Damp in a listed building

[wanderlust]

I've inherited a grade 2 house dating back to 1735 ish. It's been empty for maybe 8 years now.

It is brick on a plinth and inside walls are lime plaster I think. There is a solid floor to the inside but not sure what it is.

The windows are metal frames and ancient .

The whole house smells musty and damp. I've been opening the windows and doors every day to let air in . When I enter the house each morning there is condensation on the windows sometimes but this goes after they are opened again as I close them for security at night.

At first there was a damp patch in the lounge and a really wet patch under the stairs. The lounge one has dried up but the patch under the stairs is taking much longer and still wet.

The plinth to the outside of the house seems wet to me. I checked the gutters and they are not sealed properly near this wall so not sure if that is contributing but that is only at one end of the wall and the damp is all the way along. The wall doesn't feel damp inside but the plug sockets to that wall are mouldy.

The damp smell every day I open up is driving me crazy. Does anyone have any idea what is going on.

I have no heating on yet as boiler needs fixing but its really hot weather now anyway.

 

[scbk]

If you know a good local builder/general tradesperson, it wouldn't be a bad thing to get them to do a lap of the house, checking the gutters, roof etc for damage and possible leaks, and what's going on under the stairs. See what they say.

It would help to cut the vegetation back for a start.


In an older house there will always be some damp, you need to let the place breath, they were built draughty (drafty?)

 

[JohnD]

Is there a water meter? Do you know where the indoor and outdoor stopcocks are?

Quite likely (but not certain) the buried waterpipe will run directly between these. There will be pipes where the kitchen and the scullery used to be, and pipes will have gone up to the loft. Any of these pipes might be leaking, including the disused ones that were hammered flat and covered over. Consider if any of these damp patches are near a pipe.

When you have found the outside stopcock, turn it off. In a few weeks observe if the damp has reduced at all. See if any of the taps still work.

Draw pencil marks round any damp patches and photograph them so you can see if they change size or shape.

 

[tony1851]

An uninhabited house nearly three hundred years old will be damp if just left.
Have the fireplaces been blocked up? If they are open as they were originally intended, they would help to ventilate the house and keep
moisture vapour down.

As others have mentioned, damp walls can be caused by leaking gutters and defective underground drainage/water supply pipes.
Some areas of wall can stay persistently wet because of the salts drawn up from the ground; less exposed areas such as under the stairs will
take longer to dry out due to less air movement.

There are a million and one reasons why the house is damp, and you'd be best getting a surveyor to report and make recommendations.
There is a knowledgeable surveyor on this forum but his responses can sometimes be high on the sarcasm-intensity scale.

 

[wanderlust]

Thanks for the help. I am thinking that maybe cement between some of the bricks should actually be lime mortar and maybe that is contributing to the problem by not letting the house breathe.
Anyway I'm taking the advice and getting someone out to have a look at it for me.

 

[Leofric]

There is a knowledgeable surveyor on this forum but his responses can sometimes be high on the sarcasm-intensity scale.

Do tell us more .