Bubbling flaking paint a sign of condensation or worse?

[meanwhileinhell]

Hi,

I hope this is the correct forum to be asking this.

I live in an end terrace and on the corners of each room at the gable wall, the paint is peeling and bubbling off. There is also some wet looking staining on the wall, which are quite low down up to about waist height. I have marked these spots in red in the diagram. This is also happening on the first floor in the front room above the living room right into the corner. In a couple of the rooms, you can see in the top corner, what looks like where water has run off the cornicing.

I think that this is caused by condensation on the colder outside walls, but I am by no means an expert. I make a point of not drying clothes on the radiators in these rooms, but the dining room gets some steam from the kitchen while cooking. We also had a damp proof course installed about 2 years ago.

Would this be likely due to condensation, or does it seem likely that the DPC has failed (obviously this isn't the case on the first floor)? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Untitled

• meanwhileinhell
• 13 Feb 2014
• 1

 

[Flyboytim]

These are typical areas where condensation occurs due to lack of air movement.

Try not to cycle your heating so that it is warm when you are in and awake, and off when you are out and asleep - rather try to maintain a constant heat at a slightly lower temperature than you are used to, only turning up the heat if it gets uncomfortably cold.

The dampness is likely to be surface deep, or only just into the plaster, but being damp it will stay cold and attract more condensation.

Ordinary desk fans on the lowest setting pointed in the general area of those corners , with the cupboard doors open will dry them out, and they will warm up to the same temperature as the rest of the room so that condensation will not continue to occur. The fans can be moved room to room to alternate time and places for this treatment.

Once the apparent damp is gone, repeat this every few days for a few hours, until the weather gets warmer and dryer.

Condensation often occurs if the walls cannot breathe, often when an impervious cement render is applied to the wall and skimmed with a gypsum plaster. In good faith this was often the treatment recommended when old dry lime plaster had blown due to age, and it was wrongly assumed that this was a damp problem, rather than just a need for renovation with the same materials as the original.

 

[meanwhileinhell]

Thanks a lot for your reply Flyboytim.

Is there anything that I could do to stop this happening in future years? Would adding a vent/airbrick somewhere help with the air movement in these corners? I guess this would still keep the corner cold, if not colder, but would help move the moisture outside?

I know that adding internal insulation would help keep the corners warmer. But while this is desirable, it is not an option for us due to the original cornicing in the rooms, cupboard in the living room, and resulting size of the alcoves.

 

[loply]

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 up, but, you'll possibly just move the problem elsewhere if you do that.

Internal insulation would help as it would mean the walls weren't cold so the moisture wouldn't condense on them, but, the moisture would still be hanging around, best to get it out if possible.

Is the house solid or cavity walls? And what's on the outside, just brick or rendering?

 

[meanwhileinhell]

Thanks for the reply loply. Yeah I would rather get rid of the moisture, rather than, like you say, just move it around.

The house has solid walls with render on the outside. I put a vent into the chimney stack on the right face in the dining room a couple years ago where the problem is (because the chimney is entirely bricked up in that room and I knew it needed vented, it wasn't installed to deal with this problem). Would a vent directly to outside about a foot above the skirting board be the ideal placement? Or would a higher placement be better?

I'll have to check my windows to see if they have that slight open setting, I know what you're talking about, my old place used to have them. If not, would retro-fitting trickle vents help, or would they be insufficient in size?

Thanks a lot!