For the last 6 months we’ve been aware of a damp problem in our house that has probably been there for about 3 years.

6months ago the floor in part of our hall collapsed as the timbers rotted through. We’ve finally managed to save up to get it fixed by a specialist and when we opened up the floor it was minging.

There was mould and fungi of all different colours, yellow, white, black, red and it was everywhere. Stank to high heaven as well. Glad its all out of the house.

Does anyone know if this is likely to have caused respiritory problems? My kids, wife and myself seem to have had a constant chest complaint in the last 6 months. In fact looking back over the past few years, 3yrs ago I got one cold / chest illness during winter. Last year I had a few more including one during the summer when it was really wet. This winter its been like a week on and a week off and I’ve been doing much less exercise.

I’m thinking that this is probably the problem, although I’m not sure. Does anyone know if this is possibly the root or a contributing factor to the amount of illness we’ve experienced?

More than likely, The Mould is likely to be a symptom of damp conditions, the spores exist everywhere and it’s just a case of the right climate for them to multiply. Tell me a bit more about the type of house.

Yes very likely, though you may all have mild asthma which will be brought on by living in a damp environment.

Fungal damp can also cause an allergic reaction that could well contribute to breathing problems.

See your GP.

sounds like dry rot to me, if so like mtt said spores are everywhere not sure about human health problems i’m into building health you see

Its a terrace house built in 1850. Bascially the alley was blocked up and the wall between the alley and the hall was knocked down to make a double width hall. The front bit wasn’t well ventilated and has ended up in going damp. They’ve built the floor up and stacked up on bricks so the damp can’t get to the timbers any more.

I suffer from really bad hayfever and seem to be allergic to most things including dust. I’m thinking the spores are hitting my chest and setting it off. Seems that after a good ride its worse, normally have a bad chest for a couple of days and it either settles down or develops into a chest problem – green snot, sore throat, cough, headaches etc. Not been this bad before this year so thinking that as the floor has collapsed allowing the spores to get above floor level this might be it.

It perhaps doesn’t help that I work from home so spend 90% of my time in the house. I do notice that when I’m away from home on business I feel so much better.

I’d guess the damp would be more likely to cause problems than the fungus. Given that you couldn’t detect the fungus until the floor collapsed it can’t have been too pervasive inside the house before then .

did the specialist say it was dry rot, wet rot, rising damp?

The problem health wise seem to have escalated since the floor collapsed so I’m wondering if the two are related.

Right. Sounds like a damp problem caused by one or both of the following;

1) Bricks are not waterproof, they are porous, you are getting rising damp because you don’t have a DPC,

2) Old houses have a single/double skin, cavity-less exterior walls thus there is a cold bridge, the interior surface of the wall will always reflect the outside temperature although it will fluctuate less due to its mass. This temperature is generally lower than the ambient indoor temperature and thus moisture condenses on the inside of the building because of the temperature difference thus causing damp.

Solutions; Internally insulated walls, this is costly because it would require a stud work frame against the inside of the external walls, this is then packed with insulation and boarded over. Might be worth it in the long run.

Leave windows open when possible to ventilate, set thermostat to kick in at a comfortable temperature.

I can dig out the building regs regarding internal insulation if you like?

MTT – Cheers for the info – but work has been completed today to sort it, just waiting for the plasterer to do his thang.