Damp Penetration advice please

[keelbolt]

There is a damp problem in my house for which I need advice, please.

The building was originally built in 1400s, remodelled, and extended in the 1970s. Some walls are stone and about a foot thick. Others appear to be breeze block.

The damp is appearing at the ceiling/wall join of a bedroom on the inside of a south facing rendered gable end (see photo). The prevaiing wind/rain is south westerly, so the gable end gets a lot of weather. There is a small visible horizontal crack in the render aprox 3 feet below the site of the damp.

The damp on the inside walls corresponds more or less to the darker areas of ?mould? on the gable end render.

I had a builder visit, and his solution was to fill the cracks with silicon, paint the gable end with Sovereign Facade Cream and replace the cement fillet (see photo) with leading. (See his quote below)

Filling the crack with silicon and painting the whole with a waterproofer seems to me to be a bodge solution, but what do I know? I'm only a yacht skipper by trade.

Can anyone offer any advice please? I don't know my base from my apex on these kinds of things.



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Builder's solution:

Cement fillet may have cracked between no 4 and no 5, we would suggest removing and replacing with new lead flashing £1695.00

Seal any cracks and apply coat of Soveriegn Façade cream (water proof) £795.00

Alternative: Apply Parex coloured through render to gable end south facing instead of façade cream £1495.00

Erect scaffold for remedial works to gable end

£1245.00

Silcon fill cracks to front elevation, apply Soveriegn façade cream £865.00

Paint front masonary walls with exterior masonary paint to your colour choice £537.00

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[Alastairreid]

Those prices are excessive, the cement fillet is on your neighbours roof, why would he want to use silicone? get more quotes and you need to rule out condensation.

 

[keelbolt]

Thanks, Alastair. I have ruled out condensation. I've used the Federation of Masterbuilders website to post a request for more quotes from builders.

Assume Silicon not a good idea. As a rank amateur, I'd rather thought it odd. What should render cracks be filled with? More render?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

If the damp is inside the lower dark area on the gable end (the patch about 2' below the eaves) then it is almost certainly being caused either by the gutter overflowing or water running off the roof and missing the gutter.

Next time it rains, have a look at that end of the gutter & see where the water is going- my bet is the gutter fall is insufficient (or the gutter is blocked) & you're getting a pond at that end which is splashing against the wall.

 

[keelbolt]

If the damp is inside the lower dark area on the gable end (the patch about 2' below the eaves) then it is almost certainly being caused either by the gutter overflowing or water running off the roof and missing the gutter.

Next time it rains, have a look at that end of the gutter & see where the water is going- my bet is the gutter fall is insufficient (or the gutter is blocked) & you're getting a pond at that end which is splashing against the wall.

Yes, that's exactly where the main damp area is forming. I'll have a good look next time it rains hard.

I can fix the gutter problem, but if it's rain running off the roof tiles and down the wall BEFORE it reaches the gutter, how do I fix that? In fact, looking at the lay and run of the roofing tiles, I suspect that's at least part of the cause. Is there a way of using lead to fix this? Or do I need to re-tile this end of the roof?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Have a look at the easy fix first (the gutter)- its hard to tell from the pix but the gutter may be a wee bit short (always good to have a couple of inches past the last tile) and the whole line of the gutter looks wonky in the pic (though that may just be an artefact of a tiny phone camera lens)

If the water is coming off the tiles (and the stain up at the apex ridge does suggest something like that) then I'm not sure what would be best. If the roof was slate I'd have a look at retrofitting some dry verge strip (they've mostly got upstands and secret gutters) but tiles aren't my bag I'm afraid.

 

[keelbolt]

If the water is coming off the tiles (and the stain up at the apex ridge does suggest something like that) then I'm not sure what would be best. If the roof was slate I'd have a look at retrofitting some dry verge strip (they've mostly got upstands and secret gutters) but tiles aren't my bag I'm afraid.

Thanks. I'm building up a picture of what remedial work to do. There isnt much point in just doing the render without fixing guttering and sorting out run off from tiles. I will ask about the dry verge strip in the roofing section. Again, thanks.