Surveyors report problem

[Bayliss]

In the process of selling our current home and have a non dependant offer to purchase. Our problem is that the house has a damp issue to resolve. It is damp along the former exterior wall which is now part of a single story extension built around 50 years ago.
We step down from the original cottage floor, which is now concrete, into the extension . The extension floor, also concrete, is 8 inches lower than cottage floor.

The old original cottage wall is timber framed and wattle daub construction although I believe the old sill beam is now replaced with concrete. The rising damp displays about 2/3 feet high and along the entire length of the wall which is about 30 feet long.
I don't want to throw huge sums of money at the problem but must resolve it or make an allowance for its remedy. Any help and advise would be very much appreciated.

 

[TheForge]

Is the damp apparent on one or both sides of the wall? What are the wall finishes? Do you have a photo?

 

[Roger H]

As said, a photo would help. Have you investigated other ingress possibilities such as defective flashing where the extension abuts the original, perhaps trickling through and only become apparent half way down the wall? Or maybe condensation if this is the lower half of a wall? It would seem tricky for any 'rising damp' (a whole other thread) to get through what sounds like a real mixture of construction materials and then manifest itself in a consistent band.

 

[andrew gayton]

Was the surveyor from a damp proofing company / mortgage company ?

 

[Bayliss]

Thanks for replies. The damp is showing on just one side of the wall, it seems the previous owner used the dreaded 'plastic' emulsion paint to all walls. I have managed to remove the stuff from the kitchen wall and replaced it with a proper breathing paint. Since then (last summer) the wall seems to be taking full advantage of releasing the damp which is now very evident.
The surveyor is a general mortgage chappie, no way am I inviting in a specialist damp surveyor, although I may have to! I will try and post a few images up, but it is for sure damp coming up, I have been monitoring it.
Thanks again.

 

[andrew gayton]

Although the mortgage surveyor will either use a hand held moisture meter or refer you to a specialist. The only way to truly establish moisture levels is via a core sample and a lab (core sample of wall taken to lab, weighed, dryed then re-weighed to establish moisture content [hand held meters are not reliable]) the concrete floor is pushing moisture to base of walling; you might have to provide an evaporisation zone (300/450mm strip of limecrete adjacant to the walling)

 

[Bayliss]

Thanks Andrew, that sounds like a good idea to me.