Advice fitting skirting to non fully plastered walls Read more: http://www.diynot.co

iamlucky18

Hey guys. Hope you're all doing well. I would like your opinions/thoughts on my plans on installing skirting in one of our rooms.

I had to get my front living room treated for dry rot, and I tell you what, it wasn't good for my epilepsy and depression. Anyway, I'm digressing here a bit.

Rather than get a carpenter to fit the skirting, I would like to do it myself and save a few quid. Plus it would be good to increase my DIY knowledge/skills.

The walls have been replastered, but not to floor level https://www.dropbox.com/s/zt4oc1ltogwlzga/20161218_174052.jpg?dl=0). The plaster finishes about 100mm above floor level as this is where the treating company put in new DPC using PVC injection; it was found the joists under the bay window were saturated due to the issue.

I have been told I can't use fixings as this would lead to the chemicals they had used leaching out and corroding the fixings etc.

So what I am planning on doing is fitting ogee skirting http://www.emafyl.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1044&search=Skirting made from polystyrene material and attach it using expanding foam adhesive such as insta stik. I'm using this type of skirting for the following reasons:

1. If we are unlucky and the dry rot returns, the the skirting will not get affected;
2. Because a part of the skirting is below DPC level, it will need to be moisture resistant. The alternative could have been to get wooden skirting but then I would have to apply a waterproof coat to the back before installing it, meaning more time/labour.

I think this is feasible as the plaster is about 8-10mm thick. The only problem I can foresee is cutting the skirting as this type of material is susceptible to melting when cut with a mechanical saw.

What do you guys think? Thanks in advance guys.

phil24_7

I would be asking where the damp was coming from, what was causing it and how can I stop it. A chemical injection DPC is rarely the right course of action and is likely to lead to more wrong actions to fit your skirting.

Treat the cause of the damp, not the symptom.

I would have thought that a rawl plug would act as a suitable barrier for the screw as no direct contact between the wall and the fixing.

Doozergirl

I have a sneaky suspicion that the damp that still exists below DPCs that are injected too high is what might corrode the fixings. A DPC should be below skirting level or we'd all have rotten skirting... and er, joists. How exactly does a DPC 100mm above skirting help joists which sit 300mm below that newly injected magic?

There is always a reason for damp, and I have a particular bee in my bonnet, especially seeing pictures 'post injection' on another thread this week which shows a clear breach of the original DPC that was never dealt with.

Any chance of sharing some pictures of the outside of your bay window? With an indication of the joist levels?

elver_man

As above, an injected pvc solution at 100mm above internal floor level will do nothing for your joists or damp in the wall that sit below that, It may stop rising damp but other than that I cant see that you have cured the problem, your joist still sit in the damp area.

iamlucky18

Good thing I kept a secret photographic record of the work they were doing then. Phew. At the time I thought it was a bit weird injecting dpc at such a high level but I didn't get a chance to query them due to my ill health.

Here's the outside of the bay window:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zwq9wc7obwi2zw9/20161219_121450.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqahh9zi3lw2tcw/20161219_121455.jpg?dl=0

The joists rest on the first level of bricks. So they're not far above ground level.

Here is a photo I took shortly after they did the injection:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ltcf7s7ic9yf4c4/20161011_143113.jpg?dl=0

I did check during the work and whilst they were replacing the joists they wrapped the ends in moisture resistant membrane.

Doozergirl

Did they point out where the original damp proof course was?

They installed the new air bricks?

Your driveway bricks should not be butted up against the house!

iamlucky18

The driveway was originally like that when I bought the house. Is that what causes splashback issues etc or is it something else? What should it be like?

No the company didn't point out the original level of the DPC.

iamlucky18

Oh and yes they installed the new air bricks.

Doozergirl

It's not just splashbacks. It can encourage standing water and in the worst cases, if it's angled towards the house then it will actively divert water against the walls.

Surveyors suggest french drains. You edge the blockpaving perhaps a foot from the walls, dig a trench around the house which is filled with gravel to allow fast drainage. The gravel finishes 150mm below the DPC.

There appears to be evidence of dampness sitting in the area between the porch and bay window and have a rainwater pipe discharging directly onto the paving.

If it isn't actually flowing back towards the house, you definitely have an area where no daylight is going to get to it anytime fast and allow it to dry. The ground is almost certainly going to be wetter than it might with no active drainage. You should have a better system in place for that discharge.

I can't guage the levels of the ground but on the left it seems to slope straight towards your party wall with the neighbour and the blocks are soaking too.

I cannot see evidence of where the DPC is on the bay window. If the joists are only one brick up then it's possible that the block paving is completely breaching the DPC. The moss right in the edges to the mortar line could be an indication that the DPC is right there.

If the bay had no DPC then it would be a good idea to have one but then I suspect that it would have been perfectly fine until that paving was built up to it and the rainwater from an extension. discharging right next to it.

This is exactly the problem with companies that sell damp proofing treatments. They don't actually come and fix the initial problem. It's nice that they've put a DPM to the joists, but it isn't going to stop damp moving up to their injection and they haven't solved the ingress problem as far as I can see.

iamlucky18

Hmmm not good.

The driveway does fall away from the house, so that's kind of good. However, when the company lifted up the floor boards the sub floor section of the bay window area had standing water in it. I asked the company why was that, and they said it was because of high ground water levels. I wasn't convinced.

So I waited for a good long dry spell and used a small pump to empty that bay section and the water would return to the original level 24 hours later. Did a few more times, same thing.

The bay section is a good metre deeper than the rest of the sub floor. Why is that?

I'll try find the photos and post them.

iamlucky18

Here's a photo as they were ripping up the floorboards and they found the standing water in bay section sub floor:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/62an9r0v9xup0ap/20160921_150854.jpg?dl=0

I also made a short clip which might help:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2uip58a92h016e3/20160921_150857.mp4?dl=0