Trying to resolve damp and missing bricks

[Keitai]

The missing bricks aren't exactly great, but they aren't causing general dampness.
It looks like there is a dpc so that can be put on the back burner for now.
The ground level won't have been helping but, again, unlikely to be causing general dampness.

My first guess is that the flats aren't suffering dampness at all but are in fact suffering from condensation issues.
I strongly advise checking that out first?

The 1st floor flats e.g. mine don't have damp issues mostly but ground floor ones mostly do. The contractors dug out trenches and filled with pea shingle to remove the soil so close to dpc. They think this will help the damp issues

 

[foxhole]

To the right

Thanks for confirming don’t know you left from the right.

 

[jeds]

The 1st floor flats e.g. mine don't have damp issues mostly but ground floor ones mostly do. The contractors dug out trenches and filled with pea shingle to remove the soil so close to dpc. They think this will help the damp issues

There are many reasons why a building suffers dampness. Establishing that reason is a process of elimination, which should begin with the most common and most likely reason, which is condensation. Otherwise, much money could be spent on solutions that aren't relevant.

The property appears to have a dpc. If the issue was ground water, how do they reckon the 'ground water' is bypassing the dpc? Lets say the dpc might have failed; what is the likelihood of it failing along its entire length all at the same time? Not very likely really. Much more likely that it would fail in small sections, which would give rise to localised patches of dampness. Given that the 'dampness' is along the entire length of the base of the building, it doesn't look like this is a dpc issue.

It might be a cavity issue? i.e. the cavity might be full of snots and debris. Again though, that is more likely to cause localised patches rather than entire length. So, not top of the list but keep it in mind just in case.

It might be a problem with the floor perimeter dpm? But if that was the issue, the problem wouldn't be just the wall, it would be the floor as well. So, again, keep in mind but not top of the list at the moment.

So, what might cause dampness along the entire base of a building, rather than localised spots? Where a building is connected to the ground, the structure will be a lower temperature, due to heat being conducted away into the ground. Also, natural ventilation currents in the room are vastly reduced at corners, wall/wall junctions and, especially, floor/wall junctions. So, you have reduced air currents and a wall/floor junction where the structure is colder than the ambient temperature. That is a perfect recipe for condensation, and that is the most likely cause of the problems.

Condensation is relatively easy to establish and can, sometimes, be relatively easy to control. So it makes sense to investigate and rule it out first. If condensation is ruled out 100% then you would revert back to the other possible issues.