Possible damp - some advice please?

[Mumof2]

I would really appreciate some opinions/advice on the following.
I live in an upside down house,bedrooms down stairs,as the house is built on a gentle slope. The house is currently being renovated and at the moment has no rainwater goods etc. On friday we had heavy sustained rain and on saturday when I went into a bedroom that is only slightly below ground level at one point(only bedroom below ground level and only room that was affected with dampness), I noticed that the floor looked quite wet. I lifted the floor tiles some were very wet underneath. Prior to the refurb we lived in the house and the room in question was actually our bedroom. We never noticed any damp, the carpet was not rotten etc.

A couple of questions,

As there are no gutters etc to take the water to drains at the moment would it be possible that the water would have seeped through the soil and found its way down to the bedroom. If this was the case it would suggest to me that the damp proof membrane which is possibly 40 years old has broken down.

I am planning on digging down the side of the house to see how far down an external memebrane goes. I was also thinking of painting the room, walls and floor with a liquid DPM, has anyone used these and of so are they any good? Would this just push the water somewhere else, ie up the walls or to come up the floor somewhere else?

Any thoughts/comments very gratefully received

Thanks

 

[flameport]

You have answered your own question.

No rainwater goods + heavy rain = water pouring into your house. Doesn't matter how good the DPM or whatever else is.

 

[Mumof2]

Have been doing a little more research and giving this a bit more thought. The house has just been re rendered, IF there were weep holes and these were rendered over could this cause the problem?. This is of course asssuming water has somehow got into the cavity. There is part of the house yet to be rerendered so I will look for weep holes, just not sure where they would be - I am assuming that they would be towards the bottom of the wall - can anyone advise please? Many thanks

 

[jeds]

What is the external ground level relative to internal? And what type of ground floor do you have - solid or suspended?

 

[Mumof2]

The external level is not above the damp proof membrane and the floor is concrete. The damp appears to be coming up through the floor. This is new and was never a problem when we were living in the house, no smell of damp/rotten carpets etc. I am considering painting the floor with a liquid dpm but am a little concerned that this may push the damp elsewhere but am hoping that once the rain water goods are back on the house, the problem may be sorted. Will also check for weep holes.

 

[jeds]

I'd get the guttering up as soon as poss and see what happens. I wouldn't recommend a floor sealer. Much better to solve the problem at source. If you need to do more then next option is a french drain to the external.