snow and damp proof course

silvercar

Topical question.

If the level of snow against the house exceeds the damp course level, do the walls get damp?

Is this a problem?

recyclingbox

er, No would be the simple answer. walls get damp by the slow penetration of moisture. that is why the dpc is where it is - so that the moisture the bricks in the ground are exposed to cannot rise up through the courses and make all the wall damp.

any mositure that hits the external wall above the dpc will evaporate/dryout before it has chance to spread through the brick.

Your snow will not be against the wall long enough for the moisture to penetrate. unless of course you live on an arctic ice field and permanently have snow aginst your wall above the damp course!

mistah

As I one-off situation, it is very unlikely to cause a problem. However I know that in certain areas of Europe where it snows a lot, the combination of deep snow and deicing salts causes a build up of salts in the wall which can create some severe rising damp.