Help please.. plaster or render needed?

Hi,

My house is a 1902 build 2 up 2 down terraced house.

Just ripped kitchen units out and found this awful state behind them.

There is a lot of damp, the plaster crumbles and the plasterboard which can be seen in pic (just above pipe) is damp.

I've just been outside and seen that low down some mortar is missing, so I will be re pointing these. Hopefully this will be the cause of the damp issue.

Anyhow, dealing with the plastering.

Do I take it back to bear brick?

I'm assuming no cavity wall in my property - so what do I do on the inside? Can I dot and dab with plasterboard or so I need to use some special render to allow bricks to breathe?

On a second note, the pipes and boiler are in the way and a real pain in the arse.

Lastly - as it's actually below the kitchen units, do I actually have to plaster it? Will this pose issue leaving the brick exposed behind kitchen units?

 

if you leave it a few days most of it will dry out naturally ,
then you’ll be able to see the extent of the problem.
most likely a combination of lack of ventilation behind the units , and some rising and penetrating damp.
don’t plasterboard it.

 

Hi benny,

I've taken the units out and it was absolutely sodden behind. The plaster literally fell off. There were also 3 layers of dot and dab plasterboard on top.

It's now a bare brick wall

What would you do now? Bare in mind it's a 1902 solid brick wall with no cavity.

The wall is in the kitchen but it's the external wall of the house on the opposite side.

Cheers

 

there are quite a lot of water pipes near that damp wall.

do you suppose any of them leak?

 

I've checked and they all seem bone dry

 

does that grey waste pipe run uphill?

do the dry pipes get hot?

 

When connected to sink waste it's level, just a bit of a bodge job who did it. I haven't checked the pipes but I assume so as the water runs hot

 

the wettest looking part is in that corner where a pipe comes out of the floor.

I bet you've got a leak.

or more than one.

the removed sink might also have leaked.

the floor even has a discoloured patch under the sink

does the outside garden tap splash on the wall?

when you've got long-term damp next to a bunch of waterpipes, my first thought isn't "pointing."

 

To be fair you have a point... The worktop was rotten so perhaps over years it's caused that.

So, do I wait to see if it dries out (using damp meter now and compare readings in 2 weeks.

But back to my original concern, do I have to lime plaster it with it being a solid wall?

Or can you use multi finish over tanking slurry.

That damp looking bit in corner is concrete just put down.... Been filling holes today prior to screeding tomorrow

 

I'd run the house, and boiler, as normal for a bit. Possibly a joint opens when hot, or the condensate leaks. If you clean up the copper pipes with a green scourer, any new marks will be easy to spot.

under the sink, you can render the wall with sand and cement if you want. Very easy to work and unaffected by damp.

use a pencil to draw round wet patches and write the date and you'll see if they get bigger or smaller.

if you can put a household fan to blow on the damp, it will speed up evaporation. No need for heat.

p.s.

if that's an airbrick behind the pipes, insulate them.

the airflow will ventilate the void and help it dry.

 

That's great thanks for the info.

Would that be building sand or sharp sand for the render? 4:1 mix with a bit of water?

I'll be taking the whole lot back to bare brick - would dot and dab plasterboard be ok higher up the wall where wall cabinets are?

 

you should firstly stop any moisture coming through the wall , and a chemical dpc cream which you can inject yourself in the lowest mortar bed won’t do any harm.
following that i’d cement render the whole room with a 5:1:1/2
plastering sand , cement , lime ,with sbr in the mix. then I’d tank all the walls up to 1200mm .
then i’d run my plumbing and electrics before drylining the whole room.

 

it does actually look like something is leaking in the corner.

 

Cheers is dry lining the same as dot and dab?

The wet look in he corner is fresh concrete that's drying as I speak
I'm screeding the floor tomorrow and just doing a bit of gap filling before.

 

picture outside too could be useful - if ground level has been built up that wont help damp inside