This morning during my post slumber repost, whilst watching ‘Curious George’ with the offspring, a piercing scream of “B**l*cks, what is this stuff on my clothes” rang out from on high. Naturally I moved faster than a neutrino* and arrived upstairs before I’d left, to find the better half surveying clothes from her wardrobe with a grey fluffy mould on them. “There’s damp in the room” she proclaimed. Of course I immediately accepted full responsibility and proffered my lifelong apologies.
Background
The wardrobe of hers occupies a whole wall of the bedroom – probably 4m of wardrobes. My wardrobe space, on the other hand, occupies a width equal to the wavelength of light. They are fairly standard Ikea jobs that I installed 6 years ago when we moved in. They are against an outside wall of a house built in the 1910′s, ie no cavity insulation etc, and areconsequently rather cold and stuffy.
Two hours of dismantling a section of wardrobe revealed no damp, gushing pipes or Cornish water pixies. What I did discover were clothes packed so tightly that not even the tiniest wiff of air could circulate. My suggestion that maybe a cloths “cull” could be the answer was rightly met with a blow to the back of the head. An alternative solution had to be found.
Being of the geeky persuasion, I have a number of PC carcasses spaning two decades in the garage. The common element to all of them is the humble fan. A quick trip to Bodge-it and Quick, and I had myself a 70mm hole cutter and a number of vents. I’ve drilled two 70mm holes in the bottom of the wardrobes and two 70mm holes in the top. The bottom holes have been filled with the vents and the top ones have had 80mm fans placed over them to suck the air out. The 12v for these fans is being supplied from an old phone charger and is on a timer plug. The timer is set to come on for an hour a day when we are at work. Will it work?
Disclaimer
My wife is a saintly, mild mannered angel who wouldn’t hurt a fly (apparently it ruins the taste)
*otherwise known as the “Eric Pickles at a free buffet phenomenon”