luvwelly

Article in today's Dominion Post likening NZ's damp and mould levels in the housing stock to levels found in Palestinian Refugee Camps...makes you think???
It also highlights the ignorance level about the mould and damp contributing to NZ's exceptionally high asthma rate.
One word to anyone not here yet: central heating, central heating, central heating.

dreamfish

not sure how to begin my reply here. of course i havent experienced a winter here so maybe not in a position to comment.

BUT newspaper articles are meant to be damning - thats what helps the newspaper sell.

And a comment like this I feel is bit of an over generalisation.

Would I be wrong in assuming that the better quality housing (for instance in areas of better standards of living) are of a better build, have been looked after and maintained and as such will not experience these levels of mould and damp to the extent the article suggests. As a rule the better quality housing are in the more desirable areas, with sun?

Now the areas that are less desirable, are poorer areas, have poorly maintained houses and are GENERALLY situated in the the valleys, damper areas. (i can only comment on wellington as thats all i know). These houses dont get to see the sun all day and consequently have all these issues the article suggests.

So you see FORTUNATELY FOR US the majority of uk expats will be able to purchase a house in a better area and are unlikely to suffer these extremes of mould and damp that you suggest. And as long as we all realise that then this article is all but scaremongering.

I admit i dont have all the facts or the experience - I am just trying to apply a bit of logic to it.

I also accept the benefits of having a dehumidifier -we will be purchasing one soon. That almost contradicts what I have just said. The only mould we have in our house is in the shower because previous owner never opened her windows, so we need to strip that down. One thing i checked for was evidence of mould 'dust' collecting in the corner of the windows where you get condensation - I found nothing like that.

BEfore I came out here I had these worries (because of threads like this) that we would be living in houses knee deep in water. I just want people to know it doesnt have to be like that. Our house was surveyed and had excellent moisture tests.

Just apply a bit of common sense when you buy your house out here. Dont buy one in amongst bush, aim for one that wont be in shadow the winter months, and is north facing maximising sun.

RobClubley

Before we got the DVS and insulated the place we had black mould growing on our bedroom walls!!

lardyl

Well, we had a first weeping window morning last week.
Hohum, onward with the dehimidifier..........best $300 we have spent
Got the telecom engineer to give me a damp resistant phone point today as the one in our bedroom is rife with corrosion and its already knocked out the ADSL filter that was plugged in there!
And there again today was so sunny the kids had to be pulled off the playground in the local reserve.
That's life here in NZ though, do as Rob/others say or live with it.

donnaf

Hi Dreamfish,
unfortunately due to weping windows I was constantly cleaning mould spores from the window frames last year.
My wish list is double glazing, central heating (quoted $12000 last year) and DVS - the only way to combat it. Our humidifier was on non stop last winter and I still put it on every now and again.
Anyway, when Danny's mum leaves us her riches we will have the above !!!!Until then humidifier and cleaning the window frames is the answer

busterboy

It's the reason behind why Kiwis always smell of damp facecloths.

Batty

Just in case anyone's put off - you don't have to pay $300 for a dehumidifier - we've got two and they cost less than $200 between them - one word - Warehouse Ours are still going strong after 2.5 years.

I run ours all year round. We live in the bush so it makes sense. It's just for the bedrooms - less humidity so not so horribly sticky warm in the summer and less dampness so not so cold in the winter.
If our house warranted it, and if we were staying in this house, we'd get a heat pump. I'm forever saying to people, make sure you've got a budget for heating - even if it means more mortgage! Times they are a changing and there's no point in blaming the people who USED to own your house for your not being warm in the winter!

Bo-Jangles

You know mould isn't selective and doesn't choose just the poor areas to grow. The article certainly is not sensationalist, it is fact of life living in NZ that you HAVE to take steps to reduce condensation and moisture in your home during the winter months, unless you have double glazing and/or central heating.

We live in modern house, 8 years old, in a suburban street, North facing, run two dehumidifiers and do everything possible to keep the dampness at bay. It is a constant battle, yet, we are still prone to have mould appearing on our curtains and around the window frames, and in the shower if we leave it unchecked. If we close off any rooms, wardrobes or cupboards for a couple of weeks, the smell of dampness becomes quite obvious, the moisture is in the air permanently and any fabrics succumb to mould in absolutely no time at all.

We open windows during the day, have the extractor fan on every time we cook, run extractors in the bathroom for a good while after having a bath or shower and keep Damp Rid* in the wardrobes: http://www.mitre10.co.nz/how_to_guid...humidifier.cfm

You will start to notice the windows being wet, now that the mornings are getting cooler and we will soon have to think about putting the dehumidifiers on.

dreamfish

of course it isnt selective - what i was saying is that there are areas that are more likely to be prone to damp than others. and i havent found any evidence of damp/mould (other than the shower room) so have nothing to work with.

i havent noticed any condensation yet so i will be interested to see what happens. was looking at a dehumidifer in warehouse today - was $350 for a 20 litres and about $249 for a 12 litre. I would be interested to see what it collects (when I buy one)

Ted Logan

You'll be surprised

Bo-Jangles

Get a big one, because you'll soon tire of emptying the thing. Our's are 10 litres and I empty them both at least once a day, sometimes twice albeit that I empty somedays when it is only half full because I know it won't last the day.

Hard to imagine, but honestly if you think of the reverse, take 20 litre bottles of water from your fridge and sprinkle them on the carpets and around the every single day.

CAN2NZ

Our rental has been so draughty that we have not had to combat mould much at all. I had to wipe up in the bathroom a couple of times in 17 months.

I wonder if also living in Chch at the moment has something to do with it as we don't have much by way of humid weather.

Sort of off topic, but does anyone else wonder what it means when a commercial uses the phrase: "made for New Zealand conditions"? I always have a chuckle and a little eye rolling action. There isn't much that I can see in our place that was made for the conditions. However, our new house may fit the bill.

Genesis

Been here 3 years now. In the first 3 months I fitted euro style CH from Savona, highly, highly recommended..North Isle only alas..run by a british lad. Then we bought 5 dehumidifiers, then a log burner and now we are having double glazing fitted along with other sundry insulation. I believe in 'when in Rome' but after 45 years of living in relatively warm UK homes I need to emulate that feeling over here.

We live in a modern 1991 build, but alas it was in a bit of a state when we bought it because it was very cold and damp. Now it is dry, warmer and we have no black mould on any of the 70 odd windows we have chez 'no 6.

Most of the heating problems over here are easy to overcome, we would have had DVS but alas a flat roof with no loft space dictates otherwise.

Bo-Jangles

Mmmm, me thinks it is merely a marketing ploy so that they can justify charging top dollar for it.

lardyl

you will be suprised - our place is pretty new and quite well built with plenty of sun all year round yet the bottoms of most of the curtains have some signs of mould - just look at the bit below the windows facing onto an outside wall.
Our rumpus can get pretty damp but is liveable most of the year, inspite of it being more of a cellar, with windows a course or so above ground level.
Its a simple equation - warm moist air inside plus cold air outside and single glazing with metal frames equals moisture inside. MrsL hates leaving any windows open when we are out (and from what I can gather most insurers here will walk away if the thieving scroats get in via an insecure window) so the only way to keep it under control is to put the dehumidifier on overnight and wipe the worst off.
Yes you can pay less for the dehumidifiers, but guess what, you get what you pay for........and the real cheap warehouse stuff is not only poor quality, some of it is downright dangerous.......suppose you "takes your choice" on that one - personally I'd rather spend $100 more and not have a fire.