damp gypsum plaster, stone walls

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12 Feb 2012
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Belfast
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United Kingdom
I am in the process of renovating a small stone cottage, walls approx 2' thick. The external walls were rendered in cement with waterproofer. The internal walls were plastered with gypsum plaster. A french drain has been added around the perimeter. The floor was replaced with concrete sub floor, membrane, insulation and approx 3" screed. The work was completed in July. There are patchy areas of the plaster on the stone walls which are visibly damp, even high up on the wall. I only visit the cottage at weekends. Running dehumidifiers in the problem rooms over the weekend results in the walls looking almost dry, only to appear damp again the following weekend. The house is closed up throughout the week with only window trickle vents for ventilation.
From reading your other forum articles, I realise we have used inappropriate materials for a stone building. However, is it too early to say whether the walls will continue to be a problem and never dry or could there still be moisture coming up from the floor etc which is being absorbed by the plaster. The house was exposed to the elements with gaping holes in the roof for 2 yrs prior to work commencing. If the prognosis is bad, are there measures which can be taken without hacking off render/plaster? I have attempted to include all the necessary info to allow you to make a diagnosis. Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
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Your diagnosis is correct, the problem now is that you have lets say 2" thick walls holding a lot of moisture which cant dry out properly, bearing in mind that a wet wall will take one month per inch of thickness to dry out. The ideal thing is to hack off and let the property dry out naturally or mess around with lime plasters (costly and specialised). Presumably you have cured all elements of water entry into the walls? batten and board over with lots of ventilation would be an idea or stud walls in front with lots of ventilation another. stud wall would leave room for insulation and an air gap too.
 

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