New thoughts on an old damp issue...

Hi All,

You may have seen various posts from me about the dampness in my "new" old house...

Ive been reading another article today which says that cement render on the front of a house is the devil and can make houses look like they have other damp issues when they dont....the render is whats actually making them damp by trapping water.

Is this true? should I be knocking all the render off my house and treating whats (potentially) beneath instead of spending all my money looking at treating the damp issues with a Damp proof course etc

Discuss.... (and thank you in advance)

No, it is not true. Render does not make houses damp. Damp makes houses damp

Can't agree with that, sorry. If cement render is cracked, water gets in, and it doesn't know where to get out. As I go around to customers, I see many examples of cement render problems.

Take it off and use a lime render. That is, a render which has no cement in it at all. It is not a cure all though, nothing is permanent, and it will still need maintaining. But any water getting behind it can get out.

What age is the house?

Hi Oilman,

House is from 1880. Don't know when the render was done.

Not sure if its cement or lime based render, how would I find out?

Rob

rob4beer said:

Not sure if its cement or lime based render, how would I find out?

Rob

Click to expand...

Our house is 150 ish so roughly the same age.

Can you post a photo or two?

The way a lime worker showed me how to tell the difference was to taste it. You can find a bit of cement mortar and compare the taste. If it's the same as the render. then that's what you have.

Taste it? Have you been watching too much crocdile dundee? lol

I've got a cousin who is a plasterer i will let him sample some ;o)

Ill post a pic when I get home later on.

A house that old was probably done in lime originally and then maybe cemented over the last 40 years, thats the case with mine that was built up between 1890-1921.

Deja vu for me reading this as cement rendered walls inside and concrete floors have been the source of my damp, condensation is trapped inside as the house cant breathe and absorb damp like if it was done in lime, the house has a rubble foundation rather then stone or concrete so the concrete floor is ravaged by damp. Poor ventilation system doesnt help either.

A French drain has helped and then Im planning to strip, dry out then lime render my walls. Proper ventilation, sheeps wool insulation. Go forward by going backwards.

Ive read a few books on old houses, best two for me are:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-House-H...7721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357641034&sr=8-1

Has graphics and info to understand how damp affected old houses which have been redone in cement. Loads of other stuff too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lime-Buildi...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357641069&sr=1-1

How to use lime as cement render, whitewash etc