Bridged dpc?

[mia rosario]

We have just had an extension built and have noticed that our next door neighbours have quite bad damp (albeit under their dpc) however our corner that touches theirs is now becoming damp.

Looking at the images our dpc is visible and then disappears closer to their wall. Should this be exposed? Could I chip at the mortar and expose the dpc.

Any other advice welcome, want to prevent any major problems down the road.

 

[^woody^]

Your builders have made an excellent job of making that extension look 100 years old.

DPC's should be level. I can't understand why they would build yours randomly higher. I suspect why they may have done it though.

They should have turned the DPC up or down the neighbours wall. If not you'll just have to see what happens.

Damp bricks below a DPC is not a defect, it just shows that the DPC is working. DPC does not need to be exposed.

 

[mia rosario]

Hi Woody
Our floor level is substantially higher than our neighbours, could that be why they have made the dpc higher?

I don’t know if you’re being sarcy or not re the 100 years old, have they done a good job? Why would they have done the dpc higher as you suspect?

Also, next door have 2 dpc’s as you can see.

 

[^woody^]

A photo from further back showing the two houses relative to one another (and window heads) will help to explain things and that double DPC.

You say that your floor level is substantially higher than the neighbours, and yet your DPC is just 30mm higher than one DPC and about 450mm lower than the other. And the coursing does not align for some reason, which is odd.

 

[mia rosario]

Our house is on the right our DPC is higher than both of theirs. Their floor level is around same height as their lowest DPC. Our floor level is around same height as our DPC. Before works we had built up concrete patio that was probably why they put in the higher DPC perhaps.

Do I or the builders need to do anything to stop damp coming over from next door?

 

[mia rosario]

I cant go further back for a photo as there is a fence separating so you wouldn't see anything.