Eight feet off the ground (so it's not rising damp!) in my ground-floor kitchen, I have found an area of damp about a foot square. (My house was built in 1884). It is diagonally about six inches across over the top of one of the kitchen windows. There could be a small gap above the window frame outside which is allowing rain in which then worms its way through TWO lines of bricks (NOT a cavity wall) to stain the interior of my kitchen but this would involve it travelling six inches UPWARDS? Can damp RISE when travelling through brick-work instead of going down?
Two builders have attended and the pointing is definitley damaged (Its is flakey in parts and some of the bricks are damaged/worn too) and one said that this damaged pointing between the bricks would be the cause, which seemed logical to me. However the other said that there is no way that damp on the inside will be the end result as rain/damp would not be able to penetrate seven inches of brickwork and suggested that there may be a plumbing leak and that water from it is getting down between the two lines of bricks and staining the interior wall. I have searched the bathroom above and this does NOT seem to be the case and there are no damp smells either. Any clues ... can damp travel upwards or am I being daft?
Two builders have attended and the pointing is definitley damaged (Its is flakey in parts and some of the bricks are damaged/worn too) and one said that this damaged pointing between the bricks would be the cause, which seemed logical to me. However the other said that there is no way that damp on the inside will be the end result as rain/damp would not be able to penetrate seven inches of brickwork and suggested that there may be a plumbing leak and that water from it is getting down between the two lines of bricks and staining the interior wall. I have searched the bathroom above and this does NOT seem to be the case and there are no damp smells either. Any clues ... can damp travel upwards or am I being daft?