Hi, any help would be greatly appreciated.
A bit of background
I bought an old cottage (nobody can quite tell me how old but 150+ years) and have been undertaking a large self-build extension on the rear. All that has gone well and the entire rest of the house has been refurbed with the usual "old property" issues along the way. However, I have saved the lounge until last as we were living out of it until the extension was done (plus I knew there were issues so I was putting it off).
The Problems
The walls have always shown some damp, which I had been hoping was condensation rather than rising damp. However, I have now removed the carpet and there is more damp than I thought coming up through the floor. The floor is original so it is stone pavers with an inch layer of Bitumen-like material acting as a damp proof. This layer has failed over time and where it has cracked is where the damp is coming through. The floor is fairly level and has dried out quite considerably since removing the carpet a few days ago. Would filling the cracks and painting the floor with a polymer based paint be sufficient to prevent damp here. I would rather avoid digging the floor up.
As for the walls, it looks like they were rendered with a sand based render prior to the paving slabs being laid, therefore the render seems to continue down the side of the pavers to the soil subfloor, which is very wet. The whole wall has then been plastered to floor level (ie. no gap has been left so moisture is free to rise up the entire wall). The stone walls themselves appear to be dry, it is the sandy render that is full of dampness. I have knocked the render/plaster off 6" high all around the room to prevent it being in contact with the floor. This has left an inch gap between the pavers and the wall that goes down to the soil. Would it be OK to fill the gap all around the room with concrete/floor leveler and then paint this and the base of the walls with the polymer paint?
The walls don't seem to have a damp proof layer but like I say, they do seem dry. I don't want to ask a "damp proof specialist" as I'm sure their answer would just be to "inject the wall".
Sorry for the long post, I will post some pictures to try and show what I mean.
Adam
A bit of background
I bought an old cottage (nobody can quite tell me how old but 150+ years) and have been undertaking a large self-build extension on the rear. All that has gone well and the entire rest of the house has been refurbed with the usual "old property" issues along the way. However, I have saved the lounge until last as we were living out of it until the extension was done (plus I knew there were issues so I was putting it off).
The Problems
The walls have always shown some damp, which I had been hoping was condensation rather than rising damp. However, I have now removed the carpet and there is more damp than I thought coming up through the floor. The floor is original so it is stone pavers with an inch layer of Bitumen-like material acting as a damp proof. This layer has failed over time and where it has cracked is where the damp is coming through. The floor is fairly level and has dried out quite considerably since removing the carpet a few days ago. Would filling the cracks and painting the floor with a polymer based paint be sufficient to prevent damp here. I would rather avoid digging the floor up.
As for the walls, it looks like they were rendered with a sand based render prior to the paving slabs being laid, therefore the render seems to continue down the side of the pavers to the soil subfloor, which is very wet. The whole wall has then been plastered to floor level (ie. no gap has been left so moisture is free to rise up the entire wall). The stone walls themselves appear to be dry, it is the sandy render that is full of dampness. I have knocked the render/plaster off 6" high all around the room to prevent it being in contact with the floor. This has left an inch gap between the pavers and the wall that goes down to the soil. Would it be OK to fill the gap all around the room with concrete/floor leveler and then paint this and the base of the walls with the polymer paint?
The walls don't seem to have a damp proof layer but like I say, they do seem dry. I don't want to ask a "damp proof specialist" as I'm sure their answer would just be to "inject the wall".
Sorry for the long post, I will post some pictures to try and show what I mean.
Adam
