Fitting airbricks - damp internal walls

[spannerzone]

Hi, my 1905 house suffers from some damp walls inside, as there was only 1 airbrick on the front of the house I put one at the rear and 2 on the side to aid ventilation through the cavity. It's an end of terrace. A nice draught flows through all the airbricks.

I found a slate DPM on the inner wall but not on the outer, none of the rubble I scooped out when fitting airbricks seemed particularly damp or mouldy etc so wonder if the concrete floors in all ground floor rooms are likely to be the cause of the damp?

Anyway, would it help to fit more airbricks, maybe higher up (I have a balcony which would allow easy fitting) or should I see how adding 3 airbricks goes when the next bout of rain crops up?

Any comment welcome!

thanks from this DIYnot newbie!

 

[mointainwalker]

Where are the walls damp ? At the base maybe ?

Are you a candidate for heavy condensation i.e. keep windows closed, dry clothes indoors ?

 

[spannerzone]

Where are the walls damp ? At the base maybe ?

Are you a candidate for heavy condensation i.e. keep windows closed, dry clothes indoors ?

Hi, yes the damp is from the ground up to about 2 feet..... it only appears to happen when it rains heavily for a few days at a time, like today. I noticed the walls feel a little damper today whereas they were pretty much dry over the previous weeks and throught the 'summer'

We don't dry wet clothes in the kitchen and open windows when cooking although no extrator fan in kitchen. It's a draughty old house with single glazing, draughty doors so there's lots of fresh air circulating.

I lifted the vinyl and the concrete floor doesn't feel especially damp, not sopping well but like the walls a slight dampish feel. The walls in the kitchen and have all clearly been replastered in the past as it's rougher and uneven (poor DIYer I suspect) a very sandy plaster mix with lining paper, probably done 25 years ago along with most other 'improvements' that seem to have been done.

I'm pretty sure the water is coming up throught the concrete floor at the edges but that's only a guess. I guess I might need to remove some skirting and plaster and see how the floor meets the walls?

The kitchen wall in the middle of the house has a chinmey breast, this too has clearly had some damp issues in the past so this interior wall suffers also, again I can only imagine water being soaked up through the concrete floors at the edges where it meets the walls?