DPC failed is it too high?

[kellylucinda]

Ideally all needs stripping and properly tanking before a coat of waterproof render and skim. Good luck with finding someone to do that, it's incredibly simple but people seem to be incapable of the basic attention to detail to do it properly. You need to check the wall/floor junction as the tanking may need extending across the floor a bit.

This will stop your tenants suing you for disrepair. Afterwards you can waste your time arguing with slopey shouldered damp company - (who have no liability for next door's leaky chimney) or current slum landlord owner or incoming slum landlord owner or some disinterested person at the council.

Have you really had people living in that since February? I'm surprised you haven't been on the telly.

I've got one exactly the same, that stepping is a real issue for the lower property and chimney breasts are always trouble. Society's expectations regarding damp houses have risen massively in recent years and these old houses struggle without a bit of help, especially when many people rarely heat them now.

I think I'm going to email the letting company for next door and ask them to put some vents into the chimney breast as lots of comments on here regarding this! Then either do what you have suggested or membrane the wall. I was hoping the wall was going to dry out before I had it re -plastered that why I have left it over the summer months. I explained that to the tenant and luckily it is the dining room which she doesn't really use she doesn't seem too fussed but I think she's definitely ready for it to be re- plastered now. I don't think I would be on telly as I'm trying to sort the problem out not cover it up and it's been a lot of trial and error and eliminating different things. I know I could just cover it with plastic membrane and re plaster but I actually wanted to get to the root of the problem without just covering it up. The tenant also has two lovely indoor cats that have been a nightmare weeing and mark making on the floors so I don't think she can really complain as there aren't many landlords that wouldn't loose their patience with the tenant over those kinds of things.
Thanks for your input.

 

[kellylucinda]

I expect the chimneybreast is about 4 feet wide. Can you mark its position on your wall please. Is there any corresponding pattern in the damp?

Is the floor concrete?

What height is the damp in the other room?

Where is the sink?

It looks like the damp is in a horizontal line to me when I look at the photos.
The floor is concrete and I had laminate put down around 5 years ago it was bone dry. I've felt the floor today and it still feels dry I've only been able to feel where the skirting board would have been sitting then a gap of about 2-3 cm but all felt dry to touch.
My bathroom sink isn't above that side of the room. The kitchen sink is in the small extension a few metres away.
The height in the other room do you mean the hall way which leads directly on from this wall ? Is at ground level like straight above the small skirting. If you mean the neighbours there's is from the ground going up a couple of feet. Photos of where I believe the chimney is.
Thanks

 

[JohnD]

The wet patch seems to extend beyond the chimneybreast, especially to the left.

But the drilled holes seem not to. Perhaps they indicate where it was wettest when the injection was done.

If the water source is in your neighbours house, it is likely to have made their concrete floor damp, and this will carry damp along the bottom of their wall.

Usually it would spread, but I do not have experience of a height difference.

I think you mean the kitchen sink is on the other side of the house?

Is the neighbours bathroom or kitchen near the wet patch?

 

[johnny2007]

all walls are covered in damp to about 1m high

Poster #5,
Damp can enter a chimney stack and present at ground floor level.

No, damp falls and only emerges when it can travel no further , my gutter failed , no sign of any damp till it appeared a few inches above the skirting .

Op said all walls are damp to 1m high.
Unusual for a roof leak to have such result, don't you think?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It looks like it was already there in 2021 when they house was sold.ill post both pics. Thanks

I agree with that.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think I'm going to email the letting company for next door and ask them to put some vents into the chimney breast as lots of comments on here regarding this!

The chimneys appear to be unused, so they need to have ventilated caps fitting, to allow air flow up from the bottom, plus vents in the breasts. I would also suggest, that the base of the chimney breast needs checking, for build up of debris from the chimney. Who ever cut corners, simply plaster-boarding over the breast, may well have just boarded over a mess of debris in the chimney.

 

[foxhole]

Op said all walls are damp to 1m high.
Unusual for a roof leak to have such result, don't you think?

No . Given the injection.

 

[ree]

OP,
You are best making good with lime render: a 4:1 sand and NH lime mix, & a renovating skim finish.
No injection rods or cream necessary unless thats your preference - no tanking needed.
The lime render will give you a good few years free from damp staining on the decorated surface.

 

[thomp1983]

If it was mine I'd remove brickwork from my side allowing you to see inside their chimney to identify if there is any sort of venting or build up of rubble and go from there.

 

[Nige F]

I see gas cowls

 

[Nige F]

.

 

[johnny2007]

No . Given the injection.

So, let me understand your thinking.
The roof leaks somewhere and as a consequence ALL walls on ground floor are damp at floor level for 1 metre...
And not one single spot of damp at ceiling level or higher up any wall.
Seriously?!?!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If it was mine I'd remove brickwork from my side allowing you to see inside their chimney to identify if there is any sort of venting or build up of rubble and go from there.

That was my thinking too, but I was hesitant to post it, given that the OP might be trespassing into the property next door, in doing that. Given the problem, it would be reasonable to ask for permission. The other problem is, we cannot be sure if this is a single, or cavity wall.

 

[foxhole]

So, let me understand your thinking.
The roof leaks somewhere and as a consequence ALL walls on ground floor are damp at floor level for 1 metre...
And not one single spot of damp at ceiling level or higher up any wall.
Seriously?!?!

No mention of all walls , party wall around chimney stack .

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So, let me understand your thinking.
The roof leaks somewhere and as a consequence ALL walls on ground floor are damp at floor level for 1 metre...
And not one single spot of damp at ceiling level or higher up any wall.
Seriously?!?!

I can only think of one mechanism, how that could happen...

Cavity wall, water-leak drips down the cavity, landing at the base, collecting on debris at the bottom. It would have to miss both leaves of the cavity, on the way down, otherwise there would be damp showing through the walls, at higher level - which seems quite unlikely.