water stain appearing on wall

[stonneway]

I have just finished painting my new study in my new (old) house. About a week after I finished, in the thunderous rain that we had in November, I noticed that a damp patch was appearing on the wall, with smaller ones dotted around it, all coming in from the south facing external wall.

They are slowly drying up now, and when they are completely dry, I want to go about fixing the issue. We have just had a full structural survey done on the house, so Im confident that there isn't anything massive amiss here, and looking at the external face of the wall, I can see a few bricks with cracks in them, and a few areas where bits of mortar are missing, all of which match up with the damp patches.

Is the easiest thing to just get some pre-made lime based mortar and just fill in the missing bits of mortar and the cracks on the bricks? There aren't any long cracks or holes, and the longest crack is just the height of a brick.

Olly

 

[Nige F]

Call the A team to have a look F.O.C if in E,Sussex .........don`t want to worry you but it might be wall ties ........could just be lumps of pug on them transfering water across cavity .........e mail is in my profile

 

[JohnD]

I got the idea it was a solid wall... how thick is it? to the nearest inch? And how old is the house?

Have you looked at the gutter above, as there should not normally be much water running down a wall.

 

[stonneway]

Theres no sign of water running down the wall itself, and it only happened that once when the rain was literally blowing horizontally against the face of the wall.

I will get my camera out later and take some photos of the patchs and the wall itself.

Shouldnt a full structural survey have shown issues with the ties? What other signs can i look for to check the ties ?

Olly

 

[JohnD]

1) tell us how thick the wall is, and how old the house

2) If more than 10" and less than (about) 80 years, look for damage to mortar in a regular pattern on the face of the wall.

 

[stonneway]

The house is from the 50's round about, certainly one of those post-war evacuation style houses that you see loads of on former council estates around the south, with sloping sides.

The wall is about 10" thick from the exterior to the interior.

I have checked for signs of water running down the wall (stains, discolouration etc) but there isnt any and the gutter is new and in good clean condition. There are bits of mortor missing/cracked, and a few house bricks are cracked, but no large cracks.

Looking at the wall from a far you can see that the mortar in certain parts of the wall (the stained part of the office wall being one of them) is clearly ... damp, not wet, but you can see its darker than the obviously dry bits.

Olly