Diary. Week 2: The Evil Damp

How dealing with it has transformed my cooking.

They say that even at night the temperature should be 18 degrees to avoid chest problems. My bedroom is currently 11 degrees at 7am.Winter has hardly begun. I’d better get onto the waiting list for the respiratory ward now

Other rooms barely reach 13 degrees. This is because, following forthcoming government guidelines on saving energy, I turn radiators off in rooms that are not being used.  To keep all of these spaces higher than 18 degrees would triple my fuel bills And I live in a flat.

Admittedly it is in an Edwardian stone tenement with high ceilings, large windows and open fires - which are mostly blocked up now. The cost of heating this place with coal a century ago would have been eye-watering - as would have been the smoke thus generated. So I presume that people then warmed the body not the room - no doubt with woollen drawers and Harris Tweed suits.  And tobacco of course - lots of it - which wouldn’t have warmed the body but probably distracted the mind.

This flat now has double glazing of indeterminate age and a new central heating system.  And I have come to the conclusion that the real problem is not the cold - annoying thought that is - but condensation. The damp and the mould that comes with it is a silent invasion.

It has been creeping blackly up the window frames.  Spotting the ceiling in the bathroom.  Blackening the grout round the sinks. Making towels smell. There is just too much moisture in the air colliding with cold surfaces.  This is not being vented up the chimneys because they are no longer open. That is how buildings like this managed damp a century ago - with fresh air circulation. But if you open the windows here temperature plummets faster than a rock off Salisbury Crags.

I’ve been going around the place with anti mould spray and sponges which works a bit and the activity is beneficial I suppose.  But short of stopping breathing, damp is going to be a permanent problem in an under-heated house. I would estimate the temperature needs to be above 21 degrees to keep the damp at bay here in Edinburgh. That is simply not going to happen.

But there is one trick I’ve learned which has eased the problem and in the process has transformed my cooking. I read somewhere that you can cook pasta, not by boiling it in an open pan for 12 minutes, as per most recipes, but by boiling for two minutes, turning off the gas and putting on the lid then leaving it for 12 minutes or so.  Reader, it works. Nicely al dente too. Not just for pasta. I’ve being doing the same with rice, potatoes, beans, even eggs. It takes a bit of trial and error, admittedly, but well worth it.

This saves on gas. But more importantly it reduces the steam.  It’s mostly locked in by the pot lid instead of saturating the air and ending up in fetid puddles on my window sills.

Incredible. A tip that actually works and costs nothing. You read it here first.