Damp Problem

Lisa100

I recently had a leak in my soil stack (main drainage pipe) in my house. This pipe is located in the corner of my kitchen next to the hall and front wall of the house. I don't know exactly how long it had been leaking before I found the problem as it was boxed in by pieces of plywood when the house was built.

I was alerted to the problem when I noticed damp patched between the tiles on my hall floor and the cement between the bricks outside looked damp and had mildew. The pipe has now been repaired and it was just a wear and tear problem.

However, since then I have noticed when it rains or becomes damp moisture is coming in to the house. The wall and floor in the kitchen next to the pipe become wet and this spreads horizontally along the wall and floor. Also the gaps between the tiles on my hall floor become wet.

The bricks outside are drying out. They now have white deposits on them and the cement does not look as damp as it did. However it seems to me that water from the leak had saturated my damp proof course and it is now not working effectively.

When I explained the whole problem to my insurance company they would not except this. They said that the damp proof course is built to withstand water and therefore it would not have been damaged by this leak. Please advise

Lisa100

Any suggesstions! Sorry to be a pain but I really don't know what to do!

Doozergirl

Perhaps your outside wall needs repointing?

I can't see how water would cause a DPC to fail, after all, it is made to withstand water.

If you can't find where it's coming from yourself, you'll have to call out a specialist. Once you find out, then you can contact your insurers again perhaps.