A
Anonymous
Guest
Hi
We have horrendous rising damp problems in our Victorian terrace (built in 1886). We were aware of the damp when we bought the house (plaster bubbling, falling off walls etc) and were advised to have a chemical damp course injected. As first time buyers we believed this would solve all our problems –ha! Unfortunately, only 9 months after having the remedial works carried out, damp has started to reappear. We’ve investigated further, by chipping away rendering (the back of the house was rendered down to the paving stones, internally it was plastered to the ground with no gap for a skirting board) which uncovered bricks missing at the base of the external wall; we have bricked up the hole and inserted a sheet of damp proof membrane. We are also in the process of repointing the bottom of the old rendered brickwork and when the pointing has dried, are going to paint the bricks with a rubber bitumen based paint. As the external (and internal bricks) are sodden I’m unsure about sealing the bricks just yet, as I’m assuming this would trap moisture, how long would you suggest leaving the bricks to dry out?
Another thing which worries me is that our house is built on clay; we’ve been told by one builder that we will always have problems with damp as the ground won’t soak up rain water, is this the case? The ground levels around the house are high in relation to the damp course, we have therefore decided to dig French drains around the property, will this help?
We have also uncovered rotting floor boards near the front door, which only appeared when the rain came, would it be possible to cut these back and replace with new, treated timbers?
Sorry for the long post but any advice would be greatly appreciated. As first time buyers we went into property buying blind and have bought a house that we are starting to hate.
Rebecca
We have horrendous rising damp problems in our Victorian terrace (built in 1886). We were aware of the damp when we bought the house (plaster bubbling, falling off walls etc) and were advised to have a chemical damp course injected. As first time buyers we believed this would solve all our problems –ha! Unfortunately, only 9 months after having the remedial works carried out, damp has started to reappear. We’ve investigated further, by chipping away rendering (the back of the house was rendered down to the paving stones, internally it was plastered to the ground with no gap for a skirting board) which uncovered bricks missing at the base of the external wall; we have bricked up the hole and inserted a sheet of damp proof membrane. We are also in the process of repointing the bottom of the old rendered brickwork and when the pointing has dried, are going to paint the bricks with a rubber bitumen based paint. As the external (and internal bricks) are sodden I’m unsure about sealing the bricks just yet, as I’m assuming this would trap moisture, how long would you suggest leaving the bricks to dry out?
Another thing which worries me is that our house is built on clay; we’ve been told by one builder that we will always have problems with damp as the ground won’t soak up rain water, is this the case? The ground levels around the house are high in relation to the damp course, we have therefore decided to dig French drains around the property, will this help?
We have also uncovered rotting floor boards near the front door, which only appeared when the rain came, would it be possible to cut these back and replace with new, treated timbers?
Sorry for the long post but any advice would be greatly appreciated. As first time buyers we went into property buying blind and have bought a house that we are starting to hate.
Rebecca