Hello, its my first post, so please do forgive me if im asking the obvious or on a wrong subforum. I also moved to UK - where I bought a terrace - quite recently and Im not really familiar with building solutions that were common practice in the last 50 years.
i've got 2 separate damp problems in my house. House itself is end terrace, from around 1950, with cavity brick wall.
problem 1. I ve noticed a line of damp exactly in the room above ground floor, above my garden door - the lenght of the damp is exactly the same as the lenght of the door. The door has a lintel formed from the brickwork. I inspected the external wall above the door and there were some cracks in the mortar - which i repaired by removing the old mortar and adding new.
Is it possible that the damp was caused by the water going inside the cavity through the gaps, or is it rather a case of cold bridging on brick lintel or maybe a water drippin down the internal face of brick inside the wall? is it a common problem with 50' houses with a common solution?
problem 2. When I bought the house it had a fireplace which was sealed. unfortunately someone did not bother and did not provide the ventilation to the chimney shaft. Apart from this - when the day is really rainy I can see the damp patches - on the first floor on the walls where the shaft is - not much but it does not look nice - especially one patch exactly the size of a brick.
The first thing I did - I drilled some holes on the GF in the kitchen and near ceiling in the first floor and covered with plastic vent covers. - to provide ventilation inside the shaft. But I still have the patches.
Could it be the case of some of the bricks and mortar being corroded? I planned to remove the plaster where the patches are, to reveal the bricks and remove the supposedly corroded ones - is it worth the effort? I mean, do you think brick and mortar corrosion is the reason?
i've got 2 separate damp problems in my house. House itself is end terrace, from around 1950, with cavity brick wall.
problem 1. I ve noticed a line of damp exactly in the room above ground floor, above my garden door - the lenght of the damp is exactly the same as the lenght of the door. The door has a lintel formed from the brickwork. I inspected the external wall above the door and there were some cracks in the mortar - which i repaired by removing the old mortar and adding new.
Is it possible that the damp was caused by the water going inside the cavity through the gaps, or is it rather a case of cold bridging on brick lintel or maybe a water drippin down the internal face of brick inside the wall? is it a common problem with 50' houses with a common solution?
problem 2. When I bought the house it had a fireplace which was sealed. unfortunately someone did not bother and did not provide the ventilation to the chimney shaft. Apart from this - when the day is really rainy I can see the damp patches - on the first floor on the walls where the shaft is - not much but it does not look nice - especially one patch exactly the size of a brick.
The first thing I did - I drilled some holes on the GF in the kitchen and near ceiling in the first floor and covered with plastic vent covers. - to provide ventilation inside the shaft. But I still have the patches.
Could it be the case of some of the bricks and mortar being corroded? I planned to remove the plaster where the patches are, to reveal the bricks and remove the supposedly corroded ones - is it worth the effort? I mean, do you think brick and mortar corrosion is the reason?
Cavity tray? 
