Damp ingress after repointing.

[Johnykp]

Hi,
We recently had our 1888 built house re-pointed, the wrong pointing(cement) was already there when we bought the house, we were seeing a number of damp areas appear, so we go our builder to pick it all out and re-pointed it with lime. He showed us a few areas that the old cement pointing had fallen out etc.

He finished the new pointing about 6 months ago. However we have noticed some damp coming through on the gable end on 2 levels. Now, the cable end went quite a few months being exposed between the picking and pointing( the builder was doing it all himself and had other jobs on the go) so it was open to the elements. Any ideas what could cause this?

He's a highly regarded builder and did the front of our house pointing 2 years ago with no issues, he used the correct materials aswell. My thought is could be left over moisture from when the cable was exposed and these points are where it's 'escaping'?

We have also had a massive downpour of snow and the resulting melting.

The builder thinks ventilation may be causing it?

The areas in green are roughly where the dampness is on the inside.

Thanks

 

[noseall]

Hi,
We recently had our 1888 built house re-pointed, the wrong pointing(cement) was already there when we bought the house, we were seeing a number of damp areas appear, so we go our builder to pick it all out and re-pointed it with lime. He showed us a few areas that the old cement pointing had fallen out etc.

He finished the new pointing about 6 months ago. However we have noticed some damp coming through on the gable end on 2 levels. Now, the cable end went quite a few months being exposed between the picking and pointing( the builder was doing it all himself and had other jobs on the go) so it was open to the elements. Any ideas what could cause this?

He's a highly regarded builder and did the front of our house pointing 2 years ago with no issues, he used the correct materials aswell. My thought is could be left over moisture from when the cable was exposed and these points are where it's 'escaping'?

We have also had a massive downpour of snow and the resulting melting.

The builder thinks ventilation may be causing it?

The areas in green are roughly where the dampness is on the inside.

Thanks

Your builder appears to have done a decent job too so not a pointing issue. Parapet walls however, are the work of the devil.

 

[Wayners]

You can treat wall with storm dry as that may help.
You may find this helpful

 

[Deluks]

What's on top of the chimney, is it in use/ capped off etc?

 

[ree]

OP,
As above, you have an excellent sand & lime pointing job but a suspicious parapet?
The chimney stack details - flaunching & flashing - might also be regarded as suspicious? Have the flues been swept in recent years?

The abutment flashing & fillet to the lower extension roof is wrong - maybe thats how the flashing was done on the inside of the parapet: a selfie on a stick taken from a front elevation window would help?

 

[Johnykp]

Thanks for the replies,

Sorry, if none of this makes sense as none of this is my speciality.

There are 2 chimneys stack routing down to each floor level room, ones is still in use and was cleaned last year, the other has been blocked off since before we moved in.

Now that I think about it, the dampness in the top room which covers both stacks has dampness all along, where the next level down the dampness is only on the side of the stack that has been closed off.

The builder also never replaced the flaunching as the MEWP didn't reach, he told me this yesterday (he may have said it at the time tbf)and now with what you've mentioned I'm going to guess that the issue is a leak through the old flaunching and down through the blocked chimney stack??

He's offered to come and replace the flaunching in the spring if we get a larger MEWP.

Does thos sound like a sensible course of action? What else should we look at?

Thanks

 

[Johnykp]

You can treat wall with storm dry as that may help.
You may find this helpful

Thanks,
This was mentioned by my builder, however he said it could risk stopping the dampness leaving externally?

 

[Johnykp]

OP,
As above, you have an excellent sand & lime pointing job but a suspicious parapet?
The chimney stack details - flaunching & flashing - might also be regarded as suspicious? Have the flues been swept in recent years?

The abutment flashing & fillet to the lower extension roof is wrong - maybe thats how the flashing was done on the inside of the parapet: a selfie on a stick taken from a front elevation window would help?

Thanks for the advice,

With regards to the lower abutment being wrong, could you please elaborate? While there is no leaking coming from those parts, I'm interested to hear what's wrong with it?

 

[ericmark]

I have just watched a video on Awaab’s Law,

interesting as it points out damp not always due to the building. I remember a childhood home, with single glazed windows, with a trough under the window, and a small hole to the outside, so the condensation was led outside. In other words, a built-in dehumidifier. There were also vents in the wall etc. And solid fuel fires dragging air under the doors etc, and pushing it out of the chimney, so number of air changes was very high.

Clearly don't want to return to those days, but we need to replace the moisture removal items of yesteryear, or at least reduce the items making moisture. So we do need to keep an eye on humidity my thermometer shows how the cooler the room the higher the relative humidity, the worst is the utility room, which is unheated, and has the washing machine and tumble drier in it, but the reading were quite a surprise to me, as last house was more like 70% in all rooms, and I really don't know why such a huge difference. Father-in-law had even a higher humidity, likely due to triple glazing, there will always be some moisture in the home, but we need to keep it within a reasonable limit.

So seeing damp on the walls with this house would be a reason for consern, but in father-in-laws house, it was more down to way he lived, the gas cooker clearly not helping. So what is the relative humidity and temperture in the rooms affected.

 

[ree]

OP,
Dont jump to conclusions, & courses of remedial action without more information.

1. Pics of the parapet flashing and the chimney stack details would help - to pic the flaunching etc would require someone on the roof or the use of a cherry picker.
2. Pics of the interior damp signs would also help?
3. Is the redundant flue ventilated bottom & top?

4. Using sand & cement or sand & lime fillets is a bad practice - in time it will crack due to differential movement between the extension & the gable - plus the expansion & contraction of the lead.
5. The cover flashing should only have been step-flashing over soaker upstands.

 

[Johnykp]

Hi,

As you say, the flaunching on the chimney stacks are inaccessible, however I doubt this has been changed out for many decades, we also have has a minor dampness in the top bedroom for many years and prior to the repointing.

I've attached a photo of the cable end, we have 5 chimney pots, which I assume means 5 stacks.
I've coloured them to their believed routing.

Only the red one remains in use, the grey one has been covered up, however the fireplace frame remains in place and you can see a damp patch in the top left corner, again this has been there periodically for years, there is also no vent on this at any point.

The other 3 go to 2 bedrooms on the second floor that have been completely sheeted over and again have no vents
The final blue one goes the the bedroom on the top floor which has a vent, photo attached.

I've also attached photos of the dampness and then where is roughly sits on the gable end exterior.(circled in green)

Again, alot of this is assumptions , so I could be wrong.

I've managed to get a photo of the parapet at the top.

With regards to the extension/garage, I'll raise the issue with the builder.

Apologies for the crude drawings.

Thanks