Feature Story
Airtasker's "Where Mould Thrives" study has ranked Australia's mouldiest suburbs, with Sydney's Eastern Suburbs topping the list. But Inner West locals dealing with rising damp and structural issues might question whether the methodology captures the whole story.
We Know Mould, We Just Don't Always Pay to Fix It
Walk down any Inner West street and you'll spot the telltale signs: peeling paint on Victorian terraces, that musty smell creeping from under floorboards, bathroom fans that gave up years ago. It's just part of life in old homes, and most of us have learned to roll with it.
I learned this the hard way when I moved to the Inner West six years ago. We opened the front door after getting the keys and almost fell over at the musty smell. I had no idea what rising damp was until then, or that leaving a piece of paper in the kitchen would leave it damp just from sitting there. When we ripped out the old laundry sink, we found black mould completely covering the wall behind it. It looked like the wall had been painted black.
That first year cost us thousands in ruined belongings. But over time, we've learned: dehumidifiers, wall injections, and underfloor fans. Now I've got hygrometers around the house and know exactly when we're entering mould territory. The rain still makes me want to cry, but at least I'm prepared.
Most Inner West residents have a similar story. When mould appears, we don't post a job online or Google "mould removal services." We reach for vinegar, open the windows, run a fan, and deal with it ourselves.
What Airtasker's Study Actually Measures
Airtasker's "Where Mould Thrives" study ranks suburbs using a weighted formula: 60% climate factors (humidity, rainfall, temperature), 30% response indicators (Airtasker tasks and Google searches), and 10% structural vulnerability like wall cracks. Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Coogee, Bondi, Randwick) topped the list, probably helped by high coastal humidity scores.
Inner West suburbs like Newtown, Marrickville and Petersham do appear, but not as prominently as you'd expect given how many residents are battling mould.
Where the Weighting Might Miss Things
The study does include structural factors, but they make up just 10% of the ranking compared to 60% for climate. That weighting might not fully capture how structural problems create serious mould regardless of what's happening outside.
In the Inner West, many of our worst mould issues aren't really about outdoor humidity. They're about water sitting under century-old houses with dodgy drainage, rising damp from foundations built before anyone considered waterproofing, and terraces packed so tightly that air doesn't circulate properly.
When 60% of your score comes from outdoor conditions but only 10% from structural problems, you might miss how indoor moisture from poor drainage creates mould no matter what the weather forecast says.
What This Means
The Inner West's moderate ranking doesn't necessarily mean we've got less mould. It may mean we're dealing with different types of mould problems - ones driven more by what's under our houses than what's in the air outside.
It's possible our fix-it-ourselves approach affects those response indicators, though we don't actually have data on whether Inner West residents search or post tasks differently than other areas.
