Mould vs a Leak

Mould in a Durban bathroom can be steam that never left the room. It can also be a leak that is still feeding the paint. ManjeProp treats a new brown stain, a soft wall or a blister that returns after wiping as a water problem until a person has looked. We treat a light film on grout after a year of closed windows as care and ventilation — unless the incoming photos say otherwise.

This is how to report what you see without pretending to be a damp surveyor.

Look at the water story, not the colour first

Ask, from the floor:

Is anything wet now
Is there a tide mark, a blister, or a stain that grows
Is the mark under a bathroom, a geyser, a roof valley, or only on the window reveal
Does the wall feel cold and soft
Did this appear after a storm, a blocked waste, or a tap that ran

If the ceiling is bowing or water is at a light, stop decorating the theory. Leave the room if you need to, do not open electrical covers, phone +27 60 313 6961, and mark Emergency on Report a fault.

What is often a leak

A stain that spreads week by week. Paint that bubbles from a point. Mould in a bedroom that has no shower, especially on a ceiling under another wet room. A skirting that crumbles. A musty smell in a cupboard against an outside wall after rain. An overflow that has been dripping onto a ledge.

Those need a ticket even if the surface looks “only mouldy.” Painting over them is how turnovers fail.

What is often occupancy and ventilation

A thin film on silicone in a busy shared shower, incoming photos already showing the same corner, a room where the extractor has been off and the window stays closed through a humid January. Wipe, ventilate, and still report a dead extractor — that is a fitting.

If the extractor is dead, say so. A bathroom without extraction in this climate will grow a problem even without a burst pipe.

Photos that help us choose a trade

Wide shot of the whole wall or ceiling. Close shot of the worst point. A shot of the room above or the outside wall if you can take it safely from the ground. A shot of the incoming inspection photo if you have it, so we can see change.

Include a date context in the text: “not on February incoming set.” Do not wipe the only wet evidence before the picture unless someone will slip.

Do not photograph a housemate’s skin as “proof of mould.” Describe health concerns in a sentence and see a clinician if you need medical advice. We are a property desk.

What not to do

Do not bleach a live drip and call it closed. Do not paint. Do not open a ceiling. Do not run a heater into a socket on a wet wall. Do not start a legal novel on the ticket. Send the pictures.

Tenants are not expected to diagnose rising damp versus a shower leak. Staff will look, and a contractor will look if the ticket justifies it.

Deposit and turnover

Outgoing mould that is on the incoming set is not new damage. New mould on a wall that was clean in February needs a cause. If we failed to attend a leak ticket, that is our repair history, not a decoration invoice for the tenant. If a tenant never opened a window and the extractor was working, house care will be part of the conversation — with photos, not insults.

Never hide damp with a turnover paint. The next article in this set exists because people try.

Shared bathrooms make this worse

Five showers and a dead extractor will grow a film even without a burst pipe. Report the extractor. Wipe what is only film. If the ceiling above the shower is brown and growing, that is no longer “bathroom mould.” That is water.

Do not run a competition about who showers too long on the ticket. Times and a photo of the stain are enough.

Viewers

Smell the corner behind the door. Look at the ceiling under the upstairs bath. If you see a fresh stain, ask whether there is an open ticket. Put it on the enquiry form.

If a room was just painted and still smells wet, believe the smell. Turnover paint over damp is a separate failure. We would rather delay a let.

Mould is a surface. A leak is a cause. Report the wet, the stain and the extractor. We will decide the trade.

Report a fault · +27 60 313 6961