There is a short section of 'garden' wall (2m long by 2.5m high) separating our patio from our (semi-detached) neighbour's patio. The rest of the boundary is fence panels.
It is rendered and painted white on both sides and there is no coping. The rendering is bubbling and cracked with the damage over-painted several times - all evidence of persistent damp. There is no evidence of a DPC in the wall and even if there was the rendering bridges it.
My neighbour says it is actually the side wall of a conservatory that was destroyed in the blast from a WW2 bomb that flattened the two houses that back onto ours. The rest of the conservatory was demolished and not replaced but the side wall was retained.
The wall is up against the party wall in the rear reception room. Our survey last year when we bought the house pointed out a minor damp problem in the party wall and suggested replacing the plaster with a water proof one plus the installation of a chemical DPC in the party wall.
Personally, I suspect that the garden wall is bridging the damp proof course and causing the damp - in which case the chemical DPC would do no good. Our neighbours like the privacy and soundproofing the wall affords and are reluctant to demolish it - at least not without replacing it with a new wall.
I suspect the brickwork is soft internal skin type brick, the 'rendering' is probably internal plaster finish and the lack of a coping is causing the wall to soak up rain water from the top.
Is there any remedial solution to this, or is demolition and rebuilding the wall the only answer?
It is rendered and painted white on both sides and there is no coping. The rendering is bubbling and cracked with the damage over-painted several times - all evidence of persistent damp. There is no evidence of a DPC in the wall and even if there was the rendering bridges it.
My neighbour says it is actually the side wall of a conservatory that was destroyed in the blast from a WW2 bomb that flattened the two houses that back onto ours. The rest of the conservatory was demolished and not replaced but the side wall was retained.
The wall is up against the party wall in the rear reception room. Our survey last year when we bought the house pointed out a minor damp problem in the party wall and suggested replacing the plaster with a water proof one plus the installation of a chemical DPC in the party wall.
Personally, I suspect that the garden wall is bridging the damp proof course and causing the damp - in which case the chemical DPC would do no good. Our neighbours like the privacy and soundproofing the wall affords and are reluctant to demolish it - at least not without replacing it with a new wall.
I suspect the brickwork is soft internal skin type brick, the 'rendering' is probably internal plaster finish and the lack of a coping is causing the wall to soak up rain water from the top.
Is there any remedial solution to this, or is demolition and rebuilding the wall the only answer?
