Damp in basement (with lots of pictures!) *LINK*

[Anonymous]

Hi there I'm hoping a picture is worth a thousand words....

We have an end of terrace 1860's Victorian house over three levels in East London. The basement and ground floor hall both have evidence of damp - these being on the flank / end of terrace wall. As can be seen from the pictures the external wall has a driveway at ground level and some sort of render which I guess someone has added to try and fix the damp problems(?)

We've been in the house now for 2 years and want to decorate, and remove the awful polystyrene backed wallpaper in the basement.

We've had approx 4 damp companies in who all say the same - hack of plaster, inject a DPC, do some tanking in the basement etc. etc. Costs vary from 1.8k - 3k. There is an added problem that the electricity supply and fuse box (old type) are on the wall that need to be treated so most companies have said this will need to be moved (I'm guessing this will cost megabucks).

I've read a lot here about removing renders from external walls and wonder what people make of the render that can be seen in the photos?

ANy advice would be great. Many thanks in advance.


Pictures of Damp !!!

 

[Anonymous]

What's the reason for the line of clay (roof?) tiles that appears to run along the wall at the edge of the drive, level with the ground? In one photo it looks as though they are laid on top of some sort of honeycomb material. Have you tried lifting one of them to see what's underneath? I just wonder whether they might be hiding some sort of narrow french drain arrangement that was cut in to dry off the damp wall.

 

[Anonymous]

Not sure why the tiles are there. The "Honeycomb" you refer to is actually just some pitting on the concrete paving slabs laid adjacent to them (you can see the paving slabs in the longer shot).

I could try and pull some up I suppose... though not sure what I should be looking for... same goes for the render - not sure if I should try and chip some away. I also noticed after taking the piccies a lot of fissures/cracks in the large block of render along the flank wall and in one place it looks like someone has tried to fix it with some filler.

 

[Anonymous]

Your roof and guttering is in good order, isn't it?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tom why do you ask? Roof and guttering is fine as far as I know (it's a butterfly/"London" roof with central valley), except...
The Rentokill surveyor did notice that the flank wall was not perfectly vertical and bowed out slightly approx 2 meters from the ground. He said that the coping stones on the roof were not large enough and should be replaced because rainwater was dripping off the side of the house and hitting the brickwork where it bowed out. He didn't think this accounted for all the damp though....

 

[Anonymous]

Just wondered in case water was getting in that way.

 

[Anonymous]

It looks to me as though those sloping tiles need investigating. They seem to have been grouted with cement which has cracked, leaving two lovely channels for rainwater to seep through.
Me, I'd be out there with crowbar, bolster and chisel, doing some energetic archaeology.

 

[Anonymous]

OK Thanks Moo I can get out there with a crowbar but to be honest i'd not have a clue what to look for! What would (should) I expect to see under the clay tiles? What kind of barrier should there be between the soil and the brickwork that makes up the basement? And no-one seems to know what the strange block of render is on the flank wall... why is it there, what does it do?

 

[Anonymous]

A previous owner (I shall call him Mr W) laid a path down the side of the house. He sold the house to Mrs X, who didn't like the look of the path, so she got her nephew to concrete over it. When Mr Y bought it, he didn't like the look of the concrete, and anyway, it sloped down to the house wall, so there were always puddles. So he put down some paving stones to level things up again, and to make extra sure he added those sloping tiles. All carefully bedded in concrete. Which has cracked.
I reckon that's the story I'd reveal in the course of my excavations. I'd remove the lot, right down to the original soil level. Then I'd take some more pictures and post them on this site for the experts to ponder over.

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting thought Moo, thanks for taking the time to write them down. Sounds like I need to do some more digging... quite literally! I'll let the forum know how I get on