Winter is mould season: here’s how to beat it before it appears

We’ve all been there. Scrubbing the bathroom or even bedroom walls and ceilings with sponges to try to banish mould forever…

Winter is prime time for mould growth and that’s bad news for many people with asthma and allergies. The surprising thing is that it’s not the weather to blame for this seasonal peak – it’s us! When we close the doors and windows to keep the heat in, moisture from cooking, showering, laundry and even breathing creates the perfect condition for those pesky spores to grow.

Annoyingly for people who’ve just built, or moved into a new subdivision, the problem can be even worse in new houses. Tightly fitting aluminum joinery on windows and doors don’t allow the natural ventilation (aka draughts) that old bungalows and villas do.

How home ventilation can help

HRV home ventilation is a double whammy for dealing with mould. Firstly, since it takes air from your roof cavity, that means drier and often warmer air from up there is forcing out the stale damp stuff. Less moisture is bad news for mould.

Secondly, HRV home ventilation filters the air before it enters your home. So while there might be plenty of mould spores blowing around in the Autumn breeze, hospital-grade filtration (and in some systems an additional nanofibre layer) catch a lot of the mould and other nasties that would otherwise make their way into your home, onto your walls and furniture and into the air you breathe.

Those other nasties include dust and pollen – major issues for many New Zealand homes as the equinoctial winds kick up as they do at this time of year.

Winter happens every year – but mould doesn’t have to.