Late Victorian-damp on internal wall

[The Limes]

We have recently bought a brick built house that dates to 1893, we have an internal wall under the stairs that shows signs of a crumbling brick face and manifests itself with evidence of what appears to be the result of damp (in the form of flaking paint and small arreas of crumbling plaster), on the other side of this wall in the living room wall.

The floor of the understair area is concrete.

I wondered if given the location of this problem and the evidence of a low level brick return under the stairs if this suggests the existence of a former cellar that has now been externally sealed (one of the previous owners has laid a thick geotextile membrane and covered it with slate chippings right up to the external wall of the house).

Any help greatly appreciated.

J

 

[Feltwell]

Have you got any pictures to post up?

Most houses of that era would have had a cellar, but there won't necessarily be any external evidence or access (they didn't always have a coal hole - my 1899 house hasn't). Internally, under the stairs to the first floor is a common access point, although some houses had the stairs elsewhere.

 

[The Limes]

Thanks for such a prompt response, the attached photograph shows the crumbling brickwork and the return on the wall I referred to.

Regards,

J

 

[Feltwell]

I'm not sure that brick return signifies much - is it just the picture or is it a different colour brick to the wall next to it? If it is then chances are it's been added later in which case it may mean something.

Filling in a cellar would be a big job, there would have to be some specific reason to do it. One I saw was where the home owner was too tight to pay for skips when he extended his house, so all the spoil from his new foundations went into his cellar..... :roll:

Have you any similar neighbouring houses, and do they have cellars? Any neighbours that have been there for a while and will remember work being done?

It looks like what may be happening is that the concrete floor, which looks new and will be impermeable, is stopping any damp from rising through it and so it is instead pushing it up through the neighbouring wall. If that is the case then the floor would need to be broken out and replaced with either a breathable floor construction or a suspended timber floor with a ventilated void beneath. What is the floor construction on the other side of the wall? That could equally be the problem.

Unfortunately during the course of "improvements" sometimes a suspended timber floor is replaced with a solid concrete one, which does the building no favours at all. Have a search on old topics on here and you'll find plenty of information on this.

 

[The Limes]

The attached photograph shows the damage that can be seen on the internal wall the otherside of the wall under the stairs.

Regards,

J

 

[Feltwell]

Is the living room floor new-looking solid concrete as well?