Damp on internal walls

Mr.Stu

Mr.Stu

Mr.Stu

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As I continue to rip this house apart I've come across an area of concern. Looking for advice, not sure where to start on something like this.

The area in question is shown on the flooplan below. It is in the corner of the former kitchen, nothing to note on the floor above in that position, and the damp appears to be bottom-up anyway.

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Few pics of the problem spot:

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My plan is to remove the tiles and boxing from the potential problem spot above and hope its a leaky radiator pipe.

However - if its not that, what are my option? Any ideas what could be the root cause - faulty DPC?

How would you tackle this?
 
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The way the pipe work is done in dinning room is also naff going through the skirting.
Leaky pipe high on my list, mortar can rot copper pipe, also dodgy soldering?

I would remove boxing carefully & see what you find & then report back.
 
Thanks night glow, I'll see if I can get the boxing off without trashing the place. Any tips on that front?

I owe you several beers - you've helped me a lot over the past couple of months :)
 
It would be easy with a Oscillating Multi-Tool to remove the grout between the tiles.

Hard to say, depends how it was fitted, how well it's been tiled, might just fall apart once you start poking, or a right bugger to remove.
Will most likely loose a few tiles, just take your time.

Once you get the top row off, the front tiles should be easy to remove, with a old chisel lightly tapped with a hammer put behind tiles, might even do with a wide scrapper slid down behind, depending how well they are attached.
 
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I have same problem with damp on internal walls. Some in middle of my house between kitchen and living room on living room wall. And some in the little passage area between kitchen and bathroom which is an extension built on but at least 40-50 years old.
 
LeeUK said:
I have same problem with damp on internal walls. Some in middle of my house between kitchen and living room on living room wall. And some in the little passage area between kitchen and bathroom which is an extension built on but at least 40-50 years old.
Click to expand...

Agree it could be internal damp, but rising damp would usually leave a stain, also salts present you would see, I would eliminate the central heating pipes from any leaks first.

Could have easily snicked a pipe with a screw, panel pin fitting the boxing around the pipe work.
 
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As an update. Rad is fine, DPC seems to have failed.

I've removed the radiator, skirting (major ball ache) and knocked 1m of plaster of all along the wall.

Quotes to inject new DPC are in the region of £250 + vat.... reading up on the process it doesn't seem to be rocket science. £30 for a couple of tubes of cream? Anyone DIY'ed it?
 
Yep. I've done it myself in the kitchen. We rebuilt a corner with new DPM and still had damp issues. Couldnt work out where from so used the injected stuff and no issue since..
 
If youre going to use the cream, you'll have to remove the render/plaster. Supposed to take it off up to a meter high, (foot or so will be fine above the damp patch) If you dont remove it it wont work properly. Drill your holes, inject cream, cap off with sand/cement mix, Let the walls dry for a few days, re render/plaster . V easy job and if done properly, will work. If it's not done as above it won't work how it's intended. Up to you though how you want to do it. But above is the intended proper way. Did a job a couple of months back with the same method and has been perfect since with no issues.

After re reading and noticing you have knocked your render off go ahead, Drill your holes and pump it in yourself :) you've done the worst bit tbh. Jewsons sell the cream and can hire the applicator gun from them too. Just cap the holes off as I said. wait a few days for it to dry out then re plaster. If you add a waterproofer to your cement mix and add grit sand to your mix, it allows the render to breathe too.
 
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I had damp similar but on external walls. Hacked off the render up to 1m, re rendered with sharp sand, cement and a splash of Renderpel, then plasterboarded over that. Great finish and no more damp! Messy, depressing job though.
 
Where would you drill for the new injection?

Here is a slightly old pic before I hacked off everything.

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Original DPC seems to sit in mortar above first brick. Would you drill in to the same mortar or go one joint above?
 
Around every 4" on the bed joint where a perp (upright is) That way the cream soaks in along the bed joint as well as up/down the perp. On the joint below the DPC ideally but in your case it looks like you will have to go above. As low as you can get it ideally.
 
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Like this?

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Off topic, the guys who quoted £250+vat to inject the gel also quoted another £300+vat to do the rendering after!

My usual plasterer will do the entire room for less! Guess I just need to make sure he uses the right stuff not he render before full skim.
 
Don't let the plasterer plaster straight onto the brick - if you do that I predict you'll be straight back to square one.
 
Also in between the red markers. Every 4" so it hits all the perps. Make sure he doesn't render right down to the floor too as this causes rising damp, stay a couple of inches above. I'm sure he'll know. Let the walls dry out for a few days before rendering. Pop some waterproofer and grit in to the mix and it will breathe nicely and you shouldn't have any problems.
 
Really? I thought rendering straight on to the brick is the norm even after DPC fix? Render with the right mix, wait a day, then come back and skim?
 
Correct. You injecting cream is forming a new DPC. Thus stopping any future rising damp. Just let the wall dry out before rendering. Cream-cap off-dry out-render-skim.
 
Mr.Stu said:
Really? I thought rendering straight on to the brick is the norm even after DPC fix? Render with the right mix, wait a day, then come back and skim?
Click to expand...

I said don't let him PLASTER directly onto the brick. Render, then plaster, yes. Hence my comment "don't let him PLASTER directly onto the brick" :p
 
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