Devon Cobb cottage

[alihBC]

mmmhhh difficile
I see it very simply:
I have a cob/stone house
It has damp around the edge of the interior walls and cold damp underlay /carpet.
I need to fix it.
I understand what a suspended floor is.
I’m just going around in circles:
Surveyor/damp contractor/period property forum/ another surveyor/another damp consultant/
I ll think on…….

 

[Stevers]

When I mentioned that your home looked like it had received a lot of work recently, what I meant was that it will have received some untested, non-traditional upgrades like the one we see here, which could well leave the building worse off than before (see gypsum plaster,cement render, injected DPC etc.). There may need to be some backing out of these repairs with materials and methods more suited to the traditional building that you've acquired - that's if you're not prepared to live with the results of any of those well meaning but sometimes ill-conceived 'upgrades'.

The traditional repairs won't have the energy efficiency that is demanded now, and anything that will have that energy efficiency is by its relative newness - experimental. It's something of a puzzle for those of us in lovely old houses!

 

[alihBC]

Yes I agree with you thank you
I know the building was painted in 2019
some repairs where done to the facade

 

[alihBC]

Yes I agree with you thank you
I know the building was painted in 2019
some repairs where done to the facade

 

[alihBC]

But I don’t think it was fully taken back to lime plaster everywhere

 

[alihBC]

 

[alihBC]

You are definitely educating me about the EPC I never new that
Many thanks
Still working on a plan for the floor and exterior/interior wall / a time scale and a budget !!!

 

[alihBC]

 

[alihBC]

Any takers pls?
Concrete or natural stone/slab
Many thanks

 

[alihBC]

 

[aockenden]

Sure looks like cement from those pics.

 

[Stevers]

Couldn't be sure from the smaller hole, but it does look like concrete in the bigger hole. Is it as damp as it looks?

 

[alihBC]

thank u
No it is wet because I washed it

 

[aockenden]

thank u
No it is wet because I washed it

So your next simple experiment could be to drill down into the cement with a long masonry chisel-bit on a hammer drill and confirm that you hit bare clay underneath that cement (maybe with another plastic DPM underneath). Or you still might find original flooring bricks or flagstones underneath. That would be my expectation anyways. Go slow if you care enough to avoid puncturing that hypothetical second DPM that may exist under the cement.

If you do that and you do find clay or original flooring bricks / flagstones directly underneath, then you will finally understand all layers of your existing flooring system and can make an informed decision about remedial works.

 

[alihBC]

Right I’m on thank u aokendon
I’m on it
Pls may it be good news

 

[alihBC]

Anybody know a cob specialist near Exeter that will come and quote for taking off render and re lime plastering pls?
Mike Wye only sell products now - no one visits.
Many thanks

 

[CobFamilyMan]

Anybody know a cob specialist near Exeter that will come and quote for taking off render and re lime plastering pls?
Mike Wye only sell products now - no one visits.
Many thanks

Hello,

I'm curious to know how things are with your house. We bought a detached cobb cottage four years ago with similar problems. We removed render (and plastic DPC) inside and out on one corner of the house which was really damp and found that the cobb was saturated. It's all dry now, but we haven't done anything else since. We have been thinking about removing part of the concrete floor to see what is underneath. We also have concrete completely surrounding the house on the outside which I'd like to remove at some point. We should compare notes.

 

[Kearn]

Yes I agree with you thank you
I know the building was painted in 2019
some repairs where done to the facade

View attachment 12534

You keep mentioning cob construction, yet this photo is brick under the render. Managing moisture and therefore warmth, will depend on what the render is and whether it’s helping or suffocating. Brick is a bonus over cob in my opinion, far less prone to total collapse…