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So what's happening here? is the condensation passing up through the ceiling/loft insulation and condensing on the inside of the roof, because the roof is covered in a non-breathable membrane? And now the interior of said roof has been boarded and plastered? Would insulating the inside of...

If you want to minimise dust you could drill a few holes in it first to take some of the mass out. Grinding wheel will undoubtedly work but you'll be amazed by the dust.

Hi folks, I own the flat in the picture below (left hand one). You can just about see there there is a small air brick built into the concrete step into the building. Inside this there's a suspended timber floor leading immediately to the stairs (it's an upstairs flat). It's damp in...

Interesting. You could have cut a hole in the floor and went fishing, like those ice-fishing guys in the arctic :lol:

Not directly, but that water would evaporate, pass through the floor, and make the whole atmosphere inside the house humid. It'd be like a steam room in there. The airborne humidity would then condense on the cold surfaces, ie walls and windows. The damp proof company would then come in...

More ventilation would help, yes. Either get windows which can be left open more (ie the kind that have a 'little bit open' setting for when you're out the house), install air bricks, install extractors fans, etc. You could also consider putting a radiator near the areas affected to warm them...

What's the outside ground level like relative to the air bricks? Any chance rain is getting through them and soaking the ground under the floorboards? You basically need to figure out how the water is getting inside the building. If it was solid walls and was rendered on the outside this may...

If you leave the boards in place then when you go to jack it up you'll be effectively jacking up more than one joist at a time, as the boards will link them together. You'd have to cut several joists in order for them to have the freedom to move them, I'd imagine, so you'd be getting to the...

If the ground your building sits on was so wet that the foundations had become completely full of water by absorption, and the inner leaf of bricks was now wet because it had absorbed the water from the foundations, you'd be a well beyond the help of damp proofing... What's inside this...

So you're talking about building a new set of joists perpendicular to the old ones in order to increase the depth for more insulation, and distribute the loads when walking up there? The only trouble is by the time you add all the new joists plus the boards you may be putting quite a bit of...

I presume the attic isn't boarded? ie floor boards of some kind? If not then simply boarding it may be the first point of call, as it means that your weight is distributed over a larger number of these weak joists when you walk up there. Use tongue and groove chipboards and lay them...

I know this sounds daft but one small problem you may have is that every time you open the door the outside world will get blown in. My garage floor is level with the ground outside and you literally open the door for a minute and leaves, dust, grit, gravel etc have all leapt inwards and...

Well if you strip the floorboards and ceilings then remove some or most of noggins I don't see why you couldn't cut the joists flush with the wall using a handsaw (one by one!), jack it up from underneath with a car jack and a 2x3, and then re-hang it using a joist hanger. Are the joists...

Hold on... You've got a cavity wall? Where exactly is the damp manifesting itself? And how is it jumping over the cavity? If it's not jumping over the cavity than it's coming from inside the property in which case you need to fix a leaking pipe, condensation problem, blocked underfloor air...

Did you solve the issue with the damp? Simply replacing the old plaster with new plaster isn't going to last long if not. Good on you for going with the lime plaster though.

May be easier to cut the joists flush with the wall then use a joist hanger instead? Makes it easier to adjust them in future when it settles some more :lol:

What makes you think it will work?

I think the main thing about winter is that we make more moisture inside the house - by being it it more, and drying stuff on radiators - plus we vent less because it's too cold to have windows and doors open. Make more moisture, don't ventilate as much, end result is increased likelihood of...

Doesn't look like it needs repointing to me? There's a zillion ways of getting it out - hand tools, angle grinder, angle grinder with diamond gougey thing, hardened nail on some wheels, etc. Getting it back in isn't hard either, just need the right sized bed of mortar to cut your bit from...

Why on earth does your extractor fan head into your neighbours house? Sounds like a practical joke of some kind to me!