Can I put down a new carpet with rising damp??

Suzannnnnaaaa

Hi all.  I need to put down a carpet in my home but have put it on hold as I recently discovered a damp problem.  The walls and floors have a high moisture content, reading from orange to red on one of those hand held meters.  And relative humidity in the house goes up after a lot of rain and goes down after a long dry spell but generally it ranges from 68 - 80%.  

So my query is, can I get a new carpet fitted before fixing the damp?  Or will the concrete floor shrink after the damp problem is fixed and the carpet could become rippled or look badly fitted?  There is currently vinyl tiles on the floor so would that save the carpet from rippling??  

I'm also putting in a new kitchen so should I wait to do that as well as the walls are so damp.  

Thanks for reading.  

Nobbie1967

I don’t think it would be advisable as once the source of the damp is identified and stopped you’ll want the walls and floor to dry out which will be impeded by layers of carpet/vinyl/underlay. May also damage the carpet through rot. Same with the kitchen as you may need some replastering. Best get the house dry before doing anything else.

greyteam1959

You do know that those damp meters are totally useless don't you ??

Suzannnnnaaaa

Nobbie1967 said:

I don’t think it would be advisable as once the source of the damp is identified and stopped you’ll want the walls and floor to dry out which will be impeded by layers of carpet/vinyl/underlay. May also damage the carpet through rot. Same with the kitchen as you may need some replastering. Best get the house dry before doing anything else.

Thanks Nobbie1967.  Yes I thought as much.  I was reluctant to go ahead with either job but himself is anxious to get a carpet down as the floor is freezing.  But no signs of damp on the walls apart from problems when I was painting.  On some of of the walls, the paint kept cracking like a dry riverbed as it was drying from the outside in rather than from the inside out.  I got it right eventually but had to do a lot of very light coats and even use steaming bowls of water to keep it drying slowly.  So don't really want a carpet disaster.

Suzannnnnaaaa

Just to add, not 100% sure it's rising damp, but it is damp!  

Eldi_Dos

If you have a fan put it in the room, it will help paint dry.

Suzannnnnaaaa

Eldi_Dos said:

If you have a fan put it in the room, it will help paint dry.

Thanks for the suggestion but the problem was that the damp walls meant that the paint was drying from the outside in and so it was cracking,  I needed to get it to dry as slowly as possible,  

Suzannnnnaaaa

greyteam1959 said:

You do know that those damp meters are totally useless don't you ??

No, I didn't know.  Why are they useless??

greyteam1959

Do a search on Google.
Thousands of results but here is one for you.
https://yourbetterhome.uk/2022/06/06/why-we-do-not-use-damp-meters/#:~:text=It is perhaps surprising that,be taken in by them.

Suzannnnnaaaa

greyteam1959 said:

Do a search on Google.
Thousands of results but here is one for you.

Thanks for that, very interesting.  However I'm still left with RH readings of 70-80+%, higher after rain so I know the place is damp.  You can feel the coldness in the walls, that's internal walls.  And repainted the ceiling recently and it's full of bubbles, also a sign of damp I believe.  

But won't be trusting the meters now for masonry.  

HampshireH

You need to identify the cause of the damp

Have you checked your gutters, drains etc it's a good starting point.

Could it be a leak.... do you have pipes running in the affected areas.