Damp/Rising damp

Mr._OCaz

I live in a 1950's back to back terrace and it has bay area window area (flat roof) in the living room, late last year I discovered that the guttering was blocked which caused water to run directly down the outside wall. As a result water seemed to seep through which caused the paintwork to become all blown/cracked/bubbled. I stripped it back and glossed over to cover water marks but paint work has cracked and flaked off too.

To add to my problems in the bedroom directly above the bay area window it appears I have rising damp as small black mould spots are appearing directly under the window and skirting boards have cracked from wall, I also have what appears to be salt crystals on a different part of the wall which the outside wall has a pipe from bathroom running past. Which in heavy rain it looks like rains runs directly down the wall.

I am looking at pointing the brickwork on the outside of the house which my dad knows how to do but not sure where to go or what to do or how to deal with this damp.

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated with estimated costs too. Would prefer to try sort as much as I can myself it at all possible

phill99

The living room is probably penetrating damp caused by the walls being saturated because of the guttering. Assuming you have fixed the guttering, you need to get the wall dried oout. Use a dehumidifier in that room to get rid of the excess moisture. Painting over the affected area is of limited use as the area will stilkl be wet. Once dry, ideally you should hack off the plaster in the affected area, replaster and redecorate.

The bedroom is definetely NOT rising damp. Rising damp rises up from the ground and because of the affect of gravity, will not get higher than about 4 feet. The black mould is typically caused by condensation as is often a problem in bedrooms as these tend to be cooler than other parts of the house as warm moist air (resulting from cooking/bathing etc) is attracted to cooler parts of the house. The salt crystals are typically a sign of penetrating damp and is probably caused by the defective pipework outside. Fix the pipe, repoint as necessary and deal with the inside as suggested for the living room.