Hi All
I've been reading the damp proofing threads on here with great interest
I have just bought a 150-200 year old property which i presume has no physical DPC and there seems to be some damp inside. Built from a combination of allsorts, but predominantly brick
The survey said there was some rising damp that needed sorting out downstairs but they were unsure of the exact cause and just put it down to the age of the property and lack of a DPC
We've stripped all the wallpaper and it looks as though they have been injected at some point (2-3ft of 'new' looking plaster around the perimiter)
I've had 2 damp proofing 'experts' in, but neither of them have come back with a quote yet. One of which didnt seem very interested and didnt really seem to know what he was talking about. The other one seemed like he knew what he was talking about.
For some reason there's an odd 1-2ft high cobble 'skin' at the front of the house which the damp guy recconed would 'bridge' anything that was injected. This has got to stay as it seems fairly well integrated with the wall.
He also pointed out that after the previous damp work, they've replastered using a gypsum based plaster rather than sand+cement which he said would be absorbing water like a sponge.
It is also not possible to put a gravel gulley around the outside walls (french drain?) because of the position of the road, and the fact that there were probably no foundations to the building
The guttering is going to be replaced, the gable wall is going to be repointed and the cement at the base of the chimney is going to be replaced with proper flashing. However - I dont think this is the cause of my problem, as there's no sign of damp in the upstairs walls. (correct me if I'm wrong)
The house has been empty for the last 3 months, but we've been giving it a good airing and had the heating on to try and dry things out for the last few weeks and it doesnt seem to be clearing up
He perscribed the following (as i understand it)
- knock off most\all of the plaster on the downstairs walls
- slop on 2 or 3 layers of some silicon\latexy type product
- replaster
There seems to be a lot of feeling on this forum that 'rising damp' is a figment of people's imagination and doesnt infact exist in most cases - so apologies if I'm using the wrong terminology
I get the impression that its not really possible to stop the damp in my walls and the exercise should be more geared towards preventing it entering the rooms?
I'm trying to do as much of the work as possible with the house - I've pulled down the old crubmling lath+plaster lounge ceiling and re-boarded it ready for skimming (i wont be skimming it myself)
From reading around, it looks like there's a lot of unskilled 'leg work' with sorting out damp, rather than it being a particuarly skilled task (on the whole). Correct me if i'm wrong!
What I'm wondering, is: is it sufficient for me to knock off all the plaster back to the brickwork and dry line the lot downstairs, ready for a plaster skim? Would this achieve the same effect of preventing the damp coming into the room as what the damp guy suggested? If this is the case, I can manage most of that myself. I presume I should put a waterproof plastic membrane behind the battons?
I look forward to hearing your replies (be gentle!)
I've been reading the damp proofing threads on here with great interest
I have just bought a 150-200 year old property which i presume has no physical DPC and there seems to be some damp inside. Built from a combination of allsorts, but predominantly brick
The survey said there was some rising damp that needed sorting out downstairs but they were unsure of the exact cause and just put it down to the age of the property and lack of a DPC
We've stripped all the wallpaper and it looks as though they have been injected at some point (2-3ft of 'new' looking plaster around the perimiter)
I've had 2 damp proofing 'experts' in, but neither of them have come back with a quote yet. One of which didnt seem very interested and didnt really seem to know what he was talking about. The other one seemed like he knew what he was talking about.
For some reason there's an odd 1-2ft high cobble 'skin' at the front of the house which the damp guy recconed would 'bridge' anything that was injected. This has got to stay as it seems fairly well integrated with the wall.
He also pointed out that after the previous damp work, they've replastered using a gypsum based plaster rather than sand+cement which he said would be absorbing water like a sponge.
It is also not possible to put a gravel gulley around the outside walls (french drain?) because of the position of the road, and the fact that there were probably no foundations to the building
The guttering is going to be replaced, the gable wall is going to be repointed and the cement at the base of the chimney is going to be replaced with proper flashing. However - I dont think this is the cause of my problem, as there's no sign of damp in the upstairs walls. (correct me if I'm wrong)
The house has been empty for the last 3 months, but we've been giving it a good airing and had the heating on to try and dry things out for the last few weeks and it doesnt seem to be clearing up
He perscribed the following (as i understand it)
- knock off most\all of the plaster on the downstairs walls
- slop on 2 or 3 layers of some silicon\latexy type product
- replaster
There seems to be a lot of feeling on this forum that 'rising damp' is a figment of people's imagination and doesnt infact exist in most cases - so apologies if I'm using the wrong terminology
I get the impression that its not really possible to stop the damp in my walls and the exercise should be more geared towards preventing it entering the rooms?
I'm trying to do as much of the work as possible with the house - I've pulled down the old crubmling lath+plaster lounge ceiling and re-boarded it ready for skimming (i wont be skimming it myself)
From reading around, it looks like there's a lot of unskilled 'leg work' with sorting out damp, rather than it being a particuarly skilled task (on the whole). Correct me if i'm wrong!
What I'm wondering, is: is it sufficient for me to knock off all the plaster back to the brickwork and dry line the lot downstairs, ready for a plaster skim? Would this achieve the same effect of preventing the damp coming into the room as what the damp guy suggested? If this is the case, I can manage most of that myself. I presume I should put a waterproof plastic membrane behind the battons?
I look forward to hearing your replies (be gentle!)