1 Damp spot and one "salty spot"

[smullaney]

Hi there,

So you know, I am a complete novice in this area...

We have noticed a damp spot on the bedroom wall right next to the window. It stretches from about 1 metre to about 1.5 metres and from looking through the forum this height suggests rising damp. The wall is papered and the paper is lifting slightly. This is the only spot in the bedroom.

The 2nd spot is in the lounge room and it sort of looks like a growth of salt which rubbed away to expose what looks like pinkish coloured masonary (or is that plaster?). This is under a window just about the skirting board. The wall was painted.

So is all of this pointing to a large rising damp problem, two smaller problems, competely unrelated to each other.... Any suggestions would be much appreciated before I call in the "professionals".

Cheers
Stephen

 

[breezer]

looking through the forum this height suggests rising damp.

i would suggest you read the forums again, there is no such thing as rising damp (apart from a tv prog) and if you can PROVE you have RD there is a council that will pay you £££££££ for it

I only know this becasue i read the forums

 

[shaggy]

Breezer said:

there is no such thing as rising damp

so what's the purpose of a dpc then?

 

[Thermo]

What sort of a building do you live in. please give as much detail as possible ie one, two storey, flat roof, pitched, brickwork walls, rendered, age of building etc etc.

 

[HandyJon]

Rising damp does not rise up to first floor level if you do have it. It only rises about a metre max. The Lounge problem could be rising damp, but if you've got damp in a bedroom (is it the same external wall) then it could be water seeping through the wall. How old is your house? In other words do you have a cavity wall or a solid stone wall.

 

[smullaney]

Well I read the forums and the general opinion as far as I can tell is rising damp does exist

Anyway, my place is a 1900-1930 terrace house in SW London. Converted to two flats I am on the ground floor. Construction is brick. Next to the bedroom window where the damp is there does not appear to be any problems outside - no drains or anything like that. Couldn't see anything wrong with the brickwork.

The roof is a normal tiled pithed roof.

Ditto for the problem in the lounge room. However, when we bought the place there was a fountain contraption next to the lounge external wall. It was not up against the wall but next to it. I got rid of that about 2 yrs ago.

The damp (or salty looking patch) is directly below the lounge room window and the brick work around the window does not look sensational, ie there are gaps between the brick and the window frame.

Cheers.

 

[Julio]

The salty patch will be efflorescence. These are soluble salts that are contained within the materials. Once they get wet, the salts are dissolved in the moisture, as the moisture evaporates, the salts are drawn to the face and left behind. This is a sign that you have got damp in that area.

There is such thing as rising damp. The height that it will rise to depends on: 1) Porosity of the materials
2) Amount of moisture getting into the wall (plenty of water and a very porus material = higher levels of rising damp)
3) Ventilation and heat around to dry the damp out.

Youre house probably does not have a cavity wall. For damp to suddenly start appearing, it is probably something recent that is causing it. Moisture could be getting in at eaves level for example. Very difficult to tell photo would be good.

Hope this helps.