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Mildew on vanished wood


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Through the winter our house has been mainly unoccupied and unheated. Now much of the loverly old stained and varnished wood has a white film of what looks like mildew over it. How should I clean this without effecting the finish of the wood.

Thanks

Diana
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We had much the same too, on the underside of shelves etc, coupled with a slight fusty smell

Wifey cleaned it off with a MILD solution of Javel, followed by wiping dry with paper towels, and some rewaxing if necessary.

I think it's down to condensation. Last time we left, we've left our new Wickes dehumidifier running on the draining board, with the tank drain led off down the sink drain. Let's see if that helps. If it does, I'll post about it after we return after Easter.

I do know that the dehu. extracted 3 FULL tanks of moisture from the property while we were there in February, most in the first two days! And it's only a 2-up, 2-down at the mo!

Alcazar

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[quote]I can't really help and have to say that I was disappointed - being initially intrigued by the title of this piece (please check it again!) I was expecting some other-wordly posting ... disappointed t...[/quote]

Hindsight is a great attribute, if only I would remember to read what I have typed before hitting send.

Diana
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[quote]We had much the same too, on the underside of shelves etc, coupled with a slight fusty smell Wifey cleaned it off with a MILD solution of Javel, followed by wiping dry with paper towels, and some re...[/quote]

We had the same problem a couple of years ago. We bought an electric dehumidifier draining into the sink to leave on when we're not there. We've since gone through two very wet winters without a problem and, whatsmore, we can even open the windows on first arrival!

 

Nick

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Alcazar has pin-pointed the explanantion, I think. If the problem persists, an opaque pale grey film just under the surface, then (if it is feasible) get back to the wood by removing the varnish, and coat instead with a  coating that permits the timber to breathe. There are a good many of these on the market.
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I agree with TU, VMC's take the water and smells out and use very little electricity, less I would think than a dehumidifier. I think most French houses have them - we are fitting two as we have a very large barn split into two areas.

Our experience is that we have a fully tiled shower room - the white tiles started to get black pitting caused by condensation which could not be got off with anything, even Javel. We fitted our VMC quickly - earlier than planned and this damage stopped and we can now have a hot shower without steaming up the room. The heating is only on for 2 hours a day now, we don't have to try to dry the air out with expensive electricity, the damp air is removed to the outside.

So many properties have loo's without windows and if I cannot see a VMC I wonder how on earth the people manage - use perfumed sprays or something ???? Yuck.

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[quote]This sounds interesting.........if I knew what a VMC is?[/quote]

Can't remember the exact French, but it's a system of extractor fans, with IIRC, one fan in a box hidden somewhere, and inlets from various rooms with an outlet on the roof?

A BIT similar to, but more refined than, a shower fan.

Alcazar

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I think the are dehumidifiers. The only time I have encountered them in the UK is in the camper-van and caravan world. People would leave them in their unused campers throughout the winter, I think modern campers and caravans are now much better made and insulated that excess moisture is no longer a problem. I think the same goes for modern houses, while they might lack the charm of our rambling piles of French stone they do have cavity wall insulation, double glasing and central heating.

Diana
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[quote]I think the are dehumidifiers. The only time I have encountered them in the UK is in the camper-van and caravan world. People would leave them in their unused campers throughout the winter, I think mo...[/quote]

Hi Diana

They are not dehumidifiers, they are simple extractor fans which run all the time. All new houses in the UK seem to have extractor fans in bathrooms and also must have extractor fans in any toilet without a window (this I think has been the rule for over 20 years) but they do not run all the time. The VMC is central extractor fan. One box with a fan in. There are outlets - we have two 5 outlet ones. Each outlet has a flexible and/or rigid hose attached which fits over a vent in the ceiling. There is one large flexible hose which is fitted so that the air extracted goes to the outside.

We have two vents in our shower room. It is large, fully tiled and North facing - it also has a concrete floor so the walls get very cold. It has no real condensation problem even in the coldest weather with the fan running and we can boost it onto high when someone is in the shower. We have one outlet above the cooker and we have two spare outlets which will go into the toilet and shower in the utility room which backs onto this shower room. The other VMC will only use three outlets in the mezzanine area.

Why this has never caught on in the UK is beyond me. Single extractor fans which come on and off with the lights are a pain. It also means you have a steady clean airflow in the house which must help those with allergies.

Hope that this helps.

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They are also great to have if you are into curry cooking and/or having friends round who smoke. The VMC in our kitchen/living room takes away all the smells overnight and we have a clean smelling room in the morning.

If you are renovating VMC components are on offer at the moment in Bricomarché. Our electrician fitted ours when the place was being rewired but they are cheap to install and run.

The other thing many French (pavilion type)houses have, which our plumber tried to flog us, is a piped system with various outlets around the house for plugging the vacuum cleaning hose into. Your dust and dirt then whizzes around the house through these hidden pipes into a large bin somewhere convenient for emptying. I didn't succumb but have any of you got one? 

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Iceni: I've been thinking of one, especially for the downstairs loo and shower room, neither of which will have a window.

However, I have questions: How are they vented? The roof ours would vent through has just been renovated, and I'm loath to disturb the work. Can it be vented through the eaves, which aren't built up to roof line yet?

How do you go on with woodburners? I'm sure that when I bought my woodburner, I was advised that an extractor fan in the kitchen was now a no-no, as it would pull fumes from the woodburner into the house?

I HOPE the above is wrong, as wifey would LOVE an extractor.

Oh and lastly, IF she CAN have an extractor in the kitchen, is there any reason why it can't vent into a chimney, unused at present, but would be lined if in use? There is a hole where the previous occupents range cooker obviously vented (wood fumes?)

Alcazar

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I can only tell you how ours works. It is also linked to the trickle vents on the windows which won't close.

Our vents in the ceiling, are only in the rooms without trickle vents or without windows like our toilet. So we have vents in our kitchen,bathroom and toilet. As these rooms pull air into them and the trickle vents in all the other rooms allow air into the house, it all very gently gets pulled through and up out through the kitchen, bathroom and toilet through the pipes and out through the roof. 

The outlet on the roof doesn't take up much space.

We have second system we fitted as we were having problems with damp in  a play room that is not quite part of the house. There are trickle vents on the window in that room, but as it isn't affected by the rest of the house's VCM we were getting damp, so we fitted one simply for that room. We have had no problems since and the VCM's are not expensive.

I would never hesitate to use the system in any house.

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[quote]Iceni: I've been thinking of one, especially for the downstairs loo and shower room, neither of which will have a window. However, I have questions: How are they vented? The roof ours would vent thro...[/quote]

Alcazar

Ours vent out via the eaves - the pipe has a cover on to stop insects coming in and that is that. The pipes are very flexible so you can squidge them where you want them, we have also used the non flexible attachments for 90 degree bends etc.

We have a woodburner and were told that unless we have a perfectly sealed room we wuld have no problems - if you have an old house it will be very far from sealed. We currently sleep in the room with the burner and VMC and have no problems - and the new fridge makes far more noise than the VMC which we no-longer hear.

I would not vent into the chimney, they are not very powerful - hence lack of noise - and I don't think the air extracted would be forced up the chimney, just stick the pipe out the eaves.

They are fairly cheap and you see them walking out the Brico's so they must be good. I was speaking to someone who was putting a 'standard' extractor into a room (Brit) - why when you can do it all with one system - five output is the smallest I think they do - they look very weird when you see them hanging in the roof area but they are supposed to hang, not sit on the floor.

Get the wife a VMC, for us it was a necessity and I am very glad we went for one.

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Di: thanks for that. How lovely to get a response with no arrogance, no finger pointing etc

We're over at Easter, so will investigate, and get one sorted for the newer (barn conversion) part of the house. Do they come with flexible trunking, or do you have to site the fan assembly, and then measure up and buy the length you need? Also, can the trunking be easily hidden?

I didn't really make myself clear re the chimney venting thing. I was thinking more along the line of a cooker hood venting into there?

Alcazar

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Alcazar

John here not Di so beware finger pointing

The 5 inlet VMC that I bought from Multitec - plumbing/electrical "trade" place - last week came in a box containing

VMC unit with 4 x 80 mm and 1 x 125 mm inlets + 125 mm exhaust

2 speed switch (always on)

ceiling grills - 2 x 80 mm + 1 x 125 mm

instruction booklet (with exploded diagram) in French

2 x 3m flexible plastic inlet hose

Other bits you may need to buy : -

More inlet hoses in plastic or alu, they seem to come only in lengths of 3m and 6m

Exhaust pipe usually alu + outside grill to keep varmints out

More ceiling grills

switch to match yr other switches

skyhooks to attach unit to handy beam (at the mo I use string but must change to wire soon)

Outlets such as Obi, Castorama sell the above plus rigid oval PVC tube for hiding in false ceilings, walls etc, converters for round to oval, the sockets to join oval tubes, 90 degree bends for the oval etc etc BUT as usual in France they don't have many of anything and rarely everything that you need. BTW Multitec claimed to have never even seen the oval tubes !!!

As we were starting from scratch with our barn conversion hiding tubes and pipes is relatively easy but you need to factor the VMC in early.

Like Di I am not sure about venting into a chimney but Punch, Val 2 etc are professionals and would know (Plato, outcast and the usual suspects will have opinions natch)

If the above has only served to confuse pls send a PM

John

not

 

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