Morning all
My daughter has just bought an early 20th century ( 1906-ish) semi detached house. The back yard/ garden is about 6 metres square and surfaced with brick pavers, and there's a fairly significant downward slope towards the house. The rear elevation of the house and garden walls are fully rendered, and the surface of the render has flaking paint, areas which are clearly loose and blown, and damp staining. The paving surface is literally just a couple of inches below the render in places, with potential for bridging the dampcourse.
I reckon the render predates the paving and that therefore, the paving has been fitted with no regard for bridging. My daughter had a full structural survey, and although some questions were raised by the surveyor concerning ground levels, an additional damp survey seemed to indicate that there was no rising damp. However, I think there IS rising damp behind kitchen units which are installed on the inside of the "affected" wall, because the cupboards smell damp. Could be condensation, of course.
Our long term plan is to remove the render and, if the surface of the brickwork underneath survives intact, treat it with dampseal and leave it bare. But that still leaves the problem of the paving surface being too high. I'm wondering whether creating a soakaway next to the wall would solve any issues with the dampcourse. Obviously we can remove the pavers alongside the wall without too much trouble, but how far back from the wall should a soakaway go? And how deep?
Sadly I can't provide any photos atm, but hopefully I've described the situation pretty clearly.
TIA
My daughter has just bought an early 20th century ( 1906-ish) semi detached house. The back yard/ garden is about 6 metres square and surfaced with brick pavers, and there's a fairly significant downward slope towards the house. The rear elevation of the house and garden walls are fully rendered, and the surface of the render has flaking paint, areas which are clearly loose and blown, and damp staining. The paving surface is literally just a couple of inches below the render in places, with potential for bridging the dampcourse.
I reckon the render predates the paving and that therefore, the paving has been fitted with no regard for bridging. My daughter had a full structural survey, and although some questions were raised by the surveyor concerning ground levels, an additional damp survey seemed to indicate that there was no rising damp. However, I think there IS rising damp behind kitchen units which are installed on the inside of the "affected" wall, because the cupboards smell damp. Could be condensation, of course.
Our long term plan is to remove the render and, if the surface of the brickwork underneath survives intact, treat it with dampseal and leave it bare. But that still leaves the problem of the paving surface being too high. I'm wondering whether creating a soakaway next to the wall would solve any issues with the dampcourse. Obviously we can remove the pavers alongside the wall without too much trouble, but how far back from the wall should a soakaway go? And how deep?
Sadly I can't provide any photos atm, but hopefully I've described the situation pretty clearly.
TIA
