How much for a damp-proof course?

moneyistooshorttomention

My house has got a bit of damp on the lower part of the sitting room front wall. There doesn't appear to be any on the dining room wall (ie back half of house).

It can't be a huge issue, as I've had the house for some years, so would imagine I would have noticed more of a problem than I have otherwise.

Am guessing that the problem is it's one of the houses in my road that doesn't appear to have a damp proof course and that if one were done that would be that, ie problem resolved.

Can anyone give me a ballpark figure for how much this would cost please? I'm hazarding a very very rough guess at around £500. Does this sound about right?

I believe it's an easy job and only takes about a couple of hours from what I can see - as in go along the outside wall of the house and inject the stuff at intervals. Is that correct?

moneyistooshorttomention

Bump...any thoughts anyone?

Or - have I maybe got it wrong and the house doesnt need a damp course, but could do with some "drying out" with a dehumidifier instead?

I've been coming across some conflicting articles on the Internet about whether these old houses actually need damp courses or no - or whether its down to people should expect to "live in them" in a different way to modern houses (eg take greater care re condensation, use different types of paint to what would normally be chosen to allow old walls to "breathe").

So - maybe if I bought a dehumidifier and had that going full blast for a bit and then used antimould on the wall concerned and paint retouching if need be that would do the trick?

llandyrnog

Hi Have you checked to see if there is a cause of the dampness such as a blocked or leaking gutter allowing water to run down the wall and causing the problem or a drainage problem ie blocked gulley broken drainage pipe ?. Not sure if your home is rendered or brickwork, could there be missing pointing to brickwork or cracked rendering ?

Thunderbird_2

Hi

Is it north facing wall?
Can you take A picture of the wall from the outside?

Many thanks

moneyistooshorttomention

There you have me - re the direction. At a wild guess - I would say it's maybe north-east facing...

I don't have any means of taking a photo.

I've checked the outside of the house. I've got my modern upvc guttering up at the top of the house and my (ditto) upvc drainpipe coming down that wall. As I said - modern era and only a few years old and I cant see any sign of damage to them (admitted there could be a hairline crack at the back of the downpipe for all I know (as its right against the wall) - but I doubt it.

The brickwork - I cant tell what the pointing/state of brickwork is like - as the house is painted. It seems okay from looking at it/giving it a good knock as far as I can see.

I suspect the problem "came with the house" when I bought it years ago - as the previous windows (replaced by me some years back with upvc ones) were those slatted top ones (and I wondered whether "extra" ventilation might have been one reason they chose them). The house all round was a bit "gappy" (large gap in the kitchen wall behind the washing machine that I had to concrete in and an airbrick type thing that I put a sliding metal "door" on the outside - so as to have it open in summer, but not winter. There are loads of airbricks all round though - including the 3 original ones in the front wall and all unobstructed.

I'm unable to just wipe the mould easily off the wall when required - as the wall has to be covered (has been covered at the time I bought the house years back) with woodchip wallpaper. It wouldnt be possible to just paint the wall - as the room needs replastering - but won't get it...because the walls look good enough (through that woodchip) to do apart from those couple of dampish bits. Also wouldnt want to replaster because I have the "final" carpet down - ie a fitted one in mid-price range (to me that means £300-£400 per small room) good condition pale plain.

Thunderbird_2

Right.. it is going to be difficult to give an accurate opinion without seeing.

North and north east facing walls are the coldest in most houses. You are almost guaranteed every time to have some form of condensation above the skirting boards. This is normal and does not necessarily indicate damp proof failure. A bit of heating and ventilation should sort it out. Have you changed the way you use that room recently? For example using radiators to dry clothes?

Is there a concrete slab outside?
As for a damp proof, if you look outside the house, can you see at the bottom of the walls where the bottom couple of bricks "rougher" than the rest of the wall above them?

How old is the house? Is it solid wall (where you see the bricks outside square and rectangular) or is it cavity wall (all the bricks rectangular)?

moneyistooshorttomention

I didn't know that about north walls - well I learn something every day:T

In recent times I have tended to use another room in the house more for sitting room type purposes - rather than the sitting room itself - so maybe its partly down to not having used the sitting room fire in there as much as I used to? That's got me wondering whether this house had had the two reception rooms knocked through by a previous owner partly in order to have that south-facing dining room wall within the reception room space and help "even things out a bit". I had the wall put back up again - as, to me, its just a "matter of taste" as to whether to have 2 reception rooms or a through lounge and my taste was to restore the original 2 reception rooms.

Not sure what you mean by "concrete slab outside"? The house is one of those little Victorian terrace houses (2 up 2 downers with extension) and is straight on the street at the front.

Can't see any "rougher" looking bricks. These houses all have a sort of "sticky out" type first few rows of bricks (sort of skirting board type effect) if you know what I mean and the bottom sticky-out bit is normally (and in my case) painted black and then standard bricks above (some houses painted, some not in this area).

The original two-up/two down bit is solid wall. It's only the extension that is modern era and is cavity wall.

llandyrnog

Do you have a working fireplace in the room ?. If so, light it and see what happens over say a week or so. The fire will warm the room up and the draw of air from the room to the fire will get air moving and help ventilate the room

moneyistooshorttomention

No - there isn't a fireplace. All fireplaces in the house were boarded-up and out of commission by previous owners.

The heating in the room is one of the radiators in the (gas) central heating system and there is a gas fire in the boarded-up fireplace (not a "thing of beauty" - more an ugly-looking fire that came with the house but positively churns out the heat and the room goes from cold to toasty in about 10 minutes flat with just that on).

Thunderbird_2

Hi

Sorry for a bit of delay. I am not well at the moment.

So you stopped using the room as you used to before. And this problem started to be noticeable after the change of use.

My money (at risk not seeing the house) is on condensation on the bottom of the coldest wall of the house.

Is the radiator switched on?

Thunderbird_2

And more importantly, to answer your question, injecting the walls will not make difference, in my opinion. Even with guarantee, they are very likely to blame condensation if the problem does not go away.

As I said, problem was not there for years. Problem started after change of use. Problem likely to be condensation on that wall.

If you ever need to change radiator on that room, I would put it up that wall if possible. This is what I did when changed the central heating.

All the best