Keith Bowman
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- Bottom left hand corner of Suffolk
PS and the effectiveness of silicate paints by those who have used them would be interesting too.
- Thread starter Keithj
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skier-hughes said:
Has anyone survived the last three months of biblical rain without some sort of damp? I suspect no amount of french drains and ventilation can keep this magnitude of water at bay! We have been running the stove extra hard to help but a new patch has appeared none the less..
According to the news this sort of weather hasn't happened since 1766 (how the hell do they know?) so our house would have seen this just once before in its history and I'm hoping it won't see it again in our lifetime!
mattice
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- 154
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- Worcestershire
Our french drains are in steady flow - very glad we lowered ground levels and installed last summer. Just returned from a weekend away and a 'spring' has sprung at the corner of the house, must have been running all weekend as it's gouged a channel in the top soil until it hits the french drain
plasticpigeon
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- Birmingham
We don't seem to be suffering with damp thank goodness, although there is lots of wind and rain. One of the better things about the midlands is that wherever the weather comes from, the rest of the country gets it before us!!!
tobydog
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- South Suffolk
Thankfully the soil where we live in the Shotley penninsula in Suffolk is superb loamy sand and very free draining. Just finished digging the pond (7m x 5m by hand - kidney shaped!) and it's a metre deep at one end but shallow in the other. Even though I was into subsoil, after the horrendous downpour on Friday, it all drained away by the following morning.
Not to feel left out, I do have a damp patch. I rebuilt 10ft on sole plate plinth last summer in brick, tile and NHL3.5. I rendered it in lime putty. For some reason a patch the size of a small side plate was covered in salts in a place that was previously dry. I know salts can upset damp meters so I've hoovered them up and wiped the area down. I'll check again in a while. The odd thing is that before I took the cement off, I recall having a very similar situation to Keith where a puddle of water appeared in this same place on the floor. No evidence of where it came from but we are cement rendered on the outside and the wall is sound (at least in this place :roll: ). For salts to appear it has to be from the inside so I'll keep a watch on it.
You'll all be glad to hear that now I've laid the liner and therefore we will be entering a drought period. Emptied two water butts into it and it hardly made any impression. Due to the shape of the pond I have quite a bit of excess liner so I've shaped the edges to work as a massive rain catchment area. I'll post some pics at some point Joce.
Not to feel left out, I do have a damp patch. I rebuilt 10ft on sole plate plinth last summer in brick, tile and NHL3.5. I rendered it in lime putty. For some reason a patch the size of a small side plate was covered in salts in a place that was previously dry. I know salts can upset damp meters so I've hoovered them up and wiped the area down. I'll check again in a while. The odd thing is that before I took the cement off, I recall having a very similar situation to Keith where a puddle of water appeared in this same place on the floor. No evidence of where it came from but we are cement rendered on the outside and the wall is sound (at least in this place :roll: ). For salts to appear it has to be from the inside so I'll keep a watch on it.
You'll all be glad to hear that now I've laid the liner and therefore we will be entering a drought period. Emptied two water butts into it and it hardly made any impression. Due to the shape of the pond I have quite a bit of excess liner so I've shaped the edges to work as a massive rain catchment area. I'll post some pics at some point Joce.
MatthewC
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Actually, yes, we have stayed quite dry inside. I'm not superstitious but I have been keeping quiet about it for fear of some sort of retribution.Ebenezer said:
malcolm
& Clementine the cat
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- Bedfordshire
I had a problem with a leaky wall in the last (rented) house. It used to rain inside when the rain was blown in exactly the right direction. Landlord had had the stone wall re-pointed (in cement of course) and all looked good (apart from the leak was still there). Flatmate found the trouble by pointing a hose at the wall. It was a gap that was not visually noticeable.
Oddly enough I've got a similar problem with a window in the toilet block. Only when the wind is in the right direction. When the wind is in the wrong direction it comes through the skylight instead. You might find the leak with sustained hosepipe checks.
Beware of tracking. One of our flat roof leaks causes a sudden downpour inside about an hour after heavy rain. Water is getting through the roof somewhere and taking an hour to make it's way to the ceiling. From there ironically it drips onto a cabinet where the plans for a pitched roof are stored. It's going to need a few days of hosepipe in different areas to find.
Oddly enough I've got a similar problem with a window in the toilet block. Only when the wind is in the right direction. When the wind is in the wrong direction it comes through the skylight instead. You might find the leak with sustained hosepipe checks.
Beware of tracking. One of our flat roof leaks causes a sudden downpour inside about an hour after heavy rain. Water is getting through the roof somewhere and taking an hour to make it's way to the ceiling. From there ironically it drips onto a cabinet where the plans for a pitched roof are stored. It's going to need a few days of hosepipe in different areas to find.
LadyArowana
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Ebenezer said:
So far I seem to be OK in the 5th floor apartment............. There was a damp patch evident on my last visit, a smallish one near a window by the balcony. There was a suspicious crack outside and whilst nobody really thought that was the cause ( the building surveyor looked, their builders looked, my builder looked ) we were all unable to locate a better candidate. Consensus was that if it had come from somewhere else then the damp patch wouldn't have just been where it was. So we decided to repair that, draw around the patch and check it again this visit. The surveyor has been and looked and I have looked and the patch doesn't seem to have changed from when we drew around it. So we decided that unlikely as it seems the repair has sorted the issue and we are moving along to getting the little bit of decorating done. At which point of course the freaky weather conditions that caused it will probably return and the merry go round will begin again. At least I don't seem to have an aquarium situation with the double glazing like last time...... Always something with these old places isn't there.....
Keithj
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- Witnesham, Suffolk
The lack of deluges in the past couple of weeks has meant no more puddles inside. I've decided that the first plan this coming spring will be tarpaulin off (it's still on, and doing a good job), followed by clear mastic in the visible gaps and some squirting with a hosepipe to check it worked. Not a "genuine" fix, but puddles on the floor aren't genuine either...
I reckon Dow Corning 791T Transparent Weatherproofing Silicone Sealant (forced into the gaps between oak and lime) will not prevent adequate breathing will but keep the worst of the wet out. Any dissenters?
The other worry the weather has left is that the lime render is bubbling in patches here and there. A thin skim (1 - 2 mm thick) is coming off. It's the pink of the outside limewash on one side, and clear white on the other. It also seems to be haired. Is this an over-thin outer coat of lime over the "scratch coat"? It's happening in large enough patches that it will need some careful repair work rather than just filling in. I suspect there was a gap which filled with water and froze.
I'm not inclined to bring back the last builder (the good workers were all sacked because he found some cheaper ones), and the technical adviser who was very good has disappeared from sight. I'm hoping for the one remaining lime expert who is still around, otherwise it's going to be back to Anglia Lime for advice.
I reckon Dow Corning 791T Transparent Weatherproofing Silicone Sealant (forced into the gaps between oak and lime) will not prevent adequate breathing will but keep the worst of the wet out. Any dissenters?
The other worry the weather has left is that the lime render is bubbling in patches here and there. A thin skim (1 - 2 mm thick) is coming off. It's the pink of the outside limewash on one side, and clear white on the other. It also seems to be haired. Is this an over-thin outer coat of lime over the "scratch coat"? It's happening in large enough patches that it will need some careful repair work rather than just filling in. I suspect there was a gap which filled with water and froze.
I'm not inclined to bring back the last builder (the good workers were all sacked because he found some cheaper ones), and the technical adviser who was very good has disappeared from sight. I'm hoping for the one remaining lime expert who is still around, otherwise it's going to be back to Anglia Lime for advice.
Dow Corning is good product ,low modulus silicons
which alcohol cure instead of acetic acid cure are better because they set softer
And have a lot more stretch if the wood shrinks or panels move .surfaces need to be dry for application!
Another choice ,Polysulphide mastic like Sikaflex can be applied to wet surfaces but I think only comes in white cream brown or black
Sets like rubber and can be over painted ,again I would choose lowest modulus you can get.
Avoid any mastic with acrylic content they often dry out and crack when used in these type of application.
which alcohol cure instead of acetic acid cure are better because they set softer
And have a lot more stretch if the wood shrinks or panels move .surfaces need to be dry for application!
Another choice ,Polysulphide mastic like Sikaflex can be applied to wet surfaces but I think only comes in white cream brown or black
Sets like rubber and can be over painted ,again I would choose lowest modulus you can get.
Avoid any mastic with acrylic content they often dry out and crack when used in these type of application.
CliffordPope
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Keith Bowman said:
My contribution here is that they may perhaps work.
Last year we had drips coming through the inside a big old chimney which had recently been re-pointed in lime mortar, and the top few feet rebuilt. Last summer I treated the whole thing with silicate paint - the white stuff that dries colourless, and this winter not a drop of water came through.
There is however a big drip inside the gable end, but that appears to be faulty flashing where the stonework has shrunk away from the lead. It's been too wet and windy, and now cold, to investigate yet.
Keithj
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- Witnesham, Suffolk
Well, our expert adviser came round yesterday. He's very much a purist about lime and how things should be done. When I mentioned clear mastic, he almost left again!
He took a careful look and diagnosed that the water that's coming in is percolating through the lime. It only does it when it rains heavily while there's a strong wind blowing: there's a "fillet" at the bottom of the wall panel which olds the water back enough for that to happen.
The fix is to remove the bottom 3 inches or so of the lime (above the fillet), insert a lead section from there down to and over the plate, then laths over that and lime over the top. He didn't particularly like that, but reckoned it was the best (probably only) solution. He spotted a few other things that hadn't been done "right" in the repairs, but we think we can live with those - some of the insides of the walls are plasterboard and gypsum, which explains the staining that's appearing. Paint and repaint...
He took a careful look and diagnosed that the water that's coming in is percolating through the lime. It only does it when it rains heavily while there's a strong wind blowing: there's a "fillet" at the bottom of the wall panel which olds the water back enough for that to happen.
The fix is to remove the bottom 3 inches or so of the lime (above the fillet), insert a lead section from there down to and over the plate, then laths over that and lime over the top. He didn't particularly like that, but reckoned it was the best (probably only) solution. He spotted a few other things that hadn't been done "right" in the repairs, but we think we can live with those - some of the insides of the walls are plasterboard and gypsum, which explains the staining that's appearing. Paint and repaint...