Damp problem, seeking advice

[Mike Muz]

clean the walls properly to remove any mould or mess that may have developed, and open a window or 2. if the external walling has any cracks etc this will allow moiture to enter the internal skin thus developing damp walls. you really do air flow around buildings, old solid wall houses have very little but the old timber floor helped as air flowed through airbricks but not always on upper floor levels. a good idea is a small brick sized air vent in the walls, this allow air to flow getting rid of warm moisture fro the inside of you home. many have sliders which allow you to close them to stop unwanted drafts and cold entering, but seriously, ita all about the flow....man

Thanks for your help

We did - well Mrs Muz - cleaned the walls with neat bleach and it came off well. Couldn't see there had been a problem at all.
The hardboard back panels/drawer bottoms seemed to be the worst affected. She's now decided to paint those.
Like a good, supportive partner, I got the paint out of the loft for her. Really don't want her going up there! :shock:

Mike

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

I did wonder whether cavity wall insulation would help.
Strange thing is, it's only where both the bedroom outside walls meet the terrace wall ON ONE SIDE of the house. The other corners are ok
No sign of damp at all.

I have also noticed how busy this forum gets when Call The Midwife is on !

Mike

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Tren . . . . What is , er, oh it doesn't really matter. Is ES a biker ?

 

[longun]

Re:

Its the cavity that stops moisture bridging the wall, all the insulation does is trap the air circulating around it. Check for cracks etc first and re point if need be. But, any insulation you can get, get but sort any issues first. If its a solid wall all you can do if apply batterns and insulation to the inner skin but will be costly etc. To check its a solid wall look at the external brick. If there's an courses of brickwork showing headers/1/2 bricks it'll be solid, or measure the wall thickness at the windows. Owt around the 230mm overall is solid.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re: Re:

Its the cavity that stops moisture bridging the wall, all the insulation does is trap the air circulating around it. Check for cracks etc first and re point if need be. But, any insulation you can get, get but sort any issues first. If its a solid wall all you can do if apply batterns and insulation to the inner skin but will be costly etc. To check its a solid wall look at the external brick. If there's an courses of brickwork showing headers/1/2 bricks it'll be solid, or measure the wall thickness at the windows. Owt around the 230mm overall is solid.

Cheers buddy, I'll take a look tomorrow, when it's light

I think Hammond's crotch is damp too, which makes it relevant to this thread!

That really is a mental image I could do without mate :facepalm:

Mike

 

[Mike Muz]

Just be really careful to get a certified expert. We had a crew in to knock out our coal bunkers and they were recommending tanking the walls of our basement, even though at that point they were totally stand alone and above ground, apart from a single party wall. Cowboys!

If you really are ' up a ladder outside my window ' can't you take a look ?

I'll bare it in mind mate.

Did you see Countryfile tonight? T'was in Scotland. The mountains are a lot more dramatic than I realized. The lochs look amazing too, but not on a bad day I imagine

Mike

 

[lumos2000]

check the soffits and guttering are ok in that area and look at all the joist in the loft, keep in mind the water can get in somewhere else and track along beams etc

 

[magicmistertea]

Re:

Damp can be a nightmare to sort out and as mentioned by others could be a number of things. Air circulation is very important but because you say its in specific areas im guessing its a problem with the building.
Q .. are you sure you have cavity walls ? and not solid stone/brick walls ? many solid walls have been badly repaired/rendered/pointed with sand and cement which causes issues in itself ( Hydraulic lime mortar is a much better material)

If you do have a cavity the problem could be a "cold bridge" between the two skins... this can happen even on the upper levels with the wall ties being covered in mortar when it was built.

so many issues here.... could be a bridge in the cavity with capillary reaction sucking the water through... are the internal walls modern gypsum plaster ? is it plasterboard with modern gypsum ? are the walls dot n dabbed ? is it solid render on the internal skin.. is it lime and lath ?? to sort the problem you really need to know all these things so you can understand whats happening.

Another thing I would add is that I would think twice about having your cavity walls insulated as this can often result in making the problem worse, this is because they drill holes and literally fill the cavity so you don't have any clear air gap. The way we build houses is to place solid 50-75mm cavity insulation batts against the inner skin while keeping a clear 50mm air gap towards the outer skin.

What I would do as other have said is to check for obvious defects outside first and that includes the roof as the problem could be several meters away from where you actually see it on the wall. if you don't find any obvious defects and the problem persists even with good air flow around the house. then I would remove a brick or two from the outer skin and put a camera in the cavity to see whats going on.

To summarize .... it could be many things and can take even the pros lots of time to sort out.

 

[twain]

clean it, paint over it and stick a nice joss stick in the room.
but seriously, i've had really bad mould problems in our first floor flat, all resolved by moving furniture away from the walls, cleaning, drying, then applying mould resistant paint on and adding a dehumidifier to each room for a few hours a couple of days a week.
you can investigate till your broke and broken and still not completely eradicate it.
my bathroom is a pain in the arse. cant even apply paint to one of the walls for it flaking off about a week later (think the problem is that an old bath drain outlet pipe is still attached to the outside wall - creating a 'cold air bridge'(sic) so the moisture comes right through and peels paint away.
ive given up trying to figure out another way of solving it, without having to get scaffolding in (its on a really awkward part of the outside wall right above the below flats massive conservatory) so i just sand it back and paint over it again every now and then.

air flow is the key thing here. keeping your place as dry as you can, and treat it with some lovely chemical paint.
the back of our drawers was green once, when i went to wipe it off, spores went everywhere - wiping with a damp cloth prevented it kicking up so much, so be careful when removing mould, although ive read its the black stuff thats the nasty stuff, but dont quote me on it.

we have a mixture of cavity walls and solid brick walls. sod getting stuff done to the outside - all sorts of bullshit costs and permissons are probably needed. so do the cheapest and easiest methods first. if they work - or make it liveable, then why bother doing anything else? life is too short. just spend more time out on your bikes

 

[Harryburgundy]

Re: Re:

maybe you're having too much nookie? All that gruntin' and groanin', heavy breathing and sweaty endeavour doesn't 'alf produce some moisture!

PMSL