Spots appearing on interior Walls

[Lee Austin]

Hi all, over the past few months we've had spots appearing on all 4 of our bedroom walls, I'm just wondering if anybody has had similar resolved the issue? It's on the first floor, the room does suffer from high humidity and we get a lot of condensation on the windows, we've recently started using a humidifier but from what I can tell this hasn't stopped the spread of them, I've tried mould sprays etc to try bleach ir and wipe away but they don't make a difference so I'm not sure what it is? Any help is much appreciated

Thanks

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It doesn't look like the typical mould, either in location or appearance. Might something have been splashed, or something oily been on the plaster/wall before painting?

 

[Lee Austin]

Not to my knowledge, we've lived in the house a couple of years now and it's just been over the last 6 months or so it's happened, the walls were white originally when we moved in before we painted anything and there was nothing showing at the time, as you say it doesn't look like typical mould and anywhere we've had it before in the house I can bleach it and get rid of it easily enough, but this just stays visible

 

[Alec_t]

I have something very similar in the wetroom of a house I moved into last year. The spots have been there right from day one. Although they're not in the typical locations I would expect mould to occur, I'm guessing either old mould spots have been over-painted with emulsion, or (perhaps more likely) fly-spray or similar residue has reacted with the emulsion.

 

[tell80]

Are the walls Dot&Dab or solid plaster?
Are the walls solid or cavity?
Is there render on the outside?

the fact that you've got so much condensation is significant but the dots, as above, dont look like typical condensation spotting.

 

[Lee Austin]

Solid plaster, the house was built in the 30s I believe and is cavity walls, and there's no render on the outside its just brickwork.

Yes it's really strange, as I say nothing seems to get rid of it, I could probably paint over it but without knowing what the issue is, it could just start to come back through

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

A little test - does placing a warm iron (don't tell the wife) on the spots make them better or worse?

 

[Justin Passing]

Hi all, over the past few months we've had spots appearing on all 4 of our bedroom walls, I'm just wondering if anybody has had similar resolved the issue? It's on the first floor, the room does suffer from high humidity and we get a lot of condensation on the windows, we've recently started using a humidifier but from what I can tell this hasn't stopped the spread of them, I've tried mould sprays etc to try bleach ir and wipe away but they don't make a difference so I'm not sure what it is? Any help is much appreciated

Thanks

Why would you add a humidifier?
Did you mean a dehumidifier?

I've not seen anything quite like it either, including a few renters where tenants have dried clothes on the radiators and all that. Condenso goes for external corners and not internal walls.
Closest pic here , but...

If you can make it worse or better with your iron/(de)humidifier, or strong detergent or a solvent, that might tell you something.

Then look at the Zinsser range of sealants. I had a place used as a Chinese greasy spoon. It was ugh. Something Zinsser spirit based covered it all and they finished redecoration in a weekend. (Then I put the rent up.)

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If you can make it worse or better with your iron/(de)humidifier, or strong detergent or a solvent, that might tell you something.

My thinking was, that a warm dry iron placed over one of those spots, would make it disappear if it were moisture, or cause it to spread out if it were grease.

 

[Lee Austin]

Yes Justin I meant to type dehumidifier, I didn't realise that was a typo, I'll have a look with an iron tonight and feedback what effect that has, I do have some spirit based paints etc I just didn't want to paint over it and hide an issue etc that may need sorting

 

[BlueLoo]

My guess is that its simply water stains from the condensation.
The stains are high where condensation would likely be worse.
Perhaps deliberately wet the wall in a few spots and see how the paint changes. If it discolours like this over a period of time (a week?) then thats your culprit.

Wouldn't do any harm to check for any damp issues though.
If it is just water stains, use bathroom/kitchen paints next time.

Condensation shouldn't be a problem. Whatever it is you are doing in the room to cause the condensation needs to stop or the room ventilation improved.
Does the room have an airbrick or trickle vents? They should and if so, check they are not blocked.

Best of luck.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

My guess is that its simply water stains from the condensation.
The stains are high where condensation would likely be worse.
Perhaps deliberately wet the wall in a few spots and see how the paint changes. If it discolours like this over a period of time (a week?) then thats your culprit.

Condensation appears in corners, which are cooler, where air flow is less. These are random spots, so unlikely to be condensation, most likely some sort of splashing.

 

[BlueLoo]

I'll tell that to my bathroom walls next time i have a shower.....

 

[JohnD]

I think its mould colonies growing on walls that are damp with condensation. it is in the nature of bioforms to grow in spots.

When do you open the bedroom windows?

Does the bathroom have an extractor fan that works?

Do you drape wet washing anywhere inside your home?

Tape a piece of clear plastic tightly to the wall over one of the suspect areas.

in the morning, rub the wall next to the plastic, and the plastic, with two separate clean white tissues

is either damp?

If water forms on the room side of the plastic, it is condensation

if water forms on the wall side (under the plastic), the wall is damp.

 

[Justin Passing]

I assumed you'd ventilated the room by now!
It's unusual for condensation to appear equally on all four walls - at least one must be an internal wall.

Have you had any rashes, breathing/lung issues? !