Penetrating damp coming through two lines of brick

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Kent
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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?
 
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Water can penetrate a solid 9 inch wall if the pointing is shot and the bricks damaged.
 
what is above it? A bathroom, perhaps, with 100-year old pipes going through the wall?
 
Hi,
Above the wall is a bathroom. I have ripped up the floorboards and checked the outflow pipe from the bath and it is bone-dry. I am intrigued that a wall which seems secure albeit with minor wear to the pointing has leaked so much. One builder said that this WAS the cause and another reckoned that the damp damage was so bad that only a leak could have caused it. Can I wall lose its ability to keep water out whilst appearing to be ok? The wall is original and the house built in 1884. I am perplexed, either the damp has shot through seven inches of brickwork or I have a hidden leak! There is ample airflow in the room, so it's not condensation.
 
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how about some pictures, inside and out, showing the whole walls and any interesting details?

Also, how do you ventilate the kitchen and bathroom to prevent condensation?

Any sign of an old chimney or a lean-to roof?

Show us the gutters and downpipes too
 
I've loaded up some photos for you to perUse. I'm not sure if there is enough gaps or indeed any damage over the top of the pipe from the bath (which is NEVER used) to allow Water to seep in. The elevation of the wall can be sEen to be worn (by the damp I presume) along some of its pointing, but to me it is not damaged enough to let watEr through ... any ideas chaps?
 
i spy with my little eye waste pipes passing through the wall

I also see a downpipe and hopper

10p says one of them is leaking

have you taken the floor up yet?

there is a huge wet patch on the ceiling, I bet that didn't come from rain penetration.
 
John I've checked the outlfow pipe from the bath (which I never use) and it seems ok. The hopper appears watertight too, but is seven feet from the damp. The ceiling is bone dry - (it is a trick of the light that appears to show it being wet .... the light does not illuminate the gap above the top of the cupboard and the ceiling very well, but it is dry and when I pulled up the flooboards above the damp area - that area is dry too.) Either I have water getting directly through the wall when it rains heavily, or something leaking between the two lines of bricks!
 
could it be a leak from the supply pipes to the tap? or an old disused pipe in the wall?
 

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