Battening out

[CortinaV8]

I had my hall stairs and landing plastered about a year ago and recently its started to develop a couple of hairline cracks and some damp at the bottom of the stairs by my front door.

I suspect the damp was always there, the wall was painted with an silver sort of paint or maybe a very thin foil had been applied prior to painting and I guess the plaster underneath has started to lift away from the wall.

I'm wondering if its possible to batten out the wall from downstairs to upstairs and plasterboard this out, the existing plaster finish is somewhere between 1/2 a 3/4 of an inch thick, Is it feasable to try and get a similar thickness using battens and boards?

I could hack the plaster off and redo, but i'm at a loss as to where the damp is actually coming from, it's not major, but enough to be annoying.

 

[Diyisfun]

I think you need to sort the damp out, before you worry about plastering..of course unless you are thinking of moving.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Indeed!
Find the source of the damp or ingress of water. Then tackle the plastering.
You'll only end up with the problem escalating and you won't be able to see it happen!
Could end up being a nightmare of a fix then!

 

[CortinaV8]

Checked inside the cavity, checked the roof, guttering, under the floor void inside the house, seems localised to a patch around a meter wide which is just bizzare, however i guess you guys are correct and it does need to be sorted properly.

I have considered retrofitting a DPC into this area of the wall, which may be the way to proceed.

 

[stevethespreader]

Checked inside the cavity, checked the roof, guttering, under the floor void inside the house, seems localised to a patch around a meter wide which is just bizzare, however i guess you guys are correct and it does need to be sorted properly.

I have considered retrofitting a DPC into this area of the wall, which may be the way to proceed.

try dryzone http://www.dryzone.eu/en/if you can drill holes you can use this (if its rising damp that is)
you may need only one tube, sort the damp out repair the plaster thats what i would do i can understand you wanting to board over (out of site out of mind) but thats not the way to go in my opinion anyway

 

[User]

I had a very similar problem, called a damp company, they were at a loss as to the cause, said it was probaly just some failures in the old slate dpc from when the house was built, they advised dpc injections, read on the web that they are not very effective so I done 2 3/1 sharp sand and cement with waterproof in both coats and standard skim no complex extras been a few years havn't had any probs not a dot of damp has reappeared! The above mix is solid! Not even water can get through!

 

[CortinaV8]

Me and a builder friend of mine rendered a single brick wall in a similar way a couple of years back with a waterproofer in it, seems to have kept the damp out, though that was penetrating damp.

I think you may be correct, as the damp is fairly minor it may be the correct was to proceed.