Hi, wasn't sure if this should go here or in Plastering section:
My 1906 end of terrace had a side extension added in mid 1980's adding a garage and small seperate room and a bedroom above. The small ground floor room is accessible by an archway from kitchen. Now we've been in the house about 3 years and that archway has always had slight damp issues and clearly has been replastered in the past. All other ground floor rooms have had replastering and exhibet some occasional damp, mostly condensation rather than rising damp as far as I can tell.
Anyway, today I chipped away some plaster at the arch and found some wood in there, presumably between the cavity (see pics below) as well as what looks like thin stickybacked foil between plaster and the lining paper. This foil can't be letting the walls breathe can it? and I guess was done to try hide the damp at some point. Would removing 1meter of old plaster and replastering likely solve this or any other ideas?
I've had my hand in the cavity (through an airbrick hole in the garage wall a few feet behind this archway) and it never feels damp inside the cavity even when it's damp on the inside.
When the arch and other ground floor walls have been the most damp isn't necesarily when it's heavily raining, damp appears and goes overnight it seems and was very moist during recent hot (but humid) weather making me think it's lack of any ventiation in the kitchen and the humidity
View media item 49533arch through to extension
View media item 49534foil behind thick lining paper
View media item 49535bits of vertical wood behind render at each corner and in the middle although it looks like stone in this pic. The wood has a slight dampness to it. Salt crystals were found on bits of removed plaster along with the odd bubble of water. Heavily rusted nails on the skirting and the plaster bead corner edgings are all rusted at the bottom few inches/foot.
I've been told the extension was half built by a brother of the previous owners but they had a falling out and someone else finished the job. The whole extension appears, to my untrained eye, to have been built poorly although it's stable! The extension itself has no damp issues but it doesn't have any airbricks except for a gap where there's a lintel over a drain cover on the back wall/door. Sorry for the long post!
My 1906 end of terrace had a side extension added in mid 1980's adding a garage and small seperate room and a bedroom above. The small ground floor room is accessible by an archway from kitchen. Now we've been in the house about 3 years and that archway has always had slight damp issues and clearly has been replastered in the past. All other ground floor rooms have had replastering and exhibet some occasional damp, mostly condensation rather than rising damp as far as I can tell.
Anyway, today I chipped away some plaster at the arch and found some wood in there, presumably between the cavity (see pics below) as well as what looks like thin stickybacked foil between plaster and the lining paper. This foil can't be letting the walls breathe can it? and I guess was done to try hide the damp at some point. Would removing 1meter of old plaster and replastering likely solve this or any other ideas?
I've had my hand in the cavity (through an airbrick hole in the garage wall a few feet behind this archway) and it never feels damp inside the cavity even when it's damp on the inside.
When the arch and other ground floor walls have been the most damp isn't necesarily when it's heavily raining, damp appears and goes overnight it seems and was very moist during recent hot (but humid) weather making me think it's lack of any ventiation in the kitchen and the humidity
View media item 49533arch through to extension
View media item 49534foil behind thick lining paper
View media item 49535bits of vertical wood behind render at each corner and in the middle although it looks like stone in this pic. The wood has a slight dampness to it. Salt crystals were found on bits of removed plaster along with the odd bubble of water. Heavily rusted nails on the skirting and the plaster bead corner edgings are all rusted at the bottom few inches/foot.
I've been told the extension was half built by a brother of the previous owners but they had a falling out and someone else finished the job. The whole extension appears, to my untrained eye, to have been built poorly although it's stable! The extension itself has no damp issues but it doesn't have any airbricks except for a gap where there's a lintel over a drain cover on the back wall/door. Sorry for the long post!