Rising damp does not exist (continued; not a sequel)

[Softus]

...continued from here//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=342260&highlight=#342260 ...

anobium, since your post was deleted, despite it being relevant to the topic, perhaps you'd like to repeat it here so that I can answer it?
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Lynda, moderator

(In reply to your question which I shall now remove) Sorry about that, the topic in question is still there, but as it was "finished" in April, you waited some five months to reply, posts have to rest, it wasn't you that hijaked it though, but 5 months for a reply?

 

[splinter]

It dissapeared with Leonard Rossiter

 

[Softus]

(In reply to your question which I shall now remove) Sorry about that, the topic in question is still there, but as it was "finished" in April, you waited some five months to reply, posts have to rest, it wasn't you that hijaked it though, but 5 months for a reply?

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I disagree that it was finished in April - it's a long running topic to which there are many references, and anobium's recent post is but one of them.

Whilst I might disagree with the action, I would at least understand the reasoning if the action had been simply to lock the topic. However, someone (I don't know who) has deleted some posts - not only those that were made this week, but others that dated back many weeks.

It doesn't make any sense to me - there was a very useful post by anobium that contained thermal images. Why on earth was that one deleted?

And my most recent post of all was me doing the right thing, where another moderator had been preemptively critical of a discussion of rising damp - please see this one

I say again:

PS I hereby respectfully and politely request that the topic be unlocked.

 

[Lower]

Can ask a question about this rising damp being a myth thing here.

I have an internal wall in my house that has a damp problem. The house has suspended floors, and the wall continues through the floor boards and onto the foundations. The wall is only one brick thick so no cavity. It is unplastered behing the skirting board on both sides down to the foundations, yet above the skirting board it is damp. It is in a well ventilated area so i don't think condensation is the problem. There are no water or central heating pipes. Removing the skirting board has not removed the problem.

So if rising damp doesn't exist, why is my wall damp?

 

[Softus]

So if rising damp doesn't exist, why is my wall damp?

I honestly don't know, but I'm certainly interested in finding out, because you might be the second person I've seen on the forum (the first being TexMex) who's ever provided details of an occurrence.

So...

How old is the house? When did the damp problem begin? Has there been any work done on the house before or around the time that the wall became damp? Does it have a existing DPC at all? Is any part of the wall exposed to the elements (e.g. the top)? What are the rooms used for on either side of the wall?

 

[Lower]

The house is a 1920 style semi. On one side of the wall there is a dining room, on the other side a small area of kitchen (the kitchen is 'L' shaped into a new extension). There are no water pipes in the vacinity and the reason i only noticed the damp was when i stripped the room back to an empty shell to fit a new kitchen.

We've only been in the house for a 2 years, so i can't tell you when the wall started to be damp. As i said before, one side of the wall has suspended floors, the other side has quarry tiles set on an earth/ash base. There is a blue brick (one brick thick) damp proof course which isn't bridged at any point by the quarry tiles (again, i know this for sure because the quarry tile floor had sagged in the middle so i smashed them down into the soil to lay a screed on top followed by slate tiles).

There is plenty of ventilation on both side of the wall, and on the suspended floor side of the wall there is a void of about 18" with reasonable airflow through the void (3 unobstructed air bricks at the front of the house, 1 and a half at the rear).

The raw brick had been painted with a gloss type paint on the kitchen side of the wall at some point, but again this paint did not go below the damp proof course, and i scraped off the paint 2 bricks high above the damp proof course just in case the damp was climbing between the paint and the brick.

I think the damp proof course has failed and damp is rising through the bricks. I cannot explain it in any other way.

 

[Softus]

We've only been in the house for a 2 years, so i can't tell you when the wall started to be damp.

OK.

As i said before, one side of the wall has suspended floors, the other side has quarry tiles set on an earth/ash base.

'ello 'ello 'ello - what's all this then? Earth/ash base?

There is a blue brick (one brick thick) damp proof course

I wasn't aware that you could use a brick as a damp proof course.
Are you sure this is what you meant?

...which isn't bridged at any point by the quarry tiles (again, i know this for sure because the quarry tile floor had sagged in the middle so i smashed them down into the soil to lay a screed on top followed by slate tiles).

When you laid the screed, I hope that there was, or that you installed, a damp proof membrane!

I think the damp proof course has failed and damp is rising through the bricks. I cannot explain it in any other way.

You could be right, but I can sniff a trace of a different explanation.

At what height is the thing you're calling a damp proof course (a) in relation to the finished floor surface, and (b) in relation to the DPC in the external walls?

 

[anobium]

.

anobium, since your post was deleted, despite it being relevant to the topic, perhaps you'd like to repeat it here so that I can answer it?

Softus, please excuse my ignorance, but which post are you referring to, the one about the definition of capillarity ,or the one about the thermal images.
From what I can see neither have been deleted.

 

[tawelfryn]

I remember many moons ago studying my advanced craft city & guilds bricklaying, the subject of rising damp, and yes it was common practice before man made dpc's to use 2 courses of class A engineering brick as a damp course. I also remember why rising damp was explained. Normally water will only rise about 10mm up a brick (stand a brick in a pool of water and see) but in a building, from people walking on the floor it creates an electrical charge, the walls do not get such a large charge and are opposite to the floor. Through electro conductivity, the water is forces up the field of the walls. In the old days, to fix this problem holes were drilled say every 18" and solid copper rods inserted to break the circuit. I may have not got it quite correct, but it went something like that. Like I said it was part of my advanced 18 years or so ago!

 

[Softus]

...which post are you referring to, the one about the definition of capillarity ,or the one about the thermal images.
From what I can see neither have been deleted.

Um, the one about the thermal images. I thought it was on the "RD does not exist" topic that Lynda locked this week. I posted a reply on that topic, but that post of mine has been deleted, and I can't see the thermal images any more.

So were those images on a different topic? If so, please can you post a link to it, or the title of it?

All of this confusion wouldn't have arisen if Mod Rupert hadn't stuck his banal and childish oar in

 

[anobium]

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:28 am Post Subject: Fantastic what they can do now...

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http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...vnum=10&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryUK|countryGB&sa=N

Softus this is the link and you answered my question in your imdomitable manner soon after it was posted.

 

[Softus]

Well your description of me certainly fits, but I still can't find the topic that contained the link to the web site with those images on, in the post that you said was still there.

 

[anobium]

Well your description of me certainly fits, but I still can't find the topic that contained the link to the web site with those images on, in the post that you said was still there.

Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:28 am Post Subject: Fantastic what they can do now...

Am I losing the plot Softus, I thought that the above would answer your question!

 

[Softus]

Am I losing the plot Softus, I thought that the above would answer your question!

Between us, yes, we are!

Firstly, I can now find the topic you're referring to - securespark posted a link to some thermal images. However, that isn't the topic I'm referring to.

In the somewhat infamous RD does not exist topic, you posted some images via a link. This week, following an insulting post by Mod Rupert, I saw fit to reply to your question about those images, but my reply has been deleted, and the topic locked, by a marauding moderator.

I believe, but now can't be 100% sure, that your post (the one that asked the question) has also been deleted, leaving the appearance that the most recent posts were in April; but they weren't.

Does this explain my apparently nonsensical questions?

So now we have a locked topic being continued on a new topic, just because a moderator wouldn't allow the OP to post. It's easy to see why some people lose respect for moderators.

 

[anobium]

Softus , for the life of me I don't know what you are referring to.
I have only ever sent one image on this subject and that is the one under the heading, "fantastic what they can do now"
You wouldn't by any chance be getting confused with the following when you said you would reply to drspock.?

Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:53 pm Post Subject:

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Not yet - I've been meaning to reply to DrSpock, but haven't the spare brain cells for the last fortnight.

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings...