Hi All,
I was hoping for some impartial guidance before I spend too much money trying to rectify this!
I recently bought a Victorian mid terrace house which is in generally very good order. It has small single storey pitched roof extension - where the pitch runs perpendicular to the house and the apex is the boundry of the property (next door have the same extension)
The house has cavity walls and I dont believe cavity wall insulation has been fitted - there's no record of it but I dont know how you'd confirm otherwise.
With the recent rain being driven hard by the wind against the back of the house, a couple of damp patches have appeared on the walls downstairs. During a spell of this driven rain, there's also a small dripping leak above one of the windows.
The pointing on the back of the house isnt in the best order with a couple of cracks and holes. I know the guttering on the back, although new is very badly fitted as it's causing another issue with water leaking into the extension.
I had a general "property services" tradesman have a look and he quoted to refit the guttering properly and repair the holes/cracks in the pointing - this was before the 2 damp patches appeared.
So, assuming there isn't cavity wall insulation (the fact that the leak occurs almost immediately after driven rain and stops shortly after would back that up), what could be causing the damp patches and leak? Surely if rain was being driven through the outer bricks, it wouldnt cause damp on the inside? I could understand how it could cause a leak above a window but not the damp patches.
Given that I know the guttering is poorly fitted, could it be that water is getting into the cavity from the top of the wall? There's absolutely no signs of damp or leaks on the first floor, if that means anything! I know the guttering needs attention and repairing the pointing wont hurt - he only quoted £140 to do all of that so I'll probably get that done ASAP anyway, but wanted to make sure there was nothing else I'm missing.
Thanks in advance!
I was hoping for some impartial guidance before I spend too much money trying to rectify this!
I recently bought a Victorian mid terrace house which is in generally very good order. It has small single storey pitched roof extension - where the pitch runs perpendicular to the house and the apex is the boundry of the property (next door have the same extension)
The house has cavity walls and I dont believe cavity wall insulation has been fitted - there's no record of it but I dont know how you'd confirm otherwise.
With the recent rain being driven hard by the wind against the back of the house, a couple of damp patches have appeared on the walls downstairs. During a spell of this driven rain, there's also a small dripping leak above one of the windows.
The pointing on the back of the house isnt in the best order with a couple of cracks and holes. I know the guttering on the back, although new is very badly fitted as it's causing another issue with water leaking into the extension.
I had a general "property services" tradesman have a look and he quoted to refit the guttering properly and repair the holes/cracks in the pointing - this was before the 2 damp patches appeared.
So, assuming there isn't cavity wall insulation (the fact that the leak occurs almost immediately after driven rain and stops shortly after would back that up), what could be causing the damp patches and leak? Surely if rain was being driven through the outer bricks, it wouldnt cause damp on the inside? I could understand how it could cause a leak above a window but not the damp patches.
Given that I know the guttering is poorly fitted, could it be that water is getting into the cavity from the top of the wall? There's absolutely no signs of damp or leaks on the first floor, if that means anything! I know the guttering needs attention and repairing the pointing wont hurt - he only quoted £140 to do all of that so I'll probably get that done ASAP anyway, but wanted to make sure there was nothing else I'm missing.
Thanks in advance!
