Waterproof garage walls?

knightstyle

Just moved into new to us house and the garage walls and adjacent floor are very damp.  The garage is single brick, built into neighbours garden on 1 side and end. The garden goes up about a metre and there is a flower border against our garage.
Is there a cheap DIY way of stopping this damp?  Bricks look in good condition, just very damp.

Jeepers_Creepers

Obviously the correct solution would be to sort out the cause - the soil piled up against your garage. This would almost certainly require a retaining wall to be built to hold their garden, with a small ventilated void between it and your garage.

What are the chances of that? Why is their garden at that level - was it always? Was that garage wall originally a garden wall which was increased in height?! Or was that garden raised to that level after the garage was built (that would be naughty).

I presume, tho', you don't want to start off on a bad foot with your neighbs, so are looking for a different solution? In which case try a cement-based tanking slurry. I think I'd ideally wait until a longish dry spell, and also leave the garage door open/ajar to ventilate out as much as possible - the less damp it is, the better the slurry will adhere. Also, the wall should be bare brick/block/render and not painted. Take especial care at the floor/wall join, and go along the floor too as far as it needed - and then a couple of feet more...

All you can do it try it.

FreeBear

Garages are always going to be cold. During the winter months, condensation will form on the walls, and there is nothing you can do about it. Making sure soil levels are ~150mm below the DPC will stop penetrating damp, but you'll still get a bit of water coming in under the main door. Depending on the age of the garage, you may find that there is no damp proof membrane in the floor - Not a lot you can do about that..

Tanking will stop some damp penetrating the walls, but it won't stop condensation - Save your money and just keep the space ventilated.

Jeepers_Creepers

FreeBear said:

Making sure soil levels are ~150mm below the DPC will stop penetrating damp, but you'll still get a bit of water coming in under the main door.

I think you'll find the soil is 850mm above the DPC level, at least

Ectophile

I came up with a bit of a bodge of a solution for my garage, which is 5 feet below ground level in places.  It needed:

• A bulk pack of Correx sheets
• About 6 tubes of water based instant grab adhesive (the big tubes that decorators use)
  
• 3 rolls of waterproof sticky tape
• 4 packs of the click-together foam rubber floor mats (more would have been better to cover the whole floor)
  

I covered all the walls that were below ground level with Correx, and the entire floor.  Taped all the seams up.  Then put the rubber mats on the floor to protect the Correx.

You might also want to see if the suggestion in https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3978259/damp-garage#latest is any use to you.

FreeBear

Jeepers_Creepers said:

FreeBear said:

Making sure soil levels are ~150mm below the DPC will stop penetrating damp, but you'll still get a bit of water coming in under the main door.

I think you'll find the soil is 850mm above the DPC level, at least

Didn't fully digest the OP's post... Still, tanking the walls won't do too much to improve things unless the floor is also done. Even then, the garage is still going to suffer from damp & condensation, particularly in the winter.

knightstyle

Thanks for your answers. I think I will wait till we have had a long dry spell and put some thomsons on and perhaps a covering of tanking render.  But will look at the Correx as well.

Jeepers_Creepers

FreeBear said:

Didn't fully digest the OP's post... Still, tanking the walls won't do too much to improve things unless the floor is also done. Even then, the garage is still going to suffer from damp & condensation, particularly in the winter.

A totally different, completely separate issue. Dealt with by ventilation.

Jeepers_Creepers

knightstyle said:

Thanks for your answers. I think I will wait till we have had a long dry spell and put some thomsons on and perhaps a covering of tanking render.  But will look at the Correx as well.

Thompson's? Which product? Water Seal? Please no...

And you certainly won't be able to tank over it afterwards.

Jeepers_Creepers

Ectophile said:

I came up with a bit of a bodge of a solution for my garage, which is 5 feet below ground level in places.  It needed:

• A bulk pack of Correx sheets
• About 6 tubes of water based instant grab adhesive (the big tubes that decorators use)
  
• 3 rolls of waterproof sticky tape
• 4 packs of the click-together foam rubber floor mats (more would have been better to cover the whole floor)
  

I covered all the walls that were below ground level with Correx, and the entire floor.  Taped all the seams up.  Then put the rubber mats on the floor to protect the Correx.

You might also want to see if the suggestion in https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3978259/damp-garage#latest is any use to you.

So the damp is still coming in unabated behind these sheets? Where it cannot evaporate? Smelly?! :-) 

knightstyle

Well I cleared the garage out and brushed down the walls,  Have got some Wickes protector sheets and started fitting them. Here is a before pic, it looks as if the ground outside is meant to drain into the garage as the bricks below the damp course have gaps between them, no cement.  
Anyway lets see what happens after I have fixed down the sheets.