Dampcourse or not?

sillysausage1977

Hi, hope I have posted this in the right place.

Basically we have lived in our house for 12 years now, it is a midterrace and it's in a damp area (near the coast and many years ago did flood). Downstairs over the years the plaster on the walls is crumbling off in lots of places with salting on others. I desperately want this fixing as it looks dreadful and hopefully next year can start saving.

I have heard mixed opinions on what to do e.g. dampcourse are a waste of time, but what else is going to fix this problem so we can redecorate. I have looked into the different types of dampcourses available and the one where they slice into the wall and add a barrier seems the best.

A couple if years ago I had a dampcourse firm look around and the said the whole of downstairs would need doing (they came with a 30 year gaurentee), then we had an estate agent look round out home the other day and he said it's just salting, if so would we need a full dampcourse and if not what are the alternatives??

Opinions gratefully received.

Thanks.

Grenage

Is it actually damp, or just crumbling away (from historic damp)?

sillysausage1977

Apparently there should have been a dampcourse done before we moved in (12 years ago) but we never had any paperwork to prove this but I'm lots of places the plaster is chipping off the walls and looks really unsightly...

DRP

Where's the damp coming from?
Is it in external walls only?
IS it an old house?
Does it have an original damp proof course? (a physical barrier of plastic/slate/bitumen)
Are the ground levels around the house high? (causing penetrating damp)

sillysausage1977

It's internal walls, built about 1925, no idea about original dampcourse...

Chanes

If you want to improve the look and environment you are living in you need to have a DPC

Also find the reason for why the damp is there, maybe it is rising damp? But if it's a gutter leak into a cavity a DPC won't do much to help.

DRP

Chanes wrote: »

If you want to improve the look and environment you are living in you need to have a DPC

Also find the reason for why the damp is there, maybe it is rising damp? But if it's a gutter leak into a cavity a DPC won't do much to help.

I would say that entirely depends on the cause of the damp.

Has the OP looked under the floor (floorboards?)