DAMP PROOF COURSE BREAKING DOWN

[surreygirl]

I had a DPC put in about 20 years ago and now damp seems to be coming up over the top of it!! the plaster on one wall is bubbly and in the bathroom a patch of what appears to be salts. I have had at least 5 dpc experts in and some say I need a full DPC and others say it is not bad and is really only cosmetic. Some have found damp in the bathroom and kitchen whilst others have not!

No idea where to go from here reading the rising damp rarely occurs. The building is Victorian and so I presume there was a slate DPC originally. One of the companies suggested a membrane which appeals to me as all the old plaster will have to be hacked off and some companies are charging £13,000 and others £7,000 but do I really need a DPC in the first place or should I just re-plaster the whole area with an approprite damp proof plaster!

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[jeds]

I would hold off spending any money for the time being. Probably just the excessive amount of rain we've had. All victorian houses absorb water and rely on a balanced amount of dry sunny weather to allow that water to evaporate off. The crap weather has just tipped your house out of equilibrium. When the sun comes out and the temps raise to a lovely summers 25° over August, September and October it will all return to normal.

 

[Nige F]

in the bathroom a patch of what appears to be salts.

:

Are you near Epsom - that`ll explain the salts .

 

[surreygirl]

I would hold off spending any money for the time being. Probably just the excessive amount of rain we've had. All victorian houses absorb water and rely on a balanced amount of dry sunny weather to allow that water to evaporate off. The crap weather has just tipped your house out of equilibrium. When the sun comes out and the temps raise to a lovely summers 25° over August, September and October it will all return to normal.

True John but I had in a damp proof company 10 months ago who said it had rising damp and one about four years ago but he found no evidence of damp in the kitchen and bathroom!