With energy prices spiralling and everyone looking to save money, more people than ever before are turning down their heating and ditching their tumble driers. But with UK weather being changeable at best, having to dry your washing in your home could be leaving you open to mould, which can affect both health of humans and pets and cause costly-to-repair damage to walls, ceilings window sills and other areas.
We asked several air quality experts for their advice on how mould forms and what you can do to combat it. Mould in buildings is usually caused by a lack of ventilation and humidity. Fungal spores commonly float naturally in indoor and outdoor air and are breathed in, and usually for most adults this isn't a problem, although it can be dangerous for children and babies as well as people with respiratory issues or weak immune systems.
But when fungal spores settle on damp surfaces they grow into mould. This can cause allergies, chronic colds, skin irritation and aggravate asthma and eczema.
The best ways to stop mould forming in the first place is to combat the humid conditions in a home, in the simplest case by open doors and windows. Extractor fans in bathrooms and kitchens also help negate the steam generated by showers or cooking, while dehumidifiers used sparingly can also help minimise the impact.
Jenny Turner, Property Manager at Insulation Express warned that when drying wet clothes in the house moisture from the clean washing evaporates and settle onto ceilings and walls, making existing mould problems worse.
She added: "To minimise the risk of mould developing when drying wet clothes at home, always keep a window open in the room to allow excess moisture in the air to escape.
"As mould and mildew can quickly build-up on walls and ceilings, a further way to prevent this happening when skipping the tumble drier is to opt for a dehumidifier. An average sized residential humidifier can effectively remove the moisture from the air in your home and collect up to 7 litres of water over a day in a damp environment."
Electric dehumidifiers suck in the air, extract excess moisture which is collected in a water tank and then release the air back into the atmosphere. While it might seem a bit counter-intuitive to buy and run an electric item to improve your air quality and save money on drying, in the longer term it offers savings on needing to tackle mould.
The Duux Bora smart dehumidifier is app controlled and can hold up to 20 litres of moisture. It has a night mode and auto timeout, costs 13.2p per hour to run and is currently reduced by 25% on Amazon.
But if you'd rather go lower tech there are simpler and cheaper, albeit less long-lasting, options. Dehumidifying pots are available in supermarkets and retailers like B&M and The Range, which sells one for just 79p.
Alternatively you can buy a pack of five on Amazon for £7.49, although typically these kind of pots only absorb three times their weight in water, so if you're having to dry clothes indoors regularly with the windows shut you're going to need to replace them regularly.
Jenny added: "For a dehumidifying effect without the use of electricity, try a combination of open windows and plastic window dehumidifier pots which can trap and collect moisture in the air.
"These inexpensive plastic pots can help to eliminate the risk of condensation on windows which can occur from drying wet clothes inside, adding to the damp atmosphere. Another cheap trick to draw moisture away from walls and windows is to place bowls of rock salt on the window sill when drying clothes, as this will help to absorb excess moisture in the air."
If you've already got mould, Mrs Hinch devotees on Facebook recommend HG Mould Spray as the best way to tackle what's there. It's usually £4.99 a bottle, but is available at 25% off on Amazon currently with subscribe and save orders. It has an average of 4.6 stars out of five out of 23,686 positive reviews.
Francesca Brady, CEO and Co-founder of AirRated warns that people discovering mould in their homes is part of a wider debate about buildings. She said: "It's important that this is covered in the media, everyone needs a basic level of understanding of what sort of environments are unhealthy spaces for us to live and work in.
"That being said, there is a much larger issue surrounding building stock that is not-fit-for-purpose, where it will take more than changing behaviours to improve these settings."
