DPC installation

[ed84c]

Hello

Having reduced the height of my front garden 6" in order to solve damp I have some questions on what to do next:

- Hard to tell if the DPC is still working, but either way id be happy to re do it. The inside wall is dot and dabbed, so will easier to be done from the outside - can I drill in from the outside in and then mortar over?

- I've used dryzone rods in the past for this purpose - any opinions on their efficacy? They are advertised as being both better and easier than the cream, which makes me a bit suspicious (I'd expect one or the other..)

- The couple of rows of brick where the mortar is needs repointing. It's an old house - (late 19th Century). I was advised to use lime mortar - is that suitable? I'm pretty sure the mortar is lime at the moment, but the technology may have moved forwards in the intervening 150 years.

 

[A Trowel]

What is your dpc, blue brick, slate etc ?

 

[ed84c]

Hi
If im honest i dont know for sure, what i can say:

- Its dont blue brick or slat
- The floor is concrete pad - and beneath it looks to be a plastic layer - so I assumed that..
- The walls do look like they have been injected in the past (based on the holes) but it hasnt dont much good...

 

[tel765]

Why not post pics of your troubles? Post pics of inside the house and outside.

The house floor on the other side of the wall is a solid concrete floor with a plastic membrane underneath - is that right?

Dont drill any DPC holes, and dont mortar over anything - just post pics.

 

[ed84c]

Hi
Pics attached sorry for the delay.

The inside one is the edge of the floor next to the wall adjoining next door (it is a terrace). This is what I understood of the DPC - I have a concrete slab underneath the underlay, and beneath that you can see some plastic membrane. The wall itself has injected/ rodded dpc along the lowest mortar line.

The outside picture shows the front wall result of having reduced the height of the front garden by a few inches (yes it needs repointing). I cant see any evidence of DPC on the wall itself. The inside face of this wall has been dot and dabbed.

My understanding from the survey was that the floor is protected from rising damp by the membrane, but the front wall is damp. Either it does have a working DPC and I can't see it, and was damp because outside was too high, or it doesn't have one - and in the latter case I'm inclined to inject the wall.

Thoughts welcome!

 

[tel765]

If you post pics from further back they will give a better idea of the problems?
Pics of all the walls in that room would help?


The interior pic shows the membrane under the solid floor, and the damp wall behind the skirting board.
Is this wall a party wall or an exterior wall?
I need to see the whole wall with the skirting removed.
I can see what looks like an injection hole in the wall.
Is the concrete floor damp?

The exterior is a mess:
Pics showing the whole elevation would help?
You have a door frame that needs taking out and refitting 60mm - 75mm from the outside brickwork face - with a projecting sill.
The elevation will need cleaning off back to bare brick, and raking out 20mm and repointed in lime mortar.
Perished bricks will need replacing, and because its a solid wall it will need some kind of DPC inserting from both side of the wall at the same level.

Damp plaster usually needs to be hacked back to brick, and then rendered in a 3:1 sand & lime render, and a remedial skim finish.
Dont use gypsum.

Is the linear drain working?