Dampness

[wurzel]

Just wondering if any of you DIY nuts might be able to give me some advice on what could be causing dampness in my house.
I get it on the on the north-west facing wall of the house (i.e. the one that gets all the rain but hardly any sunshine). It's so bad that it causes the plaster on the inside walls to blister and crumble away.

I don't think this is caused by rising damp as the problem is the same both upstairs and downstairs. The roof is sound and so is the pointing. I'm at a complete loss as to what to do with it but I don't want to hire a bunch of flakes to fleece me just yet so any ideas would be most welcome.

[Mich the Tester]

Just wondering if any of you DIY nuts might be able to give me some advice on what could be causing dampness in my house.
I get it on the on the north-west facing wall of the house (i.e. the one that gets all the rain but hardly any sunshine). It's so bad that it causes the plaster on the inside walls to blister and crumble away.

I don't think this is caused by rising damp as the problem is the same both upstairs and downstairs. The roof is sound and so is the pointing. I'm at a complete loss as to what to do with it but I don't want to hire a bunch of flakes to fleece me just yet so any ideas would be most welcome.

Chavs pissing against the wall?

[FiveTimes]

Just wondering if any of you DIY nuts might be able to give me some advice on what could be causing dampness in my house.
I get it on the on the north-west facing wall of the house (i.e. the one that gets all the rain but hardly any sunshine). It's so bad that it causes the plaster on the inside walls to blister and crumble away.

I don't think this is caused by rising damp as the problem is the same both upstairs and downstairs. The roof is sound and so is the pointing. I'm at a complete loss as to what to do with it but I don't want to hire a bunch of flakes to fleece me just yet so any ideas would be most welcome.

Is the guttering all sound ?

[Troll]

Need more info:

Age of property?
Cavity wall insulated?

[wurzel]

It's 300 years old . The problem area is a semi-circular wall (I believe it once housed a spiral staircase) & extends over the whole 2 floors of the house. At one time it would have had the pitched roof extending over it but now it has a flat roof. There's no guttering there - bit difficult fitting guttering round a bend & furthermore, since the roof is flat, the water wouldn't run off anyway.

[DaveB]

Could be a number of things but if you are sure it's not damp coming up past the DPC and it's affecting more than one room on that side of the house then it sounds like the pointing may have gone on the outsidewall. Have you had a look at the condition of the brickwork on the outside? Is there any sign of crumbling of the stonework or the mortar?

If it is that then you will probably need to get the wall cleaned up and repointed and then treated with a weather seal. Depending on the extent of the damage you may need to strip back the plaster on the interior wall and let it dry out properly before re-plastering.

Otherwise condensation can do a lot of damage if it's not managed. Is there any sign of mold in the affected areas? Good ventillation, keeping bathroom and kitchen doors closed to stop moist air circulating around the house and making sure the affected rooms are heated can all help.

[wurzel]

Perhaps the roof and flashing may not be as sound as it looks on first inspection?

Should be sound - I had it redone 3 years ago.

[DimPrawn]

I think the problem is the house is 300 years old. Try upgrading to a modern house, warm, dry and cheap to heat, light and airy too.

HTH

[scooterscot]

I'm in the process in solving a damp problem in a house I let, it's an old victorian house.

I've been using a company called Peter Cox, who seem to know their stuff.

[wurzel]

Otherwise condensation can do a lot of damage if it's not managed. Is there any sign of mold in the affected areas? Good ventillation, keeping bathroom and kitchen doors closed to stop moist air circulating around the house and making sure the affected rooms are heated can all help.

Neither of the affected rooms is heated & there's a lot of black mould appearing on the surface of the plaster.