damp from wall - my responsibility or neighbours or both?

stuart45

wallofbeans said:

stuart45 said:

The render would be better stopping short of the ground.

I'm not sure what you mean.. can you explain further?

The wall has been rendered down to the ground. Ideally it should finish at least 150mm above ground level. You should have a couple of courses of brickwork showing above the ground.

wallofbeans

stuart45 said:

wallofbeans said:

stuart45 said:

The render would be better stopping short of the ground.

I'm not sure what you mean.. can you explain further?

The wall has been rendered down to the ground. Ideally it should finish at least 150mm above ground level. You should have a couple of courses of brickwork showing above the ground.

And you think that is the problem? The render to the ground looks like it was originally there and not what has been done in the refurb, so could it be that the combination of render to the ground and then exposing the wall to the elements is causing the issue?

Will the paving of the ground make any difference? Any ideas what else might need to be done to solve this?

wallofbeans

Hi all,

Update on this: I painted a sealant on the exterior of the wall in September last year — and have waited a few months for it to hopefully start working and the damp inside the wall to dry out.

It's definitely helped a bit - the areas peaking on the damp meter have gone down significantly.

Where there was damp patches previously, I dug out the plaster and redid it — most of that is still fine now. But one area created a very clear rectangle stain that came through fast. I dug this out again, and found that it was an old plug socket and the metal case was still inside the wall and just filled in with plaster.

I have now taken that out — and wonder if it has anything to do with the problem.

I now get the impression that — the original extension was built a long time ago and is solid, but the previous owner refurbed the kitchen in 2018 and must have taken out that socket and perhaps replastered a roughly metre square section below it — and did it badly.

I think that is the issue.

I thought that I could perhaps remove the blown sections of plaster and redo it myself — or get a pro to do that section properly.

I'm assuming that I can't claim on my buildings insurance for this?

And that I can't ask the neighbours to pay for it?

Any thoughts?

wallofbeans

I have read that perhaps because my neighbours removed the old lean to structure and that is when the problems started, that it is legally their responsibility to deal with it. I can't claim on it with my insurance but they potentially could with theres?

They are just about to move — so I want to get this going ASAP if that is what has to happen.

wallofbeans

I've now posted a question about this in the insurance board. Hopefully somebody there will be able to advise.