Airbrick and damp, 1890s house

[jeds]

I have my doubts whether that side drain is a drain at all. I would say it's a small soakaway put in by the boiler installer to take the condensate. Check it out before you get too far into digging things up?

Hack off that hard mortar pointing and see if there is any kind of dpc in there?
That vent has nothing to do with the dampness, but what is it? Is it a blocked up pantry vent?

 

[Craig24]

I’m not sure, it’s only in the outer leaf though.

If it’s a soakaway could it not be still causing the damp?

 

[JohnD]

The guttering is very strange. It has been taken round the back of the house and looks like a downpipe has been linked into the soilpipe

I bet 50p this is because the original gulley stopped flowing. It is probably the bunged up hole where the condensate pipe goes.

Look at the neighbours houses to see what it's meant to be like.

 

[Craig24]

Looking at every other house, all the gutters follow the same route and all go into a drain under the kitchen window like mine. I’ve also dug down and the boiler condensate pipe goes into a hole full of gravel, not a drain.

I’m hoping my damp issues on that external wall will be solved once I put the boiler condensate pipe to a proper drain and lower the ground level.

I’m still clueless to the damp on my the internal walls, it’s on two separate walls I’ve found so far, on the first row of bricks (they’ve had injected dpc at some point in the past). I’ve searched outside for the original DPC also but can’t find any sign of it, it’s wet from me cleaning it. Internal floor height is about 250mm from external floor height.

 

[JohnD]

The house next to yours does not have the weird gutter. How sure are you the gutter doesn't leak?

 

[Craig24]

I’ll keep on eye on it when it rains, but I haven’t noticed it so far. Their gutter does go into the same drain under the kitchen window though. I’m not sure why the gutter has been done like that, very odd, a few others have it to.

 

[jeds]

Your neighbours have underfloor vents, which means they have suspended timber floors. Your property isn't showing visible vents, although they could be covered by paving? The floors shown in your internal photos are solid and also show a poly membrane, which would not be original.

Are all your floors the same throughout? What are they; solid or timber?

 

[JohnD]

Looking at the gulley at the back of your house, it seems to be about a foot below the paving.

It might have sunk, but the original ground level would have been about the top of the gulley, so you may need to dig out quite a lot. There is probably a DPC beneath the surface. Can you see it at the front of the house? Look under and beside the doorstep

 

[Loofah]

Unless you start lifting some of those paving stones we can't see anything else

 

[Craig24]

Your neighbours have underfloor vents, which means they have suspended timber floors. Your property isn't showing visible vents, although they could be covered by paving? The floors shown in your internal photos are solid and also show a poly membrane, which would not be original.

Are all your floors the same throughout? What are they; solid or timber?

These are my vents at the front, but when I look in then they appear to be concrete inside. It seems like the original suspended timber floor has been filled in, the whole house now has the same solid floor.

Looking at the gulley at the back of your house, it seems to be about a foot below the paving.

It might have sunk, but the original ground level would have been about the top of the gulley, so you may need to dig out quite a lot. There is probably a DPC beneath the surface. Can you see it at the front of the house? Look under and beside the doorstep

I can’t see it at the front, the photo below shows what I can see. I’m going to lift some flags at the rear tomorrow and see if I can find it

 

[jeds]

These are my vents at the front, but when I look in then they appear to be concrete inside. It seems like the original suspended timber floor has been filled in, the whole house now has the same solid floor.

Your vents at the rear aren't visible and it is not likely they were filled in with brick, so they must still be there but below slab level. That would make the ground level at the rear far too high. You should dig around the joint at the ground/wall junction and try to find a vent? When you find one, lift the nearest slab and hack out the brick jointing and try to find a dpc?

 

[JohnD]

Oh dear

I think you may have a source of water such as a plumbing leak under the house.

Have you got a water meter?

Sadly, heaping concrete over a leak makes it much harder to repair or replace.

Where in the house is that wet airbrick? Stand back and take some wider pics.

 

[Craig24]

Sorry I thought I said earlier the airbrick is wet from me cleaning it to try and find the dpc, it wasn’t wet.

Also my neighbour has told me they believe the rear was originally a solid floor, but I’ll look to see if I can find any airbricks. My neighbour doesn’t have any? I’m not sure where you can see that my neighbour has rear air bricks.

I’ll post more photos tomorrow once I dig down at the rear.

 

[jeds]

My neighbour doesn’t have any? I’m not sure where you can see that my neighbour has rear air bricks.

My mistake, you mentioned your neighbours situation and showed photos of vents - I thought the photos were views of your neighbours rear wall - showing vents?

Most Victorian properties with suspended timber floors had solid floors in the kitchen/scullery areas, but even then the underfloor ventilation was usually extended, within the concrete, to an outside vent. You also don't appear to have any vents on the recessed wall - is that a dining room? It is very unusual to have a ventilated floor with no vents at all at the rear?

You still need to see if you can find any form of dpc?

 

[Craig24]

I’ve dug down 4 courses below the internal floor level (a course below the bottom of the original air vent) and still no sign of an original DPC.

Yes the recessed wall is the dining room. I’ve lifted the flagstones in my back garden but can’t go any lower easily as there is a concrete patio beneath them

I have found that the cavity is full though, so I’ve removed a few bricks and currently clearing that out.