Damp Internal Wall Opinion

[chirpychippy]

We bought our Bungalow as a project 3 years ago. The bedroom at the back corner of the Bungalow is North Easterly facing, this is the only room in the Bungalow that has damp on two internal walls.

Externally there is a path, where the path meets the garage the path is about 40mm below DPC albeit it does have a good fall.

The path itself has separated from the external brickwork and has left a continuous gap of about 10mm. I'm wondering could water be seeping into this gap and collecting then breaching the brick work below DPC? The Bungalow is Timber suspended floors the cavities are clear as far as I can fathom with plenty of airbricks, the cavities aren't filled with insulation.

We had UPVC windows put in, but without trickle vents so that may not help, but we do continuously have a dehumidifier running in the room.

Is the path the culprit, the DPC looks healthy.

 

[Alastairreid]

What's going on with the roof above the door? Is rainwater pouring onto the path from that or any other area? A gap in a concrete path below dpc should not cause damp within the building..are the cavities clear, vents etc.

 

[ree]

OP,
Its possible to retro-fit Trickle vents.
Trickle heating combined with trickle ventilation is often used where condensation is suspected.
Pics of the interior water damage might help?

Your bungalow appears to be down slope on a hillside - which suggests that you could be receiving gravity pressured ground water. Pressured ground water can move concrete paths FWIW but more important it can penetrate to the oversite below the suspended floor.

There's faint evidence of splash near the doorway area but nothing significant.

 

[foxhole]

Agree with Al , what’s the mess to side of door ? Fence panel against the wall going to encourage damp ,seems to be a ground sheet on the roof.?

 

[chirpychippy]

What's going on with the roof above the door? Is rainwater pouring onto the path from that or any other area? A gap in a concrete path below dpc should not cause damp within the building..are the cavities clear, vents etc.

Yes that's the garage roof which needs completely replacing, it is possibly that water can be spilling off of it and splashing on the path.

 

[chirpychippy]

OP,
Its possible to retro-fit Trickle vents.
Trickle heating combined with trickle ventilation is often used where condensation is suspected.
Pics of the interior water damage might help?

Your bungalow appears to be down slope on a hillside - which suggests that you could be receiving gravity pressured ground water. Pressured ground water can move concrete paths FWIW but more important it can penetrate to the oversite below the suspended floor.

There's faint evidence of splash near the doorway area but nothing significant.

I'm not confident retro fitting trickle vents as i don't know the make up of the upvc window sash, in my minds eye I'll try and drill through it and hit metal....

Interestingly the walls in question had polystyrene backed wallpaper on them when we first moved in which we removed.

The room was replasteted but in the corner internally of the external walls internally under the small window the plaster wouldn't dry, we took it off and used Zinsser in order to paint it.

Thereafter the windows were changed.

Looking round none of the new windows have trickle vents "looks like another job on my list".

This Bungalow condensates alot overnight there is atleast 4 inches of condensation on all windows everyday.

I did instal a PIV unit in the loft, but that made the Bungalow really cold, my wife works from home which wasn't pleasant for her, so that's now redundant.

And yes the Bungalow is on a downhill slop, quite a steep one.

 

[chirpychippy]

Agree with Al , what’s the mess to side of door ? Fence panel against the wall going to encourage damp ,seems to be a ground sheet on the roof.?

The garage roof is covered in a DPM sheet, the roof is knackered. That roof will get completely redone, but again it's time and money and weather.

The damp in that corner has been there since day one, it's not blocked cavities or blocked air bricks.

I think it's coming from under the floor, but why....

 

[foxhole]

Damp usually comes from above , a leaking roof will create huge damp problems.

 

[chirpychippy]

Damp usually comes from above , a leaking roof will create huge damp problems.

The garage roof doesn't leak, that is the purpose of the DPM sheet. The sheet is screwed to batten which is screwed to the fascia board underneath the guttering.

The guttering doesn't leak.

What is odd is the garage floor which is concrete is below the DPC at the front of the house but seemingly higher than the dpc at the back where we have damp issues. The garage floor is level, the ground slopes away.