House Purchase - Damp Patches - Solutions

blastarhymes

Hi Guys,

i have recently moved in to a new house (Old House) its made from double brick wall, no cavity - i'm having some damp issues in upstairs rooms and corners of 2 downstairs rooms,

The Details:
house is rendered, double glazed windows (No vents), fireplaces removed and walls smoothed out (To make more space apparently)

i have some black spots in the downstaires rooms in the corners and the paper has all lifted, can see the damp patches on the plaster, then upstaires where a bed was against the wall there is mold growing the width of the bed.

any idea's on getting this sorted, i have read a few things wondered your thoughts on the following -

1) install vents on upvc windows,
2) strip the walls and line with insulation boards- then re decorate
3) drimaster system
4) move stuff off the walls and deal with it

quick cover up job and move again..lol allthough i don't really want to do this, lol

Chunks

I would start by finding out where the water is entering the fabric of the building.

Depending on where you are in the country and the direction the walls are facing (into the prevailing wind) you may have had a lot of driving rain on the affected walls.

Apart from breaches in the rendering (should be able to check) are your gutters clear and working? Any issues around the windows (failed caulking)?

Water does travel so damp patch inside doesn't mean water penetrating at that point outside (obviously).

Once you establish where the issue(s) is/are you can take remedial action.

While you sort the problem, a dehumidifier will help in the meantime (if you have one) kill the mould with something like this:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/20284/Mould-Remover?src=mpcle&s_kwcid=AL!49!10!1379594926!16381724122&ef_id=Us6TrAAABYKgfiNG:20140131101447:s

blastarhymes

Have had a further look,

-Downstaires i have found a crack in the rendor where they screwed in the drain pipe, think thats that corner sorted,

-The other corner i think is because the drive is higher on the external wall than my floor so its under ground - Cold, condensation damp ?

The upstairs room where the bed was against the wall, this i was going to dry line and insulate ? - cannot see anything outside that could be where the water is getting in.

SG27

How old is the house? Double glazing, blocked fireplaces Make it a ound like condensation to me rather than penetrating from outside.

blastarhymes

humm, yeah built in 1870, fire places/ chimny removed, double glazing..... i think it is condensation, lack of venterlation and insulation, might have a look into dry lining

auroan

I'd go with condensation as well. Adding trickle vents to the windows would be a good fix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJA5_wu4aAc

plumb1_2

I'd go with ventilation issues, dry lining it wont solve the problem 100% you need to get some free flowing air into the building.

blastarhymes

Thanks guys, i have bought some of the vents and am looking to install them, also going to add some insulation to the rooms, picked up aload at a local auctions quite cheap.....