fighting the damp

[mikeh]

Once more this year we are returning to our apartment to find some walls affected by  damp. As we are first floor I have tried for years to isolate the source of these damp patches with little success - our only recourse is annual scrubbing off the mould, repair plaster work  and redecoration - is there any product available in Turkey or the UK that could be used to surpress the mould growth??

[Liz 101]

A lot of these problems tend to stem from lack of air circulation, & are particularly prevalent when people have hot showers immediately before locking up & heading for the airport. If nothing else, do you leave all internal doors open? Is there any possiblity of leaving a bathroom ventilation window open?

There are certainly products available in the UK, from the likes of B&Q, but I wouldn't know of anything here

[Jacqui Harvey]

There was a thread running about this subject in February. For your information, this is the link:
{A Link to an old CBF topic was here - no longer available}41782&SearchTerms=Damp

[tinkerman]

it's not always damp that causes these problems, its usual to find it on first and second floors also, it stems from using sea sand in the build and it's the salt content that comes through the walls, be prepared to rub down and paint every year.

[Scunner]

Also don't try to defeat damp - all attempts to seal it in or block it off will make things worse. The best thing to do is to let it slowly dissipate as water vapour, which means no special "rubber paint", no crazy paving up the outside of the wall, no "waterproof plaster" - just keep the air moving and let it make it's own controlled, natural escape. As Andy says, the water is fairly salt laden - in older houses because of the careless use of sea dredged aggregates to make concrete cheaper, but also to a degree in all cases because the water table is quite high - oh, and the sea is down the road  

[GordonA]

The sea is "up the road" where we are !!!!  :

[Anne]

Last year we fitted some small air vents below both bedroom windows and left all interior doors open.
Whilst it's not got rid completely the report from our property management was that it's better than previous years.

[c1]

does the appt below suffer as much? and when did you last repait / re seal windows?

[Crimsonpoppy]

hi

not tested out by me but a Turkish friend has told me that her cousin used Ace bleach the pink bleach - scrubbed area and painted over. no problems since.

hope it works. I'm going to try it also once the keys to my house are mine.

will double check re process and if different, i will re post

[jackstee]

You can buy Ceramic inserts in UK that are between half to one inch thick.

They are designed to be inserted in the wallys at frequent intervals. As they are pourous they enable the water/vapor to exit the walls. Work on both concrete and brick and not overly expensive.