damp interior wall

[cellie79]

Hi
We live in an old 1890 terraced house. the interior wall between our dining room and kitchen has what seems to be a small patch of damp. The patch is just above the skirting board and we were made aware of it when the paint that we put on about a year ago started to kind of blow/bubble and then flake off in a smallish 10 x 10cm patch. On the kitchen side of the wall we are able to pull out the fridge and see the exposed bricks. My husband is keen to hire a DPC injection kit from HSS and do this himself then re paint but I am worried that this will not solve the problem. What do you think?
Any advice would be greatfully recieved.
Clare

 

[Possel]

I'll bet that you have some modern plaster on the dining room side. Old properties like yours were made using lime not cement based products, and the walls were meant to breathe; anything containing cement makes this impossible. Doing a DPC would merely push the dampness somewhere else as you are then treating the symptom not the cause. Google for "period properties dampness" and look through lots of the sites and see what they would say. My blog has the story of my house where I have demonstrated in the last year that it has dried out without a DPC.

Matthew

 

[wallcoatingsbloke]

Hello, it sounds like you have a spot of RISING damp in the home.

To cure it, you need to go OUTSIDE and look to see if......

. there are patches on the outside wall.
. green mould etc on the outside of where the damp is coming in.
. cracks around the area, outside
mud or earth piled up against the house, such as a rose garden or flower bed, allowing moisture to go above where the DPC is.