Mysterious damp

[Spinkerson]

Hi I live in a Victorian solid wall house and have recently been getting damp in the lower one metre of upstairs bedroom and one metre of room below. The roof is sound and the render has been removed to reveal dry walls behind. This problem gets worse when it rains but no idea why

 

[Feltwell]

Seeing as how it's 1m above and below a floor, have you had some floorboards up to have a good look underneath? Any pipes in the area at all? Water can travel a surprisingly long way. Any chimney flues nearby?

I take it you've been outside when there is a good downpour coming down for a good look? Always worth doing, even if the neighbours will think you've lost the plot. No chance of any guttering above being blocked or overfilling?

I had one that took me ages to find - turned out to be an overflow pipe from a water tank, it was sloping slightly uphill as it left the wall and the tank was overfilling very slightly, just enough for a drip to run back down the outside of the pipe and soak into the wall.

 

[Abi Cott]

I'd be looking for where the gutter down pipe is and if it's fractured at the back. That's often the first place cast iron down pipes go because no one repaints the back of them.

 

[Pennyviz]

is it a party wall?

 

[Spinkerson]

I'd be looking for where the gutter down pipe is and if it's fractured at the back. That's often the first place cast iron down pipes go because no one repaints the back of them.

 

[Spinkerson]

Hi thanks for the reply yes there is a fireplace next to where the damp is which is vented at the bottom and blocked off at the top there is also a liner in an adjacent glue from a log burner which I thought would help

 

[Flyfisher]

I take it you've been outside when there is a good downpour coming down for a good look? Always worth doing, even if the neighbours will think you've lost the plot.

Yes, I’m a strong advocate for that approach and have done it myself many times. It’s surprising what can be seen during a good downpour and even if there are no problems it’s still reassuring to see everything working as it should.