Evening all,
First post from me and, inevitably, a request for advice...
My house is a late-Victorian, two bedroom mid-terrace with sandstone walls. Internal modernisation was carried out at some time in the '80s, when the staircase was moved and back bedroom split to create a bathroom and box room. From the pattern of circular marks on the front stonework, I assume a DPC was fitted at some point, but I have no further information on that. uPVC windows have been in place for at least the past ten years, probably longer, as have the gas fires, which replaced the original coal fires.
Since buying the house in 2000 I have been dimly aware that there might be a damp-related problem in the living room, my suspicions being mainly aroused by peeling of the wallpaper in some places. Through lazyness I have ignored the problem until just recently, when I decided it was time to sort it out once and for all.
The walls in the living room are divided by dado rails roughly 1m above floor height, and the wallpaper is different above and below the dado rail. Above the rail there are two layers of lining paper which have been painted. There is no evidence of damp that I can see, with the paper and plaster feeling bone-dry. Below the dado rail there are again two layers of lining paper, overlaid with a textured paper which may or may not be vinyl (it's hard to tell). In addition, the whole has been painted with at least six layers of various kinds of paint. It is on the lower section of the walls that I have the damp problem. The paper has been peeling at the edges for a long time, and when I finally got around to stripping it the textured layer pulled away very easily, leaving the lining paper underneath, which was noticeably damp and accompanied by a distinct musty smell. Interestingly, the outer surface of the textured paper never felt damp - I guess all those layers of paint must have made it somewhat impermeable! After completely stripping the lower parts of the walls today, the plaster has started to dry already, except for the couple of places where the paper was originally peeling.
Having read the advice at;
http://www.heritage-house.org/index.html
and
http://www.pdoyle.net/content/view/13/17/
I am inclined to think that this is a condensation and/or wall-breathing problem rather than something like rising damp. My belief is that the excessively thick paper/paint combination on the lower walls has trapped dampness against the wall, with this being exacerbated by the lack of ventilation which I have allowed to occur until recently. Interestingly, half way along one wall the thick, heavily painted paper changes to a normal single-layer of paper and the damp problem abruptly ceases, which reinforces my belief that the paper is to blame. I don't know what kind of plaster has been used in the room, but it is beige/pink in colour, and seems to be undamaged with no crumbling or bulging.
There are a couple of things I'd really appreciate your opinions on;
1) Do my assumptions above sound reasonable? I've never had to deal with anything like this before, so any comments would be very welcome.
2) If this is a "wall breathing" problem, are there any off-the-shelf wallpapers and paints which are particularly permeable to moisture? I'm guessing that anything with "vinyl" in the title should be avoided.
3) Typically how long would the remaining damp patches take to dry if they are left uncovered in a well-ventilated environment?
Thanks in advance for any comments or observations.
Chris.
First post from me and, inevitably, a request for advice...
My house is a late-Victorian, two bedroom mid-terrace with sandstone walls. Internal modernisation was carried out at some time in the '80s, when the staircase was moved and back bedroom split to create a bathroom and box room. From the pattern of circular marks on the front stonework, I assume a DPC was fitted at some point, but I have no further information on that. uPVC windows have been in place for at least the past ten years, probably longer, as have the gas fires, which replaced the original coal fires.
Since buying the house in 2000 I have been dimly aware that there might be a damp-related problem in the living room, my suspicions being mainly aroused by peeling of the wallpaper in some places. Through lazyness I have ignored the problem until just recently, when I decided it was time to sort it out once and for all.
The walls in the living room are divided by dado rails roughly 1m above floor height, and the wallpaper is different above and below the dado rail. Above the rail there are two layers of lining paper which have been painted. There is no evidence of damp that I can see, with the paper and plaster feeling bone-dry. Below the dado rail there are again two layers of lining paper, overlaid with a textured paper which may or may not be vinyl (it's hard to tell). In addition, the whole has been painted with at least six layers of various kinds of paint. It is on the lower section of the walls that I have the damp problem. The paper has been peeling at the edges for a long time, and when I finally got around to stripping it the textured layer pulled away very easily, leaving the lining paper underneath, which was noticeably damp and accompanied by a distinct musty smell. Interestingly, the outer surface of the textured paper never felt damp - I guess all those layers of paint must have made it somewhat impermeable! After completely stripping the lower parts of the walls today, the plaster has started to dry already, except for the couple of places where the paper was originally peeling.
Having read the advice at;
http://www.heritage-house.org/index.html
and
http://www.pdoyle.net/content/view/13/17/
I am inclined to think that this is a condensation and/or wall-breathing problem rather than something like rising damp. My belief is that the excessively thick paper/paint combination on the lower walls has trapped dampness against the wall, with this being exacerbated by the lack of ventilation which I have allowed to occur until recently. Interestingly, half way along one wall the thick, heavily painted paper changes to a normal single-layer of paper and the damp problem abruptly ceases, which reinforces my belief that the paper is to blame. I don't know what kind of plaster has been used in the room, but it is beige/pink in colour, and seems to be undamaged with no crumbling or bulging.
There are a couple of things I'd really appreciate your opinions on;
1) Do my assumptions above sound reasonable? I've never had to deal with anything like this before, so any comments would be very welcome.
2) If this is a "wall breathing" problem, are there any off-the-shelf wallpapers and paints which are particularly permeable to moisture? I'm guessing that anything with "vinyl" in the title should be avoided.
3) Typically how long would the remaining damp patches take to dry if they are left uncovered in a well-ventilated environment?
Thanks in advance for any comments or observations.
Chris.
