Damp wall - water infiltration though brick (Pictures included)

[lostbread]

Hello,

This is my first post on the forum. I bought a Victorian home 2 years ago and I have done few diy jobs inside. With the first heavy rains of the season I must tackle few outside jobs as I can see water infiltration, and I need few advices.

In my living room, I have few marks of water infiltration that have been here for 1.5 years. These marks are located at around a height of 1.5-2m (tanking/water proofing was done after I bought the house, so I don’t think these are from rising damp). These marks have not evolved much in term of size so I suspect that they are due to a problem with the mortar and/or the outside bricks (I don’t have access to the outside wall for now). In the bedroom I have something similar and from the outside it looks like bad bricks and mortar as well.

I am planning to redo the mortar and to apply a sealing product on the bricks:

- To seal the brick and mortar, I am planning to apply Stormdry masonry protection cream. It is a expensive, but it looks like a good product. Do you some feedback on this? Is there a better product out there?

- For the mortar, is it worth using a waterproofer in the mix? Ideally, I would like it to dry quickly as the weather will not be great in the coming days.

- If a brick has a crack, is there any product I can use to avoid having to replace the brick?

- Once the exterior wall is redone and waterproofed. How can I fix the wall inside? Can I just dry it with a hair dryer and redo a coat of paint?

Sorry if that is too many questions and thanks for your help.

Bedroom outside:

Bedroom inside:

Living room inside:

 

[johnny2007]

Someone has already had a go at repointing and i have seen much worse without damp issues.
My question: is there a leaking gutter, downpipe or any other pipe that would splash directly in that area?
I have used Thompson water seal before and it works fine, but I can't comment on durability as it's not been even 3 years.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Take a picture further back, as it looks like a piece of timber in the first picture in the brick work which might of being used for a down pipe from the guttering. I am also saying there could be a guttering issue.

Also there is a product called Stormdry, which has good reviews.

http://www.stormdry.com/

Andy

 

[foxhole]

Timber in brickwork will allow rain thru , remove and make good, you don’t need any brick seal , it can cause more problems by trapping moisture in brickwork.

 

[johnny2007]

Timber in brickwork will allow rain thru , remove and make good, you don’t need any brick seal , it can cause more problems by trapping moisture in brickwork.

If it's true what they claim on the tins, it's waterproof, but breathable, so it shouldn't trap moisture inside the bricks.

 

[foxhole]

If it's true what they claim on the tins, it's waterproof, but breathable, so it shouldn't trap moisture inside the bricks.

Breathable means not air tight , but is water tight .

 

[lostbread]

Thanks all for your feedbacks. Here is a picture from further back. As you mentioned there is a gutter down pipe nearby but from my observation it is not splashing the wall.

 

[johnny2007]

You need to observe the guttering during rain.
It might be overflowing.
Also, as someone else said, get rid of that piece of wood and make good.

 

[johnny2007]

Breathable means not air tight , but is water tight .

And when air circulates it creates what scientists call "ventilation".
They say this phenomena dries things out, but what do they know?!?!?

 

[foxhole]

And when air circulates it creates what scientists call "ventilation".
They say this phenomena dries things out, but what do they know?!?!?

Air does not circulate thru solid brick.

 

[JohnD]

Thanks all for your feedbacks. Here is a picture from further back. As you mentioned there is a gutter down pipe nearby but from my observation it is not splashing the wall.

the damp-looking patch is directly beneath the gutter so it may well be spilling. Climb up and look inside for cracks or blockage, and id the joints are sound. Also see if the tiles are positioned to run water into it, and not broken or misplaced.

the brickwork looks as if a window or something has been bricked up in that wall. Do you know what happened?

you say that a "treatment" for "rising damp" has previously been tried, so obviously there is a long-term source of water making that wall wet. Please stand back and photograph it from ground to roof. "treatment" is usually tried to hide the water without correcting the source. Your chemical potions are the same. How close is this "rising damp" to ground level?

For your indoor photos, show them from floor to ceiling, and include something to show scale please.

 

[johnny2007]

Air does not circulate thru solid brick.

Does it not?
How can a cavity wall dry out then?
You must be one of them believing that viruses cannot pass through a bandana...

 

[foxhole]

Does it not?
How can a cavity wall dry out then?
You must be one of them believing that viruses cannot pass through a bandana...

Exterior brick is exposed to air which evaporates the moisture from the surface not from inside the brick.Modern cavity walls have vents installed to aid the process .

 

[johnny2007]

Exterior brick is exposed to air which evaporates the moisture from the surface not from inside the brick.

Silly me!
I always thought that moisture in the air would pass through permeable surfaces.
Apparently only air with 0% humidity would pass and leave behind all water content.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Andy