Dryzone Dampcourse

neilmcl

floppydisk1 said:

Lime plaster all the way, as said earlier , chemical DPC is a no no in 120 year old house and total rip off. I hope it was not plastered with cement based render.  I have seen 2 - 300 year old houses  houses injected and plastered with gypsum or cement based plaster and it all gone pear shaped in year or 2...  Lime plaster will allow wall to breath and dry out slowly on its own, with no chemicals and no cement to keep water in.

I know, it's strange that DPCs have only been used in houses in the last 150 years and it's only been in the past 50 years that "rising damp" has suddenly become a thing. There are countries, including in the EU with similar climates, that have never routinely used a DPC in construction and they never have problems with damp, it's only since we decided it was the done thing to completely envelope our houses in render, cladding and cement or gypsum based plaster and we wonder why walls then get damp patches or mould when there's no place for the house to breathe and moisture to naturally evaporate.

Rant over 😉