Help! Damp patches on wall upstairs

[kittenheels]

I'm hoping the EDF hive mind can help...

We live in an end-of-terrace Victorian house, and after the recent wet weather we've noticed some damp patches appearing on the inside of our exterior wall. It's only on the first floor, so it's not rising damp.

We've just had a roofer out, thinking it must be down to slipped tiles, but all our tiles etc seem to be intact. His advice was that it could be down to small cracks in the brickwork and that we should just leave it to dry out.

The issue is, we're expecting a baby in March so I really don't want wet patches all over our walls - and I'm worried it'll ruin the plasterwork. The paintwork is already damaged because of this.

Has anyone had similar problems since the relentless rain? And how did you get it resolved?

[alji]

Hi Kittenheels, I have a similar problem - rain coming in through the walls under one of the windows. Am going to get a builder to look at it - any recommendations gratefully received from you or others. Will let you know how I get on!

[womanofdulwich]

maybe its the cement pointing between the bricks?

[kittenheels]

Thanks Alji, sounds very similar to our issue. Please do keep in touch. I'm hoping it won't be too dramatic to sort this out swiftly!

Womanofdulwich - yes, I'm wondering if that might be the case. Have you had the same problem? Any recommendations for a great builder to come and take a look would be brilliant.

[Pickle]

We had damp on an upstairs wall, which it transpired was caused by the outside wooden windowsill being rotten. We had it replaced in the summer and have had no problem since. We had to get the wall replastered, but after years of ignoring it and hoping it would cure itself, it was much simpler to fix than we thought.

[kittenheels]

Thanks Pickle, that's interesting to hear. Some of our wet patches are beneath a wooden windowsill, but most aren't - they're just dotted all over the place on the exterior wall. Sigh.

[klove]

Is it on the chimney breast? We had a similar problem, a chimney cap sorted out some of the damp but our problem seemed to be a build up of 'chimney damp', caused by a build-up of salts in the flue. These salts are from the tar and soot from burning coal or wood over many years. Googling 'hygroscopic salts' will give more info.

It's really annoying and the only way to resolve it is to strip off the plaster and put a membrane over the brick work (I think!). It's a massive hassle and we've just left it for the time being, our baby used to sleep in that room and I left a dehumidifier on when he wasn't in there, not sure if it helped but it made me feel better.

[*Anna*]

Don't panic! There are other interim solutions possible too!

We had similar issues and were told the render on our outer wall had been made with too much sand and so in the very wet weather it soaks it up and eventually comes through on the inside - sometimes a day or two after the rain. We had all of these visible cracks covered up with a tar like substance, you can also have the problem areas covered in a see through silicon - both of which are must cheaper than having the whole wall re-rendered and plastering done!

Might be worth speaking to David Duggan - search for him on here for other recommendations.

[kittenheels]

Hi Klove, nope it's not on the chimney breast - but thanks for your help.

*Anna* - thanks for the advice... Going to track down David Duggan now!

[Herne Hill Guest]

Thank you Klove, you have helped me out a lot.

[KrackersMaracas]

Just to second the recommendation for David - we used him for a damp/mould issue and he sorted it all out for us - also was very nice and knowledgeable.

[kittenheels]

Thanks Krackers. David is coming over to take a look on Saturday. Fingers crossed he can fix the problem without too much chaos!

[Salsaboy]

Don't forget that we have had exceptionally bad wind and rain in the last few weeks which hasn't helped at all. Have these damp patches appeared before, indicating that there is a long term problem or has it just been in the last week or so?

[kittenheels]

Hi Salsaboy. We've had a couple of small damp patches before after heavy rain. But it's never been quite as bad as this - and now it's in lots of new places too. I'm sure you're right and it's related to the bad weather.

[Miacis]

Double check your gutters are all ok

[kittenheels]

Thanks Miacis, we don't seem to have guttering along the wall where the problem has occurred. It's all a bit of a mystery at the moment!

[Salsaboy]

Perhaps there needs to be guttering along that wall then? Sounds like all weather related to me.

[KrackersMaracas]

No worries kittenheels!

[Jeremy]

But how can you have guttering along the side of an end-of-terrace house?

[jjjjj]

Hi All,

I've got a leak coming down through a chimney that's been cut off at ceiling height (I'm in a to floor conversion flat - the chimney breast in the room has been removed to make more space but it's still there in the loft & sticking out of the roof - my guess is with the wind and rain water is coming down the chimney then dripping in where the new bit of ceiling is).

Has anyone here got a builder they could recommend to have a look at it? or had a similar experience?

Many Thanks,

Jack

[kittenheels]

Hi Jjjjj, we've got David Duggan coming over tomorrow morning to take a look. He's got loads of recommendations on here so I'm hoping he can come up with a plan to solve the problem. Might be worth you giving him a call too? Good luck with it all!

[jjjjj]

Thanks! Have tried to call but not got an answer yet - will keep trying.

Good luck to you too!

[jay_p]

Hi all, I thought I'd add my tuppenceworth... I too have an infuriating problem with damp patches when we have this driving rain. The roof is fine, the window is fine the pointing looks ok. I have tried the Ronseal clear sealant stuff in previous years but that hasn't worked. There is another product which looks better (http://www.stormdry.com/) to waterproof porous brickwork which I may resort to.

I have David O Brien (recommended on here) coming to have a look soon and will also get an opinion from a surveyor as have had so many conflicting opinions. The issue may hinge on whether you have cavity walls or solid.

I will let you all know when I get a successful outcome..

[kittenheels]

Hi Jay_P, thanks for chipping in. Your tuppenceworth is much appreciated! Please keep me (us) posted with your progress and good luck with it all.

[kittenheels]

Hello all, just a quick update for those of you suffering from similar wet patches (sounds SO wrong)...

David Duggan came out to see us on Saturday morning and was extremely helpful. It looks like our side wall is completely soaked and has absorbed a lot of rain water in the past couple of weeks. It seems the wrong type of mortar might have been used between the bricks and that's to blame for the water soaking through to our inside walls.

We're just waiting to hear back from David with more advice and cost estimates, but it sounds like the wall might need spraying with some kind of protective coating or - worst case scenario - extensive (and expensive) repointing.