Damp advice

[ripperuk]

hi guys,

Even though i have had a damp course done a couple of years ago, i have found a growing problem with a damp/dark l-shaped patch on the corner of my interior wall. After investigating, we found that the damp is possibly due to the exterior higher ground level of my neighbour's property touching my wall.

After speaking to the neighbour, even though we don't see eye to eye, I told him that his ground level is causing damp issues and although he won't pay a penny towards remedifying the problem, he has said that i'm okay to go ahead with any repairs, so long as i don't dig too far into his ground level.

I'm hoping someone can give me a suggestion as to what i can do???

I was thinking would breaking away a few inches into the corner of his ground, so that my wall has no ground touching it solve the problem?

 

[snico]

I had the same problem in my house, a wall seperating my house and my neighbours was attached to the house boundary.

The bottom brick was removed and the damp never came back...quite similar to what you have described there.

 

[peterperfection]

Put a vertical DPC membrane (6'' strip of plastic) between the garden wall and the house.
Also- check your cavities-- take a brick out and get your hand in and clear out the stuf in there.

 

[ripperuk]

thank you very much for your advice guys...i really appreciate it.

@ snico - i can take out a brick, but the problem is that is the neighbour's ground, so surely soil will come out from it when it rains?

@ peterperfection - just to clarify, how do i put dpc membrane in between? would rain water not go behind it?

I'm thinking would it be easier if i chipped away several inches of his wall, so that it only touches his side and not mine?

 

[peterperfection]

thank you very much for your advice guys...i really appreciate it.

@ snico - i can take out a brick, but the problem is that is the neighbour's ground, so surely soil will come out from it when it rains?

@ peterperfection - just to clarify, how do i put dpc membrane in between? would rain water not go behind it?

I'm thinking would it be easier if i chipped away several inches of his wall, so that it only touches his side and not mine?

NO- that wont help. You would need to separate the whole thickness of the garden wall to get any benefit.
you have to separate the wall from touching any of the 2 houses.
Seeing the wall 'buts up' to the house wall-- simply remove the vertical mortar from the end of the garden wall (where it touches the house wall) and slide in a 150mm piece of DPC membrane.
Also- Like I said- take a brick out of your outside wall- near where your wall joins his- and check that the cavity is clear of crap-- especially if it's a older house.
Also- if there is a fence on top of the wall - make sure that is not too tight against the house wall--because that can cause penetrating damp also.
Another point to consider is if you have had wall ties fitted and/or cavity insulation. The numpties who do these proceedures usually dont have a clue how to drill the wholes in the brickwork and very very often-- blow the back of the face brick off- which then falls into the cavity and causes a damp bridge to inside wall.

 

[ripperuk]

thanks very much for your help Peter. I'm going to take some photos of the outside and inside and post them back.

Cheers

 

[joe-90]

Well post them in the building forum eh?