does this sound like rising damp

[divingmoose]

Hi guys,

I posted a sometime ago and just want to pick me brains again. My Kitchen wall in our vitorian house backs onto what is the old outside toilet and storage. I have noticed the inside of this wall has the paint flaiking off around skirting board height upto 4 inches above that. The pain has gone really stretchy and just peels off. Underneath the plaster has gone strange and you can rub it and feels grainy and i can see white dust on the plaster. On the outside of this wall which is inside the outbuilding the bricks at ground level are covered in white stuff that you can rub off, is this salt? I can see the old slate between ground level bricks which i assume is the old damp proof. The inside wall was plastered only 2yrs ago by the builder who renovated the house prior to us buying. Is this rising damp or something else?
Thanks Lee

 

[divingmoose]

Just further, i have noticed that if i ever clean the patio outside the water runs into the outbuilding as the step has worn away over years and it can leak in there. Wondering if this coupled with it been a dark and not the most dry room could it be that. I have scrubed the white stuff off the exterior brick.

 

[misterhelpful]

I had a similar problem with my house. Where the outside toilet wall adjoins the main wall there was a patch of paint inside the kitchen that constantly peeled just above skirting level. This too had a white powdery surface, although the plaster was in perfect condition and always dry.

Having had a full new dampcourse just 5 years ago, I asked the company that did it to check the problem. I was told that old outbuildings usually don't have a dampcourse, (as is the case with mine) and that it was probably due to water wicking up the adjacent toilet wall and partly transferring to the main wall above DPC level.

Could this be the case with yours?

After being told this, and that there wasn't much that could be done other than having a new dampcourse in the toilet, I decided I would live with it and touch up the wall as necessary.

However, last summer, I noticed a small crack in the old stone step outside the back door which is just above DPC. Having filled this and tiled the step, the problem has so far not re-appeared - even after the harsh winter. It seems the problem was water ingress rather than rising damp.

Are there any cracks in your outbuildings that could be the cause?

I don't know if this story helps you but hopefully it will benefit someone!

 

[WabbitPoo]

What it is, is water in the brickwork.

You will find several people on here who say rising damp does not exist. I am not one of them and get it in my house in several places. Water can and does wick up old clay bricks quite well. You probably have no cavity between the wall and the outbuidling. The latter will be damp. Therefore your wall is too.

Question is, what do you wish to do about it?

You could insert a damp proofing solution eg blue bricks, injection, etc. but of the wall itself in the outbuilding is wet then you wont have stopped the problem.

In other words, you have to ascertain exactly where the water is coming from that is ending up in the bricks in your kitchen.

 

[divingmoose]

Thanks for the help, we are in the future looking at knocking the out building down and having it re built for downstairs toilet. Thus the wall in the kitchen with the flaking paint will have a doorway put in it and wondered if wheb this is done would this be ideal time to get it sorted