Damp walls

[Emmadrayton]

Hello,
We are having trouble with damp on our walls around and on our fireplace. The damp patches come and go at diffrent times in the day. The plaster and paint is bubbling up and falling of the walls. Can anybody advise on what it could be and what we could do. We have been told its rising damp but have read about salts to. I have attached some photos. Thankyou

 

[Burnerman]

Looking at your first pic Emma that looks pretty extreme for rising damp.....do you think the pipe that you can see there could be leaking?
On older houses damp in the hearth was common enough because concrete was just poured directly onto the earth without any damp proofing membrane.....it didnt bother anyone because the fire was on all the time.
John

 

[foxhole]

NO such thing, moisture falls, chimney is most likely place to fail and allow rain to soak thru, appears at lowest point it reaches resistance, usually DPC.
Have pointing and flashing checked on roof level and check at loft level if you have access.

 

[Burnerman]

There’s no such thing as rising damp then......?
John

 

[Emmadrayton]

We had the chimney all checked, fixed and capped of 2 years ago as we thought it was that but it has not changed nothing. The white is an aerial cable and not a water pipe sorry. And we have put in two airvents and made sure its all clear in there.

 

[Burnerman]

Fair enough, the aerial cable wont be leaking water then
It still looks fairly dramatic damp wise.....what is on the other side of the wall, any splash, drainpipes or whatever, and is the surrounding land lower than the house dpc?
Plaster when its damaged like this, doesnt recover and needs to be redone.
John

 

[Emmadrayton]

Behind is the understairs cuburd also had damp but was treated and stayed away so far. No pipes only on the other side of cuburd and no leaks. Our chimley is in middle of our home and the other side in the front room is also damp to but not as bad.

 

[Burnerman]

If the property was mine Id be inclined to lift the floorboards in the immediate area and have a look see...Im guessing the floor is suspended timber, and there are airbricks on the outside walls which are meant to ventilate the underfloor void?
John

 

[foxhole]

Have the roof checked again , just because you had it repaired does not mean it was successful, as the damp indicates.
Does the roof have a parapet wall?

 

[bobasd]

can you stand back an photo a bigger context to show where the damp is an where the c/breast is?
is this all on outside walls?
can you post pics of the outside of the walls that show damp esp near the window?

just seen your last post.can you post pics of all treated or untreated locations?
how was the cupboard "treated"?

 

[blup]

You appear to have excluded the chimney stack and flashing as a cause, but have capped the chimney whilst putting in air vents, so the air flow is impeded which probably doesn't help with chimney ventilation.

But I would guess the chimney hearth and the dividing wall don't have a physical damp proof course (usually slate in older properties) and this has caused the damp to rise and spread.

There are two schools of thought about rising damp, some say its a myth, others make a living from diagnosing it. The label doesn't really matter because the damp is there and identification of its source will enable it to be addressed.

Blup

 

[foxhole]

We had the chimney all checked, fixed and capped of 2 years ago as we thought it was that but it has not changed nothing. The white is an aerial cable and not a water pipe sorry. And we have put in two airvents and made sure its all clear in there.

Was chimney smoke tested ?

Any pics of roof line and stack?

 

[Cocat2517]

Has the chimney had exterior vents fitted? If not could a lack of ventilation be contributing?