Found an inside wall to be wet!

ST1991

abbas5001 wrote: »

I have identified the cause of the problem. It's a gas fire that when switched on is causing the wall to be wet. We had heavy rain last night and the walls were dry this morning so we had the heater on yesterday for a few hours (as I said that room rarely gets used but we were having work done in the house so that was the only free room to sit in).

So I put the fire on today and within about 2 hours the walls were wet again so I presume there must be a leak or something

That is weird... (have you got a carbon monoxide alarm? Hopefully you already do, but especially if your gas fire is being weird)

I'm not sure how it would be caused by a gas fire... Unless you have some weird plumbing...

Doozergirl

abbas5001 wrote: »

I have identified the cause of the problem. It's a gas fire that when switched on is causing the wall to be wet. We had heavy rain last night and the walls were dry this morning so we had the heater on yesterday for a few hours (as I said that room rarely gets used but we were having work done in the house so that was the only free room to sit in).

So I put the fire on today and within about 2 hours the walls were wet again so I presume there must be a leak or something

:eek:

Do you have an air brick in the wall? I think you need one!

...and a CO alarm, as above.

haf1

This sounds really unsafe! Is the gas fire connected to a flue, or does it go straight up the chimney?

wymondham

Found this on the web.....

Gas Fires - A major cause of damp problems in old houses...

One of the bigger problems we come across is the use of gas fires in old houses. When gas burns, it produces surprisingly large amounts of steam. This enters the atmosphere of your rooms, and floods the house with humidity. This then condenses at the coldest part of the room - the base of external walls.. Houses which are regularly heated with gas fires are almost invariably very humid and suffer terrible damp problems. Caravans and mobile homes are a classic example - they are always streaming with condensation when the fire is on - and often occupants use dehumidifiers constantly. Old houses are frequently equipped with gas fires - especially Victorian townhouses and terraced properties - where so called 'rising damp' damp problems are common. The cause can often be traced back to the use of a gas fire. The solution is simple - get rid, and install an electric fire, or open stove, or perhaps a small central heating system.

abbas5001

wymondham wrote: »

Found this on the web.....

Gas Fires - A major cause of damp problems in old houses...

One of the bigger problems we come across is the use of gas fires in old houses. When gas burns, it produces surprisingly large amounts of steam. This enters the atmosphere of your rooms, and floods the house with humidity. This then condenses at the coldest part of the room - the base of external walls.. Houses which are regularly heated with gas fires are almost invariably very humid and suffer terrible damp problems. Caravans and mobile homes are a classic example - they are always streaming with condensation when the fire is on - and often occupants use dehumidifiers constantly. Old houses are frequently equipped with gas fires - especially Victorian townhouses and terraced properties - where so called 'rising damp' damp problems are common. The cause can often be traced back to the use of a gas fire. The solution is simple - get rid, and install an electric fire, or open stove, or perhaps a small central heating system.

Sorry its not a gas fire its an electric one. The house isn't that old, built in the 80s i think.

Yeah sorry its not a gas fire its an electric one - still weird though so i am not putting it on again obviously until i get it looked at, by a heating engineer i presume?

wymondham

oops, ok if not gas.....when the wall gets wet, does it discolour and can you see it go right to the top?

abbas5001

wymondham wrote: »

oops, ok if not gas.....when the wall gets wet, does it discolour and can you see it go right to the top?

There's no discolouration and it only goes wet from the bottom to a third of the way up.

wymondham

abbas5001 wrote: »

There's no discolouration and it only goes wet from the bottom to a third of the way up.

is it just on one side of the wall, or is this an outside wall?

JohnB47

Just to clarify. You say the room has two radiators that come on with the central heating but you are using an electric fire too. Is that room normally warm or cold then (when you're not using it)?

If it is normally on the cold side (maybe if you have the rads on low, 'cos you don't use the room), then have you checked outside? Are there air bricks anywhere near and are they open/unrestricted? It might be that the sub floor of the room is damp and when you heat the room, the heat draws the moisture up and it condenses on the lower parts of the cold walls. (The upper part of the walls would be the warmest and condensation wouldn't form on them).

Just an idea.

Mr.Generous

I'm afraid this does sound exactly like rising damp. It rarely gets as high as 1mtr (3ft approx).