Alternative damp proofing solutions

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I own a terraced Victorian ground floor flat which is suffering from rising damp in a number of rooms due to ineffective damp-proof courses and high external ground levels.

I was going to get a new damp-proof course installed. However, I have just been told about the "Hydrotek Wallguard" installation of porous ceramic tubes. The benefit being that no replastering is needed, and causes less disruption.

Has anyone heard any success stories about using this installation?

 

[Anonymous]

Is there any possibility the outside ground levels can be lowered?

 

[Anonymous]

I didn't realise you could still obtain those ceramic tube thingys! Not so effective I fear.

What's wrong with the original damp proof course?

 

[Anonymous]

Q. "What's wrong with the original damp proof course?"

A. "high external ground levels"

 

[Anonymous]

I appreciate that high ground levels may be the problem - or part of it - but the original post does say that also there are 'ineffective' damp proof courses as well as high ground levels. It would be interesting to know why they are considered 'ineffective'. Are they considered to be breaking up, for example? This is one thing which 'damp proof specialists' intent on selling chemical injection sometimes claim.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your feedback.

To be honest my "ineffective existing damp proof course" comment came directly from the "damp proof specialist". But I assumed it was ineffective because the splash back (due to the high external ground level) went higher than the current damp proof level.

I am sure it would be possible to lower the ground level, but the damp proof specialist did not think this was necessary on top off a new damp proof course.

I was just wondering if there was a cleaner, less disruptive but also effective solution.

 

[Anonymous]

I it is possible to believe in a 'damp proof specialist'? Will he not sell thomething by his advice?

Nevertheless, rising damp by capillary transport of water in masonry does not exist, because there is not any capillary transport between the fine pores of the stone and the small pores of the mortar. And the possibly rising of damp against the gravity in a render is some centimeters, not more. So there must be other reasons (like hygroscopic salt deposits, rain spraying etc) and methods to get rid with damp walls. If you are interested, on the link are some further details.

Good luck!



What to do against damp walls

 

[Anonymous]

Lowering the ground levels is the cheapest most efficient method.
Even if you need to take further remedial action this is the first job to tackle. One could liken it to turning the tap off.

 

[Anonymous]

Was the 'specialist' a firm which deals mainly in flogging injection damp proofing and cement internal renders then?

Did this person suggest any reasons for the damp other than a possibly spurious one that the existing damp proof course is 'ineffective'?

If ground levels are too high and there is splashing, that's certainly something to eliminate. Then wait and see if the walls dry out!

 

[Anonymous]

"I am sure it would be possible to lower the ground level, but the damp proof specialist did not think this was necessary on top off a new damp proof course. "

Yeah, funny that. Does he sell a product called 'lowering the ground levels'?

I thought not.

Based on what you've said, a permenant reduction of the ground levels sounds like the best thing you can do to reduce the moisture loading on the wall.

Matt Green

 

[Anonymous]

Er - that's Matt Green who really is a 'damp and decay' specialist! There are those who do have specialist expertise... and those who just want to flog you something, eg chemical injection.

 

[Anonymous]

Reducing the ground levels should definitely be the first thing to try as it's the most obvious cause of the damp. We did this six months ago and have noticed an improvement already.

 

[Anonymous]

Gayle - once you've got the ground level down, don't expect everything to dry out immediately. Be patient.

ps What are you going to treat yourself with now you've saved all that money?

 

[Culturealgap]

Hello,

I own a terraced Victorian ground floor flat which is suffering from rising damp in a number of rooms due to ineffective damp-proof courses and high external ground levels.

I was going to get a new damp-proof course installed. However, I have just been told about the "Hydrotek Wallguard" installation of porous ceramic tubes. The benefit being that no replastering is needed, and causes less disruption.

Has anyone heard any success stories about using this installation?

Hello,

I own a terraced Victorian ground floor flat which is suffering from rising damp in a number of rooms due to ineffective damp-proof courses and high external ground levels.

I was going to get a new damp-proof course installed. However, I have just been told about the "Hydrotek Wallguard" installation of porous ceramic tubes. The benefit being that no replastering is needed, and causes less disruption.

Has anyone heard any success stories about using this installation?

I replied to post to do with damp and mentioned the origin of the pipe system.
It was invented by a Swiss naval officer in the early 20th C.
He was given a fatigue which involved white-washing the walls of a fort on one of the lakes.
Because it the work didn't help removing the patching, he invented the pipe system.
When I was repairing some grandfather clocks for an emeritus professor in Liverpool in 1974, he talked about a damp problem, because I had building experience, and mentioned the officer.
The man's name involved Poggen and Pohl.
Prof Thompson was given the Botany chair at Liverpool in the 20s, and we spent many hours talking about all kinds of stuff.
He told me that the tram he used to go to the University had a bad reputation for fleas, so he always carried a damp bar of soap to catch them.

 

[Toby Newell]

I it is possible to believe in a 'damp proof specialist'? Will he not sell thomething by his advice?

Nevertheless, rising damp by capillary transport of water in masonry does not exist, because there is not any capillary transport between the fine pores of the stone and the small pores of the mortar. And the possibly rising of damp against the gravity in a render is some centimeters, not more. So there must be other reasons (like hygroscopic salt deposits, rain spraying etc) and methods to get rid with damp walls. If you are interested, on the link are some further details.

Good luck!



What to do against damp walls

Utter bunkum. Urban myth woo woo. And totally ridiculous. See Skill Builder on youtube. Having read materials engineering I can tell you rising damp is a thing, hence the popularity (and legal requirement) for a DPC for the last 150 years.

Hygroscopic salts?

Okay then. Would you like to take a random wild guess HOW those salts get transported into the brickwork?

Hint. No. Its not the salt fairy.

You can presume that steel reinforced structural concrete at 1:2 is much less porous than your average blue circle 4:1 mix.

Try telling the relatives of the dead at Champlain towers that the "small pores of the mortar" do not absorb water.

Thought experiment...

You lay a concrete floor slab. Where does the water go? It evaporates. How does the water at the bottom and the middle evaporate? Unless you heat it to over 100 degrees centigrade and explode it, or put it into a vacuum the only way the water can evaporate is to migrate to the surface where the vapour pressure is lower. How does it get there? By capillary action.

To the OP, reducing ground levels is paramount, old DPCs rarely fail unless walls have been knocked down. Victorian DPCs were almost always slate, although if its very late it could be bitumen.

If you have cavity walls you could have a lot of snot (yes, that is a technical term for exuding mortar / plaster) that has fallen down and bridged inbetween the cavity above the DPC.

If this is the case the easiest thing is to drill holes at c. 150mm above internal floor levels into a mortar course and insert 'dry rods' there are many brands and all work in the same way. Basically they slowly dissolve over months and migrate (through capilary action - sorry ) through the mortar filling the gaps with highly hydrophobic siloxanes.

This restores any bridged DPC via snot or raised ground levels, as long as you place the sticks at a higher level than tbe bridging.

This costs little and you can do it yourself in a few hours.

Apologies to the woo woo poster, but then you are anonymous, so don't feel bad.

And FYI anon. On an ironicically factual note, diffusive 'dry stick' technology is the current go to technology for creating a post construction retrospective DPC and works soley on the basis of capillary action.

lol, just realised this is a very old resurrected thread, still, rising damp is a thing, we did land on the moon and the earth is an oblate spheroid....