Damp Problem

[crazyk69]

Hi
We are after picking some brains please, we have a customer who has damp patches in her living room and bedrooms on a gable end wall, this wall is a SW facing where most of our wind and driving rain come from.
When we went to the job there was clear silicone in the perps of the bricks
We have repointed the walls and she says the walls are worse (no surprise there lol)
We have taken bricks out upstairs in the loft, the insulation is bone dry, inner leaf is dry out leaf (inner) is dry, we then took some external bricks out downstairs, (where the biggest damp patches are), the outer leaf (innerside) is saturated, the block inner leaf is dry, some insulation is wet, mostly the stuff touching the outer leaf.
The only thing myself and my bricky can come up with is the bricks are pourous and some of the wall ties have snot on them causing it to bridge, the cavity.
Can anyone else shed some ideas, we have had sovereign down etc to have a look but we are drawing blanks.
Thanks in advance.
Ian

 

[KenGMac]

The "obvious answer" is as you point out dirty wall ties, or half bricks in the cavity all leading to cold or damp bridges ?

Is the property relatively "new" that is is the cavity insulation built in or, is it retro cavity filled?

Are the damp patches, internally where the Owner has had photos or pictures on the walls ? possible condensation ?

The use of a hired in "bore-scope" will allow you [if the cvity was constructed with the insulation against the inner leaf] to see into the cavity void and make a call as to whether or not the cavity is bridged.

I am deeply suspicious of the external perps and beds being filled with clear mastic, this is indicative of a long standing problem, your customer has had advice previously, and paid for it ? but the remedy was not successful?

The modern stainless steel wall ties are a problem in that you can not locate them with a metal detector, stainless does not form a reaction to the metal detectors, so to locate the ties You are looking at a bore scope hire. Old iron / steel ties were detectable to a metal detector

I for one would be interested in any outcomes?

 

[crazyk69]

Hi Kengmac

Thanks for the reply.

The proeprty was buitl cira 1969, the insulation is a retro fill, punped in.

They do have condensation issues, but no to the pictures etc, the problem gets worse as the rain gets heavier.

Yew we believe the problem has been there as long as the proverbial shops cat, apparently the owner mentioned that they had cladding on that wall, but when he took it down there were no signs of damp, the mastic etc tells me otherwise.

We are pretty sure the ties are the issue here, but is it usual for the outer skin bricks to be that soaked through, not something we have seen before.

Thanks

Ian

 

[catlad]

take a look at Storm dry a friend of mine put that on his gable and he said it has worked.

 

[crazyk69]

Hi catlad

Yes we have looked at stormdry, but would like to eliminate the problem if possible, as we see it the only options we have are

a tank the walls on the gable end inside
b render walls
c take down walls and re build
d try the stormdry and hop

Obviously with the exception of the last very expensive so trying to get customer to agree is another thing, they want it sorted but only want to pay 99p
Will keep you informed.
Ian

 

[catlad]

you missed option E. which is slating the gable end. not an option on a 99p budget though.

 

[crazyk69]

Yes Catlad

There is that option but as you said not on a 99p budget as most are these days, have advised them to either batten out or tank, just waiting for a reply, thanks guys