Boring rising damp - sorry!

[Bayliss]

The end gable wall in our timber framed cottage has been replaced at some point to 9'' solid brick. Damp from the floor level has risen up to about 14'' high on the internal plaster work and its well past its useful life. Its been like it since we moved in 8/9 years back, maybe got very slightly worse. I am now going to hack off back to brick all the blown plaster and replace with lime plaster. Guess that the new plaster will breathe and any damp naturally evaporate out into the room?
Any guidance appreciated.

 

[middi]

The bad news is that ,obviously, there is no damp course ( slates, felt or other) to stop the capillary action of damp/water being " sucked" from below ground level all the way up to a point where the natural evaporation process dries the wall enough for the dampness to slowly stabilise, in your case one or two feet above interior floor level. In some cases it could be more than 6 feet, it depeds on geographical situation of a building in relation to natural ground drainage, type of bricks used, height of exterior ground level to interior and efficiency of gutter drainage.

The good news is that the house will not collapse, it will just be damp and unsightly ( as you have gathered by the few years you have lived there)

The harsh reality is that you will never stop those bricks sucking up moisture, regardless what you cover them with.You can certainly make sure that you have an efficient system to remove excess surface water away from the base walls and that the external ground level is as low as possible in relation to the internal floor level.

Lime plastering the walls will help dissipate any moisture, if there is good heat and ventilation, what will not do is change the rate at which this moisture is being "sucked" up the walls from the ground given the status quo.

You have to decide if you want to " manage and contain" the damp or completely eliminate it.
The former is probably a much easier and accepable solution. The latter would require the installation of a damp course system and this can only be done following a good survey to ascertain if suitable to your type of dwelling

Middi

 

[vicky whitworth]

Or tanking the b*****d :lol:
Learn to love your damp. It's like watching a living creature breathe as the moisture goes up the wall and then disappears. Ours goes about a foot up the walls in a couple of places in the parlour and our french drain, lime plaster, excellent guttering and all other defences can't keep it out. I've surrendered.

 

[Bayliss]

Thanks for responses, I will see how we get on with lime plaster for a few years I think.

 

[MdB]

I take it you have done the usual stuff of sorting out outside ground levels and any water being discharged locally into the ground? That and changing to lime render should hopefully sort you out.

We have a very high water table here (it can be 200mm or so below floor level), no DPC in our old walls and stone that sucks up water like a sponge. The walls were also ringing damp. Removing the cement and repointing in lime sorted it and we have no noticeable damp at all so it can be done.

 

[Bayliss]

I take it you have done the usual stuff of sorting out outside ground levels and any water being discharged locally into the ground? That and changing to lime render should hopefully sort you out.

We have a very high water table here (it can be 200mm or so below floor level), no DPC in our old walls and stone that sucks up water like a sponge. The walls were also ringing damp. Removing the cement and repointing in lime sorted it and we have no noticeable damp at all so it can be done.

Thanks Midi, yes we did have a bay window gutter discharge to the corner of the wall, I fed this into a water butt several years back and that helped. Also we removed concrete paving slabs running along the length of the gable wall,dug down a little and replaced with shingle. Again that has helped. We need to remove a heating radiator next which is on the affected wall (typical isn't it) and then down to business.