Cavity wall space debris / damp

[Tcb123]

Hi everyone

I hope this is the right part of the forum!

I have a 1930s build - I have an area that is now a utility room but originally was an outside toilet, an unlike the rest of the house it has a concrete floor (under the current flooring) rather than normal suspended floor like everywhere else. The corner of this room is suffering from a hard to identify damp issue.

The pointing on this side was crumbling and I have been working to replace this (slowly!) and in doing so have removed a couple of bricks to inspect the cavity.

In doing so I noticed there was debris in the cavity that I have begun to remove (but couldn't reach much). However, I was surprised that in the cavity there was basically soil and I was able to put a 4" screwdriver all the way through the ground no problem.

My question is quite dumb I am sure, but is this normal? And if I am going to clean this muck out, how far do you go?

I cannot see a DPC because the house has a plinth around it which I believe the DPC is hidden by (slate as I have found evidence of it in the garage where a brick was removed), so I intend to remove lower bricks but want to ask about the debris before I embark on this!

Cheers

Andy

 

[^woody^]

What type of "damp"? Penetrating damp - white/yellow/brown stains or condensation damp - black mould?

But yes, cavities should be clear down to two courses of brick below the DPC.

On timber floored houses, the DPC it typically 50mm below the timber floor level or to the nearest brick joint past that distance.

If you take out a few more bricks, - say three or four courses high by two or three wide, its easier to get your hands and a pieve of timber in to scrape the cavity, and you need less of them along the wall.

 

[Tcb123]

Thanks for your reply - it is both. We have some yellow/brown stains and then with the paint going all powdery and then in some spots of black mould. But that sounds like I need to find the DPC (which would be inline more or less with the concrete level?) and indeed dig down. I had read that you shouldn't take more than 2 bricks out at a time, but you think more is ok?

cheers

 

[^woody^]

Yeah, stop reading wherever you read that.

 

[Tcb123]

Yeah, stop reading wherever you read that.

hahahaha ok