Help- damp patches nobody seems to understand

[normnorm]

Here are some better photos incase they are of any help
the 2 walls you see in the first picture only go up to the ceiling on the ground floor. The bedroom above does not have a chunk taken out of it

Untitled

• normnorm
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

Untitled

• normnorm
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

Untitled

• normnorm
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

outside view

Untitled

• normnorm
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

Untitled

• normnorm
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

inside utility room top right hand corner

Untitled

• normnorm
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

Untitled

• normnorm
• 24 Apr 2009
• 1

 

[roy c]

The only way to find out where this "damp" patch is coming from is to hack all the plaster off and cut your ceiling back about 18" and open up the floor area, This way you have covered the areas where it is most likely coming in. The backing plaster might be bonding or browning or some light weight plaster that shouldn't be on a "damp" wall and if that is the case you will never get rid of the problem if you left it on. So my advice is hack the lot off and start from there ......Good Luck Also when it is hacked off check if the wall is damp or wet and if so check outside and below floor level....Hope this helps....Dont worry this can be fixed .......... In your last pics I would check No 5 out the one that shows a door rendered in there looks like it could have cracked where it was rendered in!!!! Also check water entering thru that "Grill"..If you knock every thing off like I said you can get someone outside and get them to train a hose on the "Suspect " area and start at the bottom and slowly move the hose up . You should see if any water comes thru then......

 

[trowelmonkey1]

oh well if that;s the case with the roof then maybe not, hmm there's a puzzle, an old capped pipe would fit nicely with what we are seeing and hope it is just something else niggling me about his one and i can't quite put my finger on it.

i think if the problem is persistent he may as well hack into the wall to see what's there as the plaster will need repairing no matter what, would be another box ticked or not as the case may be

 

[trowelmonkey1]

blimey my english suffers after 2 bottles of wine

i meant i hope that it IS an old capped pipe and we have found the solution!

looking again at the exterior picks...what is the small pipe protruding from the wall? where does it end up inside the house?

 

[roughcaster]

See,, the damp patch is not on the "external wall",, that's what i can't make out,,, it's on an "inside wall" I would agree with Roy and hack the plaster back, and have a good old look, because to state the obvious,, it's definitely damp/water coming through from somewhere in that area of wall, and it shows clearly above the arcatrave,,on the inside and outside of the small room.

Roughcaster.

 

[trowelmonkey1]

yes roughcaster, without a shadow! seems like it must be coming from the inside, and if the bedroom above is fine...well it's somewhere below the floor of the bedroom...damp is such a bloody puzzle sometimes

 

[roughcaster]

yes roughcaster, without a shadow! seems like it must be coming from the inside, and if the bedroom above is fine...well it's somewhere below the floor of the bedroom...

damp is such a bloody puzzle sometimes

Too right TM,, but hopefully he'll solve it.

Roughcaster.

 

[spongey]

when you noticed the damp what colour was the staining?

only it could be a mixture of salt ingress and condensation.

everyone laughs when i tell people that the cause of their damp problems is poor air flow in their rooms but it happens and it can be bad enough to blow the plaster.

The lack of black spores in the room is making me think it may not be that but if it was a yellow stain then the wall is has been saturated at some point and the salt content is seeping through to the face of the plaster.

hack it of and you will have a clearer picture

 

[dave1953]

Hi normnorm, I have a feeling you have a condensation problem, as you say it is a utillity room I suspect with all the usual appliances, the doorway is the natural channel for the vapour pressure along with relative humidity to escape, the reason I think this is the damp patch to the wall/ ceiling junction, as well as the rest. Gypsum plaster will absorb high levels of moisture laden air so I would look at improving the ventilation in the room and maybe re-painting with a moisture resistant product. A hygrostatic ventillation system i.e expellair with relative humidity automatic start will often do the trick, hope this helps

 

[noseall]

Could it be condensation forming on a cold water supply, building up and pooling?

 

[shouldavknown]

indeed cannot be rising damp property of that age original cold water service would be a lead main running in roughly a straight line through the property excluding take offs, and indeed would feed toilet and later on domestic tank in loft, probally weeping in the wall, if certain nothing coming from above be sure to check carefully if not cut area out for better survey






Its happened before it will happen again