Dampness in Old houses.

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Discussion

kurt535

Original Poster:

3,559 posts

116 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
Just a link to a site I quite like.

Humbled me in several areas after I thought through what was said and what the reasoning was behind it.

Hope it helps.


http://www.heritage-house.org/managing-damp-in-old...

Grandad Gaz

5,090 posts

245 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting.

That just reinforces my opinion of surveyors!

Matt-il77s

330 posts

89 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
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My home is 1915 and before I moved in the previous seller paid to have rising damp treated on an internal wall which I always thought was strange, but I guess they just did what the damp company told them needed doing

B17NNS

18,506 posts

246 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
Matt-il77s said:
My home is 1915 and before I moved in the previous seller paid to have rising damp treated on an internal wall which I always thought was strange, but I guess they just did what the damp company told them needed doing
Internal solid walls can be affected by rising damp just as external walls. They're built into the ground and need a DPC just the same.

Matt-il77s

330 posts

89 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
B17NNS said:
Internal solid walls can be affected by rising damp just as external walls. They're built into the ground and need a DPC just the same.
Interesting, never knew that!

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
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Also, if the house is built correctly you don't need a DPC.

kurt535

Original Poster:

3,559 posts

116 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
jason61c said:
Also, if the house is built correctly you don't need a DPC.
It would appear so! The web page said how they couldn't replicate the 1m rising damp; it appears the damp reached the first course and then exited through the lime mortar. Interesting stuff.

C Lee Farquar

4,066 posts

215 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
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For balance a website from another consultant RTS

Some interesting points on rising damp http://buildingpreservation.com/images/stories/pdf...

I've been on a couple of training courses with him.

He, quite reasonably IMO, points out that a newly built lime wall will not act the same way as a carbonated 80 year old wall.

Ground salts are interesting (If you're interested in old buildings!)

stewjohnst

2,442 posts

160 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
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Also worth looking at

https://www.spab.org.uk

For some of their videos and advice on older houses, we've had the full range of damp and rot, etc in our house thanks latterly to ignorant/negligent former owners.


kurt535

Original Poster:

3,559 posts

116 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
C Lee Farquar said:
For balance a website from another consultant RTS

Some interesting points on rising damp http://buildingpreservation.com/images/stories/pdf...

I've been on a couple of training courses with him.

He, quite reasonably IMO, points out that a newly built lime wall will not act the same way as a carbonated 80 year old wall.

Ground salts are interesting (If you're interested in old buildings!)
Read it but got a bit lost a after a few pages with his bashing of the lad Jeff. What does he suggest as his cures?

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
The largest enemy is modern materials.

C Lee Farquar

4,066 posts

215 months

Sunday 23rd April 2017
quotequote all
The emphasis is more on cause, extent and affect. Misdiagnosis being a common problem.

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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It is an interesting subject.

I wonder how many millions have been wasted on dpc injection rubbish when ground levels just needed sorting? Or how many houses have been tanked, just masking the problems for a while, instead of using the correct materials!?

sidekickdmr

5,065 posts

205 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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Our 1700's solid slate walled cottage had been rendered both internally and externally with cement based products

I spent all of last week with a jackhammer removing the cement plaster and this week i have the plasteres in re-doing it all in Lime

Hope it works and is woth it

If I see an improvement i will be doing the same on the outside asap

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Monday 24th April 2017
quotequote all
sidekickdmr said:
Our 1700's solid slate walled cottage had been rendered both internally and externally with cement based products

I spent all of last week with a jackhammer removing the cement plaster and this week i have the plasteres in re-doing it all in Lime

Hope it works and is woth it

If I see an improvement i will be doing the same on the outside asap
you should leave it to dry out for a while first.

sidekickdmr

5,065 posts

205 months

Monday 24th April 2017
quotequote all
jason61c said:
you should leave it to dry out for a while first.
To be fair our damp issue was minimal, all of the walls had a slight dampness, and where there was no airflow (behind kitchen cabinets etc) it was pretty manky, but none of the walls were "Wet", especially as its been dry a number of weeks now.

Yidwann

1,872 posts

209 months

Monday 24th April 2017
quotequote all
I had issues with the cavity wall insulation that was put in bridging the DPC, and also the fact that it was a proper "on a grant" job that some of the repointing that was done when it was installed was so rushed, water ingress had to go the rockwool insulation, so that was damp pressing against the interior walls.

Few bricks out, a boroscope and a large industrial hoover later, all good! And not a patch of damp since!

Autopilot

1,298 posts

183 months

Monday 24th April 2017
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jason61c said:
The largest enemy is modern materials.
And modern living!

Old house are meant to breathe, but materials as you've pointed out, stop that happening. Combine that with cooking, bathing, showering, hanging washing up everywhere etc etc, then you've got a house that doesn't work properly any more.

Autopilot

1,298 posts

183 months

Monday 24th April 2017
quotequote all
kurt535 said:
Just a link to a site I quite like.

Humbled me in several areas after I thought through what was said and what the reasoning was behind it.

Hope it helps.


http://www.heritage-house.org/managing-damp-in-old...
I've posted a link to this site on here before. I think I actually found out about it on here in the first place. Either way, it makes for a very interesting read!

kurt535

Original Poster:

3,559 posts

116 months

Monday 24th April 2017
quotequote all
Spent the day taking external concrete render off a 200 year old brick work today. We also dug out the usual offending soil level to below the internal floor level.

We patched an internal piece of brick work with lime last week to support it in preparation of todays activities.

It had stayed visibly damp since application but within an hour of removing the external stuff, the water level had dropped at least an inch!

Can't believe Im excited to see how far its dropped tomorrow.