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Damp above formerly external doorways after extension
david555_2
Posts: 25 Forumite
Hi all.
We're (finally) coming to the end of an extension build and after a few days of painting the house white the decorator noticed two damp patches forming directly above two now internal doorways.
The wall in question was our rear external wall. Looking out onto the rear, the left door was a sliding patio door leading to a small conservatory and on the right was a single door that opened to the outside. Both were the usual PVC ones and were water tight and had no issues with damp before anywhere in the house.
During the extension we moved the brickwork between the two doors to the middle to make way for wooden two bi-fold doors. Behind the doors now is a 3.5m deep extension with a high sloping roof so roughly 75% of what was the outer wall is now internal with the rest making up the wall of the existing bedrooms. Making sense so far? Here's a before and after (without the doors) to help:
Before:
Alteration brickwork:
After:
Anyway, where the new bifold doors were we now have 4 lines of damp forming above and beside them. They only appeared after the recent rain this week but any marks before wouldn't have been easy to spot as it was just plaster at that point. I'm more than a little concerned as we have to move back back in in two weeks time. I went over earlier to look at the brickwork and windows and couldn't see anything of note but I'll be asking the builder to get up there and seal every hole they see anyway.
I'm going to ask the builders to look at the new bedroom windows they installed which are on that same wall as well as the brickwork to see where any ingress might be happening but I'd see that inside those rooms if that was the case.
From a bit of reading last night, PVC doors have a system in them to channeling water so I'm wondering if this is also an issue. Perhaps it's always been there but it wasn't able to collect due to whatever the PVC doors had above them - just a guess so someone will be able to tell me if I'm going down a rabbit hole.
Cheers for any advice.
We're (finally) coming to the end of an extension build and after a few days of painting the house white the decorator noticed two damp patches forming directly above two now internal doorways.
The wall in question was our rear external wall. Looking out onto the rear, the left door was a sliding patio door leading to a small conservatory and on the right was a single door that opened to the outside. Both were the usual PVC ones and were water tight and had no issues with damp before anywhere in the house.
During the extension we moved the brickwork between the two doors to the middle to make way for wooden two bi-fold doors. Behind the doors now is a 3.5m deep extension with a high sloping roof so roughly 75% of what was the outer wall is now internal with the rest making up the wall of the existing bedrooms. Making sense so far? Here's a before and after (without the doors) to help:
Before:
Alteration brickwork:
After:
Anyway, where the new bifold doors were we now have 4 lines of damp forming above and beside them. They only appeared after the recent rain this week but any marks before wouldn't have been easy to spot as it was just plaster at that point. I'm more than a little concerned as we have to move back back in in two weeks time. I went over earlier to look at the brickwork and windows and couldn't see anything of note but I'll be asking the builder to get up there and seal every hole they see anyway.
I'm going to ask the builders to look at the new bedroom windows they installed which are on that same wall as well as the brickwork to see where any ingress might be happening but I'd see that inside those rooms if that was the case.
From a bit of reading last night, PVC doors have a system in them to channeling water so I'm wondering if this is also an issue. Perhaps it's always been there but it wasn't able to collect due to whatever the PVC doors had above them - just a guess so someone will be able to tell me if I'm going down a rabbit hole.
Cheers for any advice.
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Comments
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just a guess so someone will be able to tell me if I'm going down a rabbit hole.
In the second image with the exposed brickwork - It does not appear to be any steels supporting the brickwork. Please tell us that you had a structural engineer in to calculate the loads and the work has been signed off by Building Control.
To make any informed guess at the source of the damp, we would need to see some pictures from outside. Specifically, the junction between the new roof and original wall.Her courage will change the world.
Treasure the moments that you have. Savour them for as long as you can for they will never come back again.0 -
In the second image with the exposed brickwork - It does not appear to be any steels supporting the brickwork. Please tell us that you had a structural engineer in to calculate the loads and the work has been signed off by Building Control.
To make any informed guess at the source of the damp, we would need to see some pictures from outside. Specifically, the junction between the new roof and original wall.
Exactly this.
Where is the steel?! You can see the original lintel for the door, but no acrow props waiting for the steel and no steel in that opening.
And photos of the roof outside, specifically where it joins the house. It looks like a considerable leak that was more obvious when it was just plaster on the wall - you can see the path of the water down the joist-ends and cascading over the sides of the opening. That areas wasn't drying because it was wet.
From those photos it looks like the roof wasn't flashed in at the time. Perhaps it is now, but that it's appeared with rain isn't a good sign.
I'd also like to see what tiles are on the roof and what the pitch is, because not many tiles will cope with a shallow pitch like that. Is there actually an area of flat roof outside, or is that internal?Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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Hi all yes structural engineers sign off each stage. The pitch of the roof was also approved and to maintain it we had to reduce the height of the bedroom windows a tad to accommodate then the lead was added on top. You can see this in comparison to next door.
Apologies for the poor pic but you'll get the idea.
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Was a cavity tray installed into the wall?0
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Was the lead actually chased into the brickwork, or was it just flashband stuck on?0
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Looking at the photos it should read cavity trays. It does not look like any brickwork was removed so they could be fitted to finish just above the flashing with weepholes to allow out the water.
They do sometimes get left out with no problems. It depends on how exposed the brickwork is.0 -
Looking at the photos it should read cavity trays. It does not look like any brickwork was removed so they could be fitted to finish just above the flashing with weepholes to allow out the water.
They do sometimes get left out with no problems. It depends on how exposed the brickwork is.
Thanks for the reply Stuart. Could you be a bit more descriptive? Which photos are you referring to and what flashing? Sorry, not a builder by trade.
Also what do you mean by "it should read cavity trays"? Typo?0 -
https://www.cavitytrays.co.uk/damp-proofing/1/1
If you have a look at this link David, it will give you some idea of what they do.
Your external wall is now an internal one. Before any rain getting through the external brickwork could run down the inside of the brickwork and down and out below DPC. Now it's an internal wall the dampness will show in the plaster.
The lead flashing only protects the gap between the tiles and the wall.
Driving rain can take as little as 20 minutes to get through the cross joints and into the cavity.
The trays will stop this happening. They should be installed into the brickwork just above all the lead flashing apart from the windows.0
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