Rising damp discovered - please need advice

[ramon27]

Hello everybody,

I am new here, I am big DIY worker and want to solve this problem as well - if possible. I have recently discovered rising damp in two places in different rooms. Both right above the skirting board. From outside of the house you can see holes in mortar between bricks and some really bad repointing job. I think that might be the cause, but need someone to see and tell me if it can be something else as well. I will take pictures and post them here so you can have a look.

Please ask me whatever more you need to know about the problem, dont know what might be relevant. The DPM should be there but I could not find any signs in between the bricks from outside. Dont know how to deal with it effectivelly, dont want only treat the symptoms.

Thanks for any advice.

Martin



Thank you

 

[Johnmelad]

I have recently discovered rising damp in two places in different rooms.

Are you sure?

 

[gregers]

and yet we still use dpm and dpc in our brickwork and floors.
WHY is this????

op are you sure it rising?if you have them are your cavities blocked?so bridging your original dpc?
any other problems outside,leaking gutter/down pipes?

 

[ramon27]

Well after I have seen the videos I am quite convinced now that it is because of the missing mortar from outside, and maybe a lack on ventilation or heat as well. Because one of them is in little storage room with no heating in it and other in the corner in the kitchen near the cabinets. And I believe also behind them, cause I can smell it. But can not see it, it is blocked by the backboards. And where the damp in the storage is, exactly at the same spot on the outside wall is mortar missing between bricks. And it has only appeared recently, when was very windy and raining, bloving all the water on the walls.[/img]

 

[ramon27]

And there is nothing bridging the DPC, at least if it is above the concrete step which is all around the house. That's what I don't know for sure. And will have to check the gutters as well

 

[tony1851]

Well after I have seen the videos I am quite convinced

For heaven's sake don't fall for that 'rising-damp-is-a-myth' nonsense.

 

[ramon27]

Well after I have seen the videos I am quite convinced

For heaven's sake don't fall for that 'rising-damp-is-a-myth' nonsense.

So you think that what I have IS rising damp.....well I am open to any ideas, just let me know what you think I should do.

 

[Johnmelad]

For heaven's sake don't fall for that 'rising-damp-is-a-myth' nonsense.

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/rising-damp/
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/...a-myth-says-former-rics-chief/5204095.article
http://www.heritage-house.org/the-fraud-of-rising-damp.html
http://www.rics.org/uk/shop/The-Rising-Damp-Myth-17888.aspx
http://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Rising-Damp-in-Old-Houses-Its-just-a-myth

 

[tony1851]

Then why have we been required for many years to put damp-proof courses in our new builds?
The root cause of this myth is the injection dpc brigade, who for years have diagnosed ANY dampness simply as rising damp, and thereby offered the lucrative (but often useless) injection dpc.
In many cases, it is not rising damp, but may be condensation, or penetrating water etc.
But that does not mean rising damp does not exist - it certainly does, but maybe not quite to the extent that the cowboys would have us believe.

 

[ramon27]

For heaven's sake don't fall for that 'rising-damp-is-a-myth' nonsense.

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/rising-damp/
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/...a-myth-says-former-rics-chief/5204095.article
http://www.heritage-house.org/the-fraud-of-rising-damp.html
http://www.rics.org/uk/shop/The-Rising-Damp-Myth-17888.aspx
http://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Rising-Damp-in-Old-Houses-Its-just-a-myth[/QUOTE]

Interesting articles, thank you. I am thinking now what can really cause the damp on my walls....ot was not there in summer when it was hot 😃

I guess I will have to wait till the weather gets warmer and repoint the bricks with lime mortar to let it breathe...and will see after that. Dont think there is much I can do other than that now. I can only try better ventilation to the rooms as well and take it from there.

Thank you all for information, much appreciated.

 

[Johnmelad]

No DPC in this wall and no rising damp either

Untitled

• Johnmelad
• 8 Feb 2014
• 1

Here we see no damp below the DPC but plenty above

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• Johnmelad
• 8 Feb 2014
• 1

It is possible that rising damp does exist, (just like God) but I have not ever seen it in the past 40 years that I have been in the trade.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Then why have we been required for many years to put damp-proof courses in our new builds?

And why are they not required in Holland?

But that does not mean rising damp does not exist - it certainly does, but maybe not quite to the extent that the cowboys would have us believe.

Can you show any evidence that it does?

 

[jeds]

Then why have we been required for many years to put damp-proof courses in our new builds?
The root cause of this myth is the injection dpc brigade, who for years have diagnosed ANY dampness simply as rising damp, and thereby offered the lucrative (but often useless) injection dpc.
In many cases, it is not rising damp, but may be condensation, or penetrating water etc.
But that does not mean rising damp does not exist - it certainly does, but maybe not quite to the extent that the cowboys would have us believe.

Tony hits the nail on the head.

It’s ironic that the first thing Mike Perrott does in the video is stick a damp meter into a wall and babbles on about 100% moisture. I know his point is to illustrate that the reading is misleading (it is misleading) but the reason he gives for it being misleading (the foil) is also misleading. The fact is - and Mike should know this – an electrical resistance moisture meter cannot, in any way whatsoever, tell you anything about whether rising dampness is present in a wall. So why does he use one in the first place and why does he go on about foil which, on the scale of reasons why a resistance meter is useless, is at the very bottom.

And quoting stuff by Jeff Howell proves nothing either. Let’s face it, there have been plenty of rogues and cowboys in the business over the years and a high percentage of the work they’ve done was useless, unnecessary, overpriced and poorly carried out. So, they are a pretty easy target. Jeff saw this and started banging on about it. Another group liked the sound of it – the heritage lot. They were p*ssed off because these damp proof people don’t give a toss about old buildings, old plaster, old skirtings, old mouldings. They are quite happy to rip any old building apart to earn their dosh. They latched onto Jeff’s stuff and very quickly he spotted the big opportunity – the book. And fair play to him, he’s done pretty well out of it ever since. But the book and the income makes his work unreliable. Ask yourself a question; if Jeff realised he got some stuff wrong, got some of his experiments wrong and came up with some incorrect conclusions, what would be his incentive to publicise it?

The fact is rising damp certainly does exist. If you want evidence don’t go to a bloke with a vested interest for information, go to academic and scientific papers. Another fact is that most rising damp is harmless so never gets noticed. It’s also true that most of what might look like rising dampness is actually penetrating or bridging dampness. And it’s certainly true that much of what looks like structural dampness is actually condensation.

And as for Stephen Fry - that well known scientific researcher into rising dampness - I think I'll just leave that there.

 

[stuart45]

There is mention that rising damp does not exist in Holland, although there is a method that comes from there.
When I worked in Belgium in the 70's they were putting a DPC in the wall, although it wasn't bedded in.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The fact is rising damp certainly does exist.

So why is this wall not wet?

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• Johnmelad
• 8 Feb 2014
• 1

Surely if damp could rise up through bricks from damp ground, a wall permanently in water would be bound to be showing it?

And why don't Dutch houses suffer from it?