damp on interior wall.

[Thermo]

And so ends the bloodshed from the bunfight at the nell gwynn tearooms in torquay!

Madsey,
if you are still reading this, where abouts exactly is the wall in the house and what is on the other side of it? Whats above it and whats the construction as far as you know?
Try and give us a little bit more info to track down the possible cause and hopefully we may be able to point you in the right direction

Thermo

 

[shaggy]

...and what's below it? Perhaps a leaking water pipe?

 

[masterbuilder]

see this

______________________
Moderator

edited url to make it easier to read

 

[Thermo]

Exactly. Difficult to say without viewing the property, but houses that have been standing for a fair while usually suddenly suffer an overnight failure of the dpc or what ever else was in place to deal with the ingress of water. Quite often it is caused by something simple eg blocked gutter overflowing down the wall, blocked vents, leaking pipe, bridged cavity etc etc.
unfortunatley the standard response of many people is to rush to the yellow pages and get a company in that specializes in curing damp problems. Sometimes its easier to have a good look around and see whats causing the problem than to resort to all sorts of trickery to cure it.

As for damp meters, well they are measuring the moisture content of what the probes touch ie the interior surface , which is normally porus eg plaster and will naturally retain some of the moisture that is present in a house from cooking, washing even breathing! I remember one guy who went around disproving many instant cure companies who said there was a damp problem. He would take a core sample from the wall and could prove its exact moisture content at the centre of the wall. Funny how it was often so low that the water must have somehow jumped across from the outer skin of the wall and ended up on the inner face without going through the wall!

In short have a good look around and look for the obvious. Wonder if this is going to start another bun fight???

Thermo

 

[oilman]

Never mind that, a profile of Leonard Rossiter is on ITV1 at 6:00pm tonight. The only Rising Damp worth the name.

 

[Thermo]

yes miss jones

 

[m6m62]

I read this thread with interest as being a 'punter' (rather than a builder/tradesman) with damp in his newly purchased 1930's home, I thought I could learn something.

My last house was damp as anything. I took the (heavily embossed) wallpaper off the front room and all the plaster came with it. A local builder (family friend), came round with his meter and it went off the scale. He used an injected DPC after knocking off 1 metre of plaster all through the bottom of the house (Palace chemicals treatment). I should also add that I had an ashphalt floor layed over the original at the same time.

Anyway, 5 years after this I've just sold that house and moved. The surveyer that the buyers had hired came round and as part of the survey checked for damp. I commented that I'd had a DPC 5 years back and would be interested to know if it was still showing. He told me everything was fine - no damp.

Just a note from a satisfied customer ! (though granted, I have no building expertise whatsoever so don't flame me !!!)

Cheers,

Mark

 

[masona]

I took an interest in damp problem 11 years ago when my sister has damp problem, the Damp company came round and took 1 metre plaster off the wall along the whole length of the wall. To cut a long story short, the company went bankrupt so the job didn't get completed. I was too busy at the time to re-plaster the wall, 7 months later it's still not done ! I've then replastered the wall and she not has any damp problem since. The only difference we've done was as her house back onto the alley way was to removed all the wild overgrown flowerbed and kept it down since then, the television used to sit on a low brick wall section next to the fireplace on both side which was removed by the damp company and the television now on a TV stand. Why the problem stopped I don't know, is it because the warm television now got a air-flow and no condensation trap by airlock pocket ? Now here me thinking if the the chemical treatment went ahead, physiological thinking no more damp because of the chemical treatment. As Thermo & masterbuilder said "it very difficult to find the cause of dampness problem" and without seeing the property.
A good info from masterbuilder link and it does say "it is essential to diagnose the cause of dampness before treatment begins."
Now if you look at the picture,

If the dpc or dpm broken down then I can understand the reason for rising damp. So if the dpc & dpm is in good working order which again is very difficult to know, where else can you get damp problem ? Is it trapped condensation, no air-flow, breathing !, washing machine, double glazed keeping the moisture in and so on.
I'm please to hear masterbuilder methods works & good luck to him. If you look at the picture again and put a chemical treatment on the internal wall, surely the damp will by-pass it higher putting the damp problem somewhere else ? Is it still damp behind the chemical treatment barrier, so it's there all the time and not feel it ? I'm not looking for any argument, I'm trying to get a better understanding.
A Doctor can only guess your illness from the outside unless you have a operation to investigate the root of the problem.

 

[Thermo]

Masona,
youve got the point i was trying to make exactly. Damp doesnt just appear and cant simply be erradicated by throwing whatever chemicals at it willy nilly. Often people overlook the obvious and for the sake of taking a bit of time to look around a property and working out how the damp is breaching a houses defences, a lot of time and money can be saved. Often the solution is simple. there is no popint going to the hassle and expense of damp treatments, if the rainwater hopper is blocked and the overflowing water is causing the problem. Simply remedy the external problem first.

 

[tim00]

I'm glad that Masterbuilder came back and thanks for the link.

However:Safeguard SWS appears to be merely a cementitious mix with a few chemicals and a fancy name. It will not stand up to lateral water pressure - no brickwork will, you have to give gravity driven water somewhere to go. I also notice that SWS is applied behind the skirtings and that the internal re-plaster is brought down below the DPC. This is incorrect practice. The int. plaster should be kept above the DPC if possible or it will become contaminated and begin the whole process again of chemical salts "creeping" up the plaster.
Most damp, solid floors are better being taken up & relaid with a membrane installed -job done. Stay away from tanking floors.
I note the term "revolutionary new material". Doubtful. And after installation the co. cover themselves with caveats of not to decorate for 4-6 months or wallpaper for 12 months or longer. Weasel conditions that allow them to escape if the householder does what most will do: re-decorate.
The second coat of S&C is to be the same mix as the first coat contrary to usual rendering practice where one always goes softer ie. less cement, with the second coat mix.
As regards the other posts its back to what i suggested in the beggining: hack off and re-render, whether condensation or "rising damp" is present, and the job will be sound for many years to come if done properly and simply. Provided ,of course, that all the other investigations and precautions are taken.

 

[masona]

The int. plaster should be kept above the DPC if possible or it will become contaminated and begin the whole process again of chemical salts "creeping" up the plaster.

Interesting point here,

I have done many ripping out rotted floorboards & joists and have seen plasterer rather come in and re-plaster the wall before I put the new floor joists in saving the mess to clean up afterward, sometime I have seen plaster over the dpc !

I take it the limelite is some sort of breathable material ?

 

[madsey]

Well i never thought my little question would cause so much trouble,thanks to everyone who's put there point of view.
I would also like to add that the house has been stood for 6 months locked up with no heating on,it as no damp coarse(never has)i've gone around the house with a damp meter and it is showing damp on most walls.
The house is a mid terrace with 2 brick thick outer walls and single brick thick ajoining walls (4'')
I was going to give the outer walls dpc injection both inside and out but unsure what to do about the 1 brick thick ajoining walls (dividing walls to next door).

 

[shaggy]

As it's been empty for that long my advice is get some heating on and dry the place out, then make a decision. It's most likely condensation. The damp meter is misleading a lot of people.

 

[Thermo]

Yep i am in total agreement, house will still contain moisture from condensation, so dry it out first. Dont trust the damp meter on its own

 

[masterbuilder]

If i were u madsey, i would click on the link i gave earlier in this thread (p.3) and this includes a 20 page guide to damp which you can download (pdf format)