Damp, rot and mould

It's common knowledge that the climate in Singapore is pretty hard on many materials. Food goes off, wine evaporates (or maybe that's us drinking it quickly) leather grows mould, fabrics seem to disintegrate at an astonishing speed, books get damp and even the building materials deteriorate rapidly (see Repairs post). All foods such as cereals, flour, biscuits etc have to be kept inside storage jars or tupperware boxes to keep the ants and moisture out.
  In order to combat the humid conditions inside the apartment I try and keep clothes etc aired and  have reusable dehumidifying sachets and "Hungry Hippos" in every cupboard.



..good so far





                                           pretty useless...



Hungry Hippos are disposable containers with dehumidifying substances that soak up the moisture. Every few weeks they will have become full of water and need replacing. It doesn't feel very environmentally friendly chucking them out and putting new ones in place but the reusable sachets don't seem to work very well. Air con also helps keep air circulating and dries the air but it's too expensive to have this on all the time and again is not environmentally friendly.
Earlier this week I discovered that despite these measures 2 pillows that had been in a storage bag were very musty smelling and stained with damp and had to throw them out. Now I'm worried about the sleeping bags and clothes that we don't use regularly and are packed away.
 

I've also just discovered a hole in one of the wooden planks on the balcony, it also has a very soft rotten area. Now I need to find someone to fix this, anyone know a good carpenter?






We were told that if you live in an old Black and White House you need to be prepared to spend a lot of time doing repairs and battling the effects of insects and other wildlife, well living in a 3 year old apartment is proving not to be completely trouble free either!