight, so we want to be able to store stuff in the basement. What can we put down there without it going all nasty, and what's the best way to do it?

Clothes? Pillows? Papers and files? Camping gear (sleeping bags, tents)? Anything nylon? Drum set? Everything in plastic storage bins, up on pallets, with a dehumidifier going? Will that be enough, or are we just going to have to cram all our crap in our limited living space?

My books are rotten

Sifter — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:11:33 -0800

Help! My books are rotten - as in they're covered in mould! Suggestions on anything I can do to save them most welcome... A bit of background: I live in a ground floor flat. There's a large alcove in one corner of the lounge where I have my bookshelves. I've got too many books and started piling them on the floor underneath the shelving unit. Tonight, I needed to put in an extension cable for my Christmas tree lights, so moved the big piles of books for the first time in a while... and I found the floor is damp and the books are too, along with having a fair amount of colourful green mould on their pages. Can I save them or do I have to throw them? The floor is wooden, so I've pulled all the stuff out and scrubbed it with bleach. The alcove wall is dry, so I'm not really sure where the damp/mould is coming from... Any suggestions welcome!

When is it safe to turn on a TV left in a garage?

rc55 — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 12:33:42 -0800

I've got a 28" CRT Television, it was left in the garage in the freezing cold and I'd like to know what I should do before I power it on again. In the last week it has rained a few times, plus it's been bitterly cold. The TV was left on the floor of the garage about a meter from the door which has about an inch gap from the floor.

I brought the TV in today, and the front of the CRT was quite damp so I phoned a friend before considering turning the unit on. I understand that CRT's with it's mega capacitors can be quite the death device when mixed with dampness so I left it.

Currently it's in the corner of my small bedroom which is well heated and ventilated. The house is generally dry - does anyone have advice on what I should do about undampening this TV and when it would be safe to turn on?

Dry out a basement?

jpburns — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 11:47:14 -0800

Any suggestions for drying out a flooded basement? So I wake up in my house at 6:30am after the remnants of hurricane Dennis blew
through Atlanta, and I hear a sound like a waterfall downstairs...

I ran down to the basement to find a foot of standing water, and a fountain of water in the center of the room. I leapt down and found that the hose from the sump pump (which usually keeps the basement dry) had broken, so rather than pumping the water outside, it was pumping it out into the half-basement.

So I stood there and held the broken hose while my wife fetched tools and a flashlight, and eventually figured out that I needed to pull the power plug, and cut and splice the hose. I did that, then, standing in ankle deep water, re-plugged in the sump pump, half expecting to be electrocuted. Obviously I survived, but it was a heck of a way to start the day...

So... my question...
This is a half concrete, half "dug-out" earthen basement (common in the South...), and now that the water's mostly gone, I'm left with an overwhelming "dampness." The water mainly was on the concrete section, which is real damp...

I'm blowing box fans on it, and plan to put the dehumidifier on the job, but does anyone have any further suggestions for drying out a formerly flooded basement?

Thanks in advance...

UK house rental legal advice

biffa — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 04:09:22 -0800

Friend is moving out of a flat, their is some mould/damp around parts of the flat. Landlord says its her responsibility and wants to reparations out of her deposit. Is this legit? I would have thought if anything, the landlord should have been coming in and sorting it out to ensure they weren't living in a mouldy flat. Seems dubious to me but I'm deeply supscious of landlords and their grasp on deposits. Her responsiblity or theirs? Will it have to be small claims court if they won't give the deposit back?

How do I make an old guitar smell nice?

Faze — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 06:19:37 -0800

How do I get rid of the musty smell in an old guitar that's spent a lot of time in a damp basement? (It's a pre-Beatle Hofner bass with f-holes.)

Pitfalls of buying a basement flat?

ascullion — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 12:06:00 -0800

I'm thinking about buying a new flat - but it's in the basement of a big old house. Anyone know of any pitfalls I should watch out for - and specifically, what are the tell-tale signs of damp (that even a novice would notice)?