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I have a mould issue that I am trying to tackle. I live in a pre 1900's victorian terrace on the ground floor. Our kitchen has one problematic cupboard which is in the rear corner of the property.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed small bugs on the far rear walls of the cupboard, I went to wipe them and there were hundreds of them, I can only assume they were mould mites. I cleaned out the cupboard with a mould cleaner (bleach) and have been keeping the cupboard open, however this is not a viable solution going forward. I removed the kick boards from my kitchen unit and noticed it was wet in the rear corner so I managed to dry it and put my dehumidifier there for a couple of days.

I haven't noticed any mould since, and its not wet under the cupboard, however I want to know how I can solve this problem permanently.

See the images in the link of the kitchen: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNWEju0hl9EbgNhjlirwoRP0RUpB99NAXHQJfoJDKREUOWNtMaVSKgig_id9HEg7w?key=UXF2dlV6aThjYkxwc3I3RjFqNnlfS1JfQXhRMkNn

What you can see in the images is the kitchen cupboard backs onto the solid brick wall, its pretty dry as far as I can tell, and the temp on the wall is around 12 - 13 degrees (measured with a laser temp gauge)

The relative humidity in the cupboard is getting up to 100% with the temp around 13 degrees.

What are my options here to drop the relative humidity? How can I increase the ventilation?

Would getting a tube heater in the cupboard help drop the humidity?

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    100% humidity suggests there is a source of water. What is on the outside of the wall at that corner? Is the ground level higher than the inside floor level? Is there a drainpipe that might be leaking? Is there a clogged gutter above? On the inside, does water poured onto on the countertop run down towards that corner?
    – RedGrittyBrick
    Jan 12, 2017 at 21:12
  • The issue is the outside of the house not the cupboard, do you have pictures of that?
    – DMoore
    Jan 12, 2017 at 21:23
  • @RedGrittyBrick outside of that wall there is nothing, its higher than ground level and I have checked for cracks and there is nothing, I don't believe there is any water coming in from outside. There are no drain pipes on that side of the house either and no clogged gutters. I removed all the silicon on the countertop a few months back and redid it properly, but ill test it again to ensure no water is getting down into the cupboards.
    – Nanz
    Jan 13, 2017 at 9:15
  • @DMoore ill get a pic of the outside corner tomorrow.
    – Nanz
    Jan 13, 2017 at 9:16
  • @Nanz Is there piping along the two walls that form that corner; on any level of the structure?
    – James Olson
    Jan 13, 2017 at 13:54

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I have solved this buy purchasing a 40W Tube Heater and placing it into the back of the cupboard. It now keeps the cupboard at around 50 - 60% humidity and at a temp of about 20 deg.

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