Updating post from Reddit.
Hi all, looking for a competent landlord's opinion since my partner's refuses to even attend when he says he will. This wet patch only appears when it rains/hails/snows, but the whole flat has a bigger condensation issue than I've ever seen. If you were looking at this, would you be putting a dehumidifier in or looking at the roof? Thanks
Given that it only appears when there's rain etc, it's pointing towards a structural issue.
However, we do need to know what's on the other side of that wall and ceiling - it it a roof, other room, bathroom, another house, and outside room etc etc?
It's the roof above her, there's a loft space but no means of getting up there.
I'd certainly think that someone needs to go and rule out structural issues (like the roof, and guttering) before jumping to the idea of condensation
The bottom of sloped roofs like this tend to be pretty cheap to fix.
I had a guy come and charge me £120 for replacing a bunch of cracked tiles and solving a leak much like this.
That's reassuring, even a landlord that doesn't want to fit full central heating should be able to do that!
Condensation rarely appears in a perfect square only when it rains.
But we need to know what's on the other side/above to know for sure.
Condensation can happen in a square if someone ran out of insulation or couldn't reach to get it in the corner or something.
It says rarely, not never.
The fact it's a perfect square, id say its not directly the rain, but something connected to it. However for a real opinion, need to see what's above the ceiling there and what's in the other sides of the wall
Looks like a leak from outside, have a look at the gutters around that area and have a look when it rains if water is overflowing. Could be faulty gutters or blocked gutters that needs cleaning. Could also be water ingress through cracks or maybe roof tiles.
I am a landlord, I would say my first step would be to inspect for leaks as this is the most obvious. It looks like a leak to me. But I've had situations where there was no leak even when internally it looked like one, and its bloody annoying for everyone..
Failing that however there are some ways you can have have condensation caused by rain/snow and it not be a leak.
It is a moot point as only a moron would not fix the faulty gutter, however it technically was not a "leak".
So when it rains (or snows and then defrosts) the humidity can increase insanely whilst being quite cold. The hygroscopic salt poisoned area attracts the moisture from the air and creates a damp surface. Mould forms on the damp.
The solutions are:
In the short term, wipe it off with a mould cleaner, get a compressor dehumidifer, cheap to run and can really help.
Thanks for the thorough reply. Given we've spent 6 months failing to get the guy to remove plants from the gutter, I think the 'moron' point may be underrated. We'll take these points to the letting agent, see if they can get anything done. Rent Smart Wales are involved too but so far we haven't seen them achieve anything.
Plants in the gutter will cause it to overflow, so if its local to your leak there may be salt poisoning. Or it might still be leaking. Honestly any landlord that doesn't do regular gutter inspections is asking for expense and hassle. I have taken to touring around with my binoculars when it is pissing down to find issues that are not apparent on casual inspection - i.e. gutter looks fine but when it really rains (and boy doesn't it rain in Wales) it leaks or overflows.
Have you tried your local authority, in my region we have "environmental health" at the council. They can inspect.
In fact a lot of what I have learned about these issues as a landlord came from asking environmental health myself, as I just want to solve the problems and they have buckets of experience.
Environmental health won't even answer our calls or emails. Go into the offices in person and we're told to expect a call back that never comes. Refuse to leave til we're seen and they threaten to have the police escort us out.
That’s not condensation.
That’s a leak bro
Most black mould is from not putting the heating on
It came in all at once round the flat, the heating is on near constantly. There isn't proper heating in the bedrooms, the landlord eventually gave us storage heaters that do absolutely nothing. But the biggest problem is in the warmest room in the flat.
Probably a leak - is there a shower above by any chance?
Nope, that's the corner of the roof up there. But leak is what the majority seem to think which is useful.
Looks awfully like a leak this time
Is it an external wall? Is the loft insulated? More detail needed for a decent opinion.
Yes to the first, exterior corner. There's insulation in the loft from what little we can see without proper access, but it's only on the floor not the roof itself, and not covered. I've never seen it laid out like that anywhere else.
Condensation is very likely given you already have problems with damp, I imagine with it being an external wall the moisture is setting on the coldest part of the wall. Only way to rule a leak out is to get up there and have a look when the weather poor.
I solved the damp in my house by insulating the external walls to get rid of cold spots and installed windows with vents which are always open to allow air flow. The joys of old houses.
Are you able to confirm there is definitely loft insulation above that part?
I had a perfect square of mould/condensation on the ceiling under my cold water tank because there is no insulation there. I could also "see" it with a IR thermometer. If I took temperature readings of the ceiling then that patch was 3-5C less than the properly insulated ceiling. I've also had issues where workmen or squirrels lifted up the insulation exposing parts that also became condensation/mould magnets
That said, I'd still put my money on a small leak that dripping in one place and is being corralled into a square buy the joists. But the condensation I had on my un-insulated ceiling was enough to cause water to run down the wall, so it could be that in your case too.
No, there's no proper loft access and it's right in the corner so no view that far in. We haven't heard movement up there so if rodents have got in, it's not recent. The landlord said he was going to send his son up there, but that was three cancelled visits ago. If he ever does bother to look, I'll suggest he checks the insulation in the corner.
You need to phrase it differently to get the landlord to attend. Something like "as of dd/mm/yy you have been informed in writing that there is a leak in the ceiling. As you prefer not to repair the leak and have opted for the more expensive route of repairing the ceiling when it collapses please note that I will also expect compensation for any damage to my belongings." If that doesn't get him out then report the mold to the council and they can give him a repair notice.
It's all done through an agent. The agency is pushing to get this sorted, but he's not bothering. He's cancelled 3 appointments, one this week, one last and one the week before, all to look at this. He came before that to clean up mould but is meant to be repainting, and doesn't seem to want to. He's also promised to look in the loft, but while he's not showing it's all getting worse. So far he's claimed to be ill, to be too busy to attend, and to have burned his hands. All these issues came up at almost the exact same time the day before he was due to come.
We used to have a direct way to contact him, but after he refused to hire a plumber other than his mate (who was on holiday) to fix a leak that forced us to turn the water off for 26 days, he got upset that I told him he was breaking the law and told us he wouldn't deal with anyone directly because of my "outburst".
The council have ignored every attempt to involve them. They don't reply to emails, calls are answered with a promise to return them and that never happens. Go in in person and refuse to leave without seeing someone and we're threatened with the police. Rent Smart Wales are involved, and they use the council for enforcement of repairs too so the ongoing lack of repairs makes us suspect they've had no more luck than us, but because we're not the landlord RSW won't tell us anything other than it's being investigated.
Roff leek is dirty
Picture taken by @Driveinguk
