Rising damp...

[msmsm]

Hi,

I am looking to buy a property. It is a 1930's with a slate DPC. The survey says that the walls in the front and an internal wall in the hall are damp and I noticed that they felt damp, with the wallpaper coming off, when I viewed the property. It is an empty house.

The surveyor mentioned the DPC might have failed. However, reading around it seems this is unlikely with a slate DPC. The outside ground level around the damp walls is only a cm or so below the DPC and I suspect this is the major cause so I will lower this to 150cm and see if that has an effect before trying anything else .

One thing I did notice though was that the mortar around the DPC has come away, so you can clearly see the DPC. Should i be recovering this and if so should I be using any mortar in particular. I don't want to bridge the DPC with mortar but it been open means water can easily bounce into the gap, which also seems bad?

I am not sure if the internal wall has a DPC. If not I am guessing it will need one. If it has a slate one then I am not sure where the water in this wall is coming from. It is attached to the front wall, but the dampness is all along it, albeit higher nearer the front wall. Has anyone else had this problem on an internal wall before.

The house has not been greatly touched since it was built in the 1930's so original concrete floor etc. It has had central heating added so I will check there is not a pipe near the internal wall but from memory there isn't.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Bonni]

Lower the outside ground level by a minimum 150 mm (6 inch) below DPC and that should resolve the problem.

This solves 99.9% of damp problems.

 

[bobasd]

"This solves 99.9% of damp problems." - it does not.

 

[bobasd]

OP,
why not post photos of what you've written about - photo both outside and inside. plus a pic of the front elevation?
have you carefully examined the walls in the kitchen for damp signs?

 

[msmsm]

Thanks for the replies. I will try and get some photos once I am back there. The kitchen seemed fine to me, why do you ask?

 

[Nige F]

"This solves 99.9% of damp problems." - it does not.

What % might it solve ?

 

[Nige F]

Thanks for the replies. I will try and get some photos once I am back there. The kitchen seemed fine to me, why do you ask?

there might be a 1930's pipe leaking under the floor

 

[StephenStephen]

What % might it solve ?

I thought it was 99.73652% ?

 

[Nige F]

Is that Pi....or Pi** take ? Vinndicate yourself.

 

[StephenStephen]

Is that Pi....or Pi** take ? Vinndicate yourself.

It's the exact figure taken from a 2017 survey of 3496.25 homes located in a circle with a statistically significant curvature of the radius within 12.532% of the elipsoid momentum of variance, allowing for natural selection within the S curve of the internationally agreed valience error correction protocol.

 

[StephenStephen]

...and very slightly more relevantly, I would recommend this book: The Damp House: A Guide to the Causes and Treatment of Dampness - Jonathan Hetreed

 

[Nige F]

You remind me of a Limerick " A brilliant mathematician named Hall had one hexagonal ball - the size of his tool, by the use of slide rule, was 11/32 the square root of F*** all. " And you made me

 

[Leofric]

It reminds me of a firm I used to work for who had an Italian site manager called Harry Fuctifano.

 

[bobasd]

OP,
ref your kitchen you have:
1. high ground level
2. a slate DPC that fwiw a survey said had failed
3. a damp internal wall
4. base units tight against the walls can hide damp and condensation
5. a solid 1930's kitchen floor - typically with no membrane.

all the above suggest having a close look at the kitchen.
but as long as you are wide eyed for what it is - then none of this should be a deal killer.

 

[bobasd]

"there might be a 1930's pipe leaking under the floor"
what? is that supposed to be helpful advice to the OP or some random leap at trolling or simple ignorance?