'Problem' cupboard...

Suggestions please folks....

In our front bedroom, there is a cupboard - a sort of airing cupboard style cupboard, but there is no boiler or water tank in there. It is one of those cupboards that is used to store stuff that we don't use all that often so we rarely go in there - indeed, in more recent weeks my desk is sat right in front of the louvred doors of this cupboard.

Now, it's never been great and it has been one of those jobs that are on the to-do list under the heading 'when we get a chance' - but, on occasion recently I have noticed that I can smell this cupboard whilst sat at my desk. So, yesterday we investigated and to be honest it is pretty terrible.

There is quite a lot of mould on the walls, so I am going to have to do something with it as a matter of urgency really, not least as I simply cannot have mould in the house with my respiratory system...

There are two causes I think, neither of which I can do much about - the first, is that it is located on what has to be the coldest corner of the entire house; if you look at the image below, it shows our street with the corner of the house where this cupboard is located highlighted - - as our house sticks out from the others, any wind/weather that blows down the street hits this corner dead on.



The second issue is ventilation - it has louvred doors, but they clearly are not sufficient and heat from the room does not get into this cupboard (indeed, often my feet will be cold whilst sat at my desk) as the radiator in our bedroom is not the biggest.

So, the only thing I can think to do is to treat the mould, scrub and then repaint with kitchen/bathroom type paint, but is there anything else I could do to improve the situation? I did toy with the idea of putting a 50w tubular heater in there just to knock the cold off a bit, but I am not convinced that it is the safest of ideas, nor would such a tiddly wee heater be man enough for the job? I do have one that I am not using, so I could try it if I could get a guard to put over it I suppose...

Thoughts, suggestions, welcomed and appreciated as always

 

We used something similar on a cupboard that just has a single skin outside wall. It was actually on a roll and normally used before covering with wallpaper.

If you did that and then removed the door the space should not get any condensation.

 

It is reasonably modern (probably 50's/60's construction), has a good thickness of loft insulation and has had cavity wall insulation installed also. The polystyrene is a good idea, however I do have to be very careful what I put up, bearing in mind I don't own it; there are rules about polystyrene in rental properties (fire related I believe) so I would need to be sure that I don't fall foul of those. Would that not lead to wallpaper being required over the the top?

It used to be called Cortina (not the car!) back in the day - I have put quite a lot of it up over the years (my dad was a decorator) but have not seen it for a while now which I wonder if that is linked to it not being suitable under certain fire regulations.

there is no cupboard big enough for that @NigelJ

 

We had great success with HG Mould Remover spray in our porch @Selleri , however we have since fitted a central heating radiator in there (just a wee one) and now it is dry as a bone. I did toy with the idea of removing the doors from this cupboard and storing them in the loft, but it would look awful to be honest.

Sadly that entire gable end of the house hasn't got a single radiator on it anywhere so that coupled with it being relatively exposed means that it is a generally cold wall.

 

There is a product called Wallrock that seems to be the replacement for Cortina, but for a couple of rolls plus adhesive it is £100! By the time it is cleaned, treated etc and then painted after that is getting on for £200 for a ruddy cupboard that purely stores general junk.

 

@Scrungee - is the only way to see the cavities to get a look inside the eaves?

I am going to have to get someone to come and take our old aerial down, so I am wondering if it would be worthwhile killing two birds with one stone.

 

I think this is about the best we can do for now - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ronseal-AM...N4D5WG5V9BA&psc=1&refRID=HPB73N4CFN4D5WG5V9BA

 

I've ordered that paint, because either way it is going to need painting and I cannot ignore it.

 

If the doors were off then you wouldn't need much insulation.

This sort of thing would be sufficient. I'm only guessing, but I don't think there's much in the way of fire risk.

Red Label Insulating lining paper

 

Thanks @shiney - that looks more like the thing. I think we need to gut the cupboard out for a start - there is stuff in there that I know for sure we do not need. I have also had an idea - I have an old laptop cooler lying around that runs basically on a USB power supply. If I stuck that to the inside of one of the doors, it should pull warm air from the room into the cupboard?

Mrs C is really not keen on having the doors off, so I doubt that is likely to happen.