Damp wall, drill or leave?

[shappaeye]

We have a corner of a room which is visibly damp. Its a recently plastered and painted wall.

Its probably down to the poor render outside which will be rectified during the summer next year.

For the mean time, is there any benefit at all me drilling a few holes in the wall to release the moisture? Only an inch or so deep, not right through.

We have patched a few spots outside which have allowed rainwater in but the inner wall doesn't seem to be drying. We also have a wood burner in the same room which is on quite often.

Appreciate any input on this.

 

[Alastairreid]

Solid or cavity wall?

If the render is blown you would be better removing that as opposed to drilling the internal wall.

 

[shappaeye]

Metre thick 100 year old wall.

 

[barnettgs]

Drilling holes won't help at all as the holes are too small to let the moisture out.

It will takes many months for the wall dry out if you take the render off so now is probably the best time to take off the render to give it time to dry out before next year.

 

[eddieed]

If the wall is 100 years old did they use a cement render on the basecoat before applying the topcoat. If they used a gypsum based base coat it will just suck the moisture out of the wall hence the damp you see and will never dry out.

Knocking the external render off could have 2 effects. It could make it worse because you have exposed the bricks getting in or it could help it dry out!

If you took the wall back to brick inside did you let the wall dry out before replastering. Even on a brick thick wall we we had to have the plaster knocked off, chemical damp proof injected then left for 2 weeks while it dried out. A waterproof cement render was then applied and left to dry for a week before finally skimming.