Damp problems in Victorian house

TrixA

We have an as-yet-undiagnosed damp problem in our new house (Victorian end terrace), which we think is the main reason we can't get the house to an acceptable temperature downstairs. The house has a modern boiler and central heating but even with the boiler running all day it only gets to about 18C and as soon as we turn the heating off the temperature drops rapidly. The kitchen and downstairs bathroom are always cold and that seems to be where the main damp problems are occurring.

We have an independent damp surveyor coming in a couple of weeks who will hopefully help us get to the bottom of what's causing the problem. While waiting for this I've been doing some online research and there seems to be quite a school of thought about the evils of cement render, gypsum plaster and modern paints on older properties, essentially arguing that they seal in damp and stop the property 'breathing'. All of these materials are used extensively in our property. I'm now worried that we will never solve the damp/cold problem unless we invest in expensive remedial works such as removing all the cement render! Just wondering what folk on MSE think about this.

DRP

bigger/more radiators will effectively warm the place.

it worked a treat in particularly problematic rooms in my victorian terrace. cost-effective (versus internal or external insulation, for example).

dampdaveski

Hi Trix,
3 words explain everything 'Victorian end terrace'
You have an awful lot more cold walls than your neighbour.
Obviously no one can diagnose a problem on a forum, but one thing you should consider is insulating those cold outside walls, there are many ways to do it.
One thing I do an awful lot of is to fit thermal insulation board internally, this can make a massive difference to the property.
Don't get too hung up about dirty cement renders, if it's not actually causing a problem then why remove it?

Some people would have you strip the lot off and reinstate the wall in a lime based render and for some properties that is absolutely the right thing to do (it might be for yours), equally if your problem is cold internal wall surfaces then it might not be as you'll spend a lot of brass on a shiny new rendered wall but guess what? you still have cold wall surfaces!
In the first instance get your independent guy in and ask him/her how you can go about improving the 'insulative qualities' to your external walls.

Good luck with it
DD

DavidJonas

We used to live in a Victorian end-of-terrace. It was cool in the summer but in the winter we were basically heating the air above the house ! It got cold really quickly when the rads were off.

But the walls were solid, there was no loft insulation, there were big windows in every room and all but 1 wall was exposed to the elements.

Do you have loft insulation?

As for the damp, yes - we had that too. In 3 rooms. But after some mucking about the solutions were pretty simple. Repointing in 2 cases. The 3rd was because in the many years since it was built, successive patios laid on top of each other had finally breached the damp course.

Water must be soaking in somewhere. Find where, stop it and time will do the rest.

TrixA

dampdaveski wrote: »

Hi Trix,
3 words explain everything 'Victorian end terrace'
You have an awful lot more cold walls than your neighbour.
Obviously no one can diagnose a problem on a forum, but one thing you should consider is insulating those cold outside walls, there are many ways to do it.
One thing I do an awful lot of is to fit thermal insulation board internally, this can make a massive difference to the property.
Don't get too hung up about dirty cement renders, if it's not actually causing a problem then why remove it?

Some people would have you strip the lot off and reinstate the wall in a lime based render and for some properties that is absolutely the right thing to do (it might be for yours), equally if your problem is cold internal wall surfaces then it might not be as you'll spend a lot of brass on a shiny new rendered wall but guess what? you still have cold wall surfaces!
In the first instance get your independent guy in and ask him/her how you can go about improving the 'insulative qualities' to your external walls.

Good luck with it
DD

Thanks, that's really helpful. How does one fit this thermal insulation board, is it a complicated job?

Plasterer

Stick it to the wall with dab adhesive then put five mechanical fixings into each board and into the wall then skim plaster over the top and paint