Hi all

I have some damp in to the rear of my house, its an 1890's brick terrace. The area of damp is mainly to a party wall between what is my downstairs W/C / hallway and my neighbours kitchen / utility. He has no visible issues as he had done some damp proofing works before i moved in, so i know that this is making the problem worse for me! I knew it was there when i bought the place, but given the price i was happy to buy it warts and all.

The previous owner of my house had also done some works, we'll he'd put some sort of render up to c.1M high, although this had obviously not worked. He had then wall papered, although im guessing he hadnt done this right either as even the dry(er) walls were 'sweating'...

Ive hacked off the plaster to the party wall, my rear wall and the wall between my W/C and (former) coal shed and utility room. The damp remains on the party wall but the others are pretty dry to be honest.

Has anyone had something similar and managed to successfully fix the problem, or is it a case of hiding it?

Ive come accross all sorts of suggestions from effectively tanking the area, bitumen paints, drylining, damp proof injections (to external wall)

If it helps, i plan on tiling the concrete floor and walls, how much i tile into the hallway depends on if i can fix the problem

Any suggestions much appreciated!

Hi Shez,

Would guess at Rising damp through the footings of the wall? Please post some pics to aid!

SSM

_________________
Measure twice, cut once!

Hi,

thanks for reply,

will get a pic or two up - im pretty sure theres Rising damp and the general issue of condensation, just cant understand why its particularly bad on the party wall (unless it is because of the neighbours works) and whats best to remediate, everywhere you look you get a different answer!

as i say i'll get some pics up

ta again

Shez....keep us posted...waiting with baited breath LOL!

SSM

_________________
Measure twice, cut once!

Souns like there was a damp problem and the neighbour just rendered over their side with waterproof mix so the moisture comes out on your side. If they injected a DPC first then the moisture should be residual unless they have a leak in the kitchen causing the damp.

Ask for a copy of their damp paperwork so that you can find out what they did (usually render to 1.5m) and then makes sure you render much more or inject a dpc to solve the problem.

Bear in mind that 9 inches of brick can take more than a year to dry out. The dmap may be residual.