Solid wall insulation

[cycloneuk]

We live in a mid-terrace 1920s house with solid walls. The living room and kitchen have quarry tiles, while the dining room has a suspended floor. The main problem at the moment is in the living room. We have damp along two walls, and we also have laminate flooring, which I know isn’t ideal for old solid floors without a DPM. I’ve cut the plaster back to about 2 inches above the floor in case it was drawing moisture up. I also installed Drirods in two walls about 18 months ago, but with only limited success. I think the only real way to tackle this and make the house warmer is to insulate internally.


I’m fairly competent with DIY, but I’ve seen so many different opinions on how this should be done that I’m now a bit lost. Should I batten over the existing wall, or hack the plaster off back to brick first and then batten? Should I install PIR board, plasterboard, then skim? Do I need a vapour barrier? Some people suggest using a breathable insulation instead. To make things more complicated, I have a gas meter and water main right next to the worst wall.

 

[accelerator]

Whereabouts is the damp on the wall? Is it rising damp?

 

[Dereekoo]

Have a look a Kingston K118 brochure for some guidance

 

[cycloneuk]

Whereabouts is the damp on the wall? Is it rising damp?

It’s in patches on the bottom 6 inches of one wall, and on another wall it comes up about 1m, gets worse when the weather is wet.

 

[endecotp]

Can you post some photos of the outside?

Is there any damaged render / failed pointing / leaking gutters / cracked drains etc. etc. ?

Internal insulation is not going to resolve damp coming from outside, only possibly hide it.

 

[foxhole]

Parapet walls on roof?

 

[cycloneuk]

Can you post some photos of the outside?

Is there any damaged render / failed pointing / leaking gutters / cracked drains etc. etc. ?

Internal insulation is not going to resolve damp coming from outside, only possibly hide it.

One of the worst walls is inside a covered alleyway, so there’s no direct exposure to rain along that wall. We do have an incoming water main on that wall, so a leak is a possibility, but the completely separate wall on the other side of the living room also has damp issues.

 

[endecotp]

One of the worst walls is inside a covered alleyway, so there’s no direct exposure to rain along that wall. We do have an incoming water main on that wall, so a leak is a possibility

Do you have a water meter? That makes leaks easier to check, especially if you go away for a few days.

but the completely separate wall on the other side of the living room also has damp issues.

Definitely not condensation?

Post some photos.

 

[cycloneuk]

Do you have a water meter? That makes leaks easier to check, especially if you go away for a few days.



Definitely not condensation?

Post some photos.

We do have a water meter, but it’s in the living room, so there’s no way to detect a leak. Next door have the same issue, although they’ve just had internal insulation, which should fix it—or hide it for a few years if done badly. Not condensation I don't think, could be a combination of rising damp and salts.