Patio above DPC level - advice needed please

[DavidRoumania]

Hi ,

Could I ask a bit of advice please? We had a patio laid about 6 years ago and now we have a problem with damp along the entire extent of the inside wall. It looks very likely that the new patio was laid at a higher level than the old path, thus breaching the DPC. The Patio Installer came out when I complained and said that that it was unclear where the DPC was and it could be above the paving level, suggesting that maybe our DPC had failed instead. After he left, I decided to carry out a little investigation myself and removed a section of patio paving next to the house. As you can see in the photos, below what looks like I believe is a DPC is present at approx 50mm below the level of the new patio.

2 quick questions for those who know more than I about such things:

1) Is that grey horizontal line between the brick layers definitely a DPC in your opinion?
2) The brick layers (including the DPC) are faced by a layer of hard cement in places - is this acceptable or could this cause the DPC to be breached?

Many thanks for your help!

 

[Bonni]

Very simple, outside ground level should be 150mm/6 inch/2 bricks below DPC. Render should not bridge DPC.

So just do/follow that and problem solved.