I have attached a photo to illustrate a problem that has occurred along one of my single skin internal walls. The bungalow is circa 1956 cavity wall outer skin stock brick inner skin breeze blocks. No water or services are nearby and I have had a damp company round and their meter showed no problem but he said it could be occurring only after long bouts of wet weather but did not add anything as to how to fix it only to call him back when it was wet. Well it never seems to get wet and has taken a few years to get like this. There are about 3 spots where it occurs 2 of them on this wall which is 4 inch breeze blocks but the other is on one of the main cavity walls and this is the biggest at about 20 inches along the skirting. I have take a short length off at another spot and all I can see is that the walls damp course is visible and touching the floor screed where it meets the wall which I guess is not abnormal. Any suggestions please on how I can fix it?

Hi Mad,

Could be a damp proof course failure. Can you take a photo of the outside of the wall?

S

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Measure twice, cut once!

Thanks for your input but a photo of the outside wall will not help as there is nothing to see. This is happening in the main on the internal wall and there is nothing at all the other side of that wall and why I cancelled the idea of a damp course failure and the damp company I got to look at it did not really add any value. There is no moould growth or dampness to plaster work evern the wood skirtings paintwork has not bubbled. Maybe it is some sort of capillary action between the wall and pulling some moisture up when the ground become very wet or the screed is bridgeing the damp course in places.

I thought maybe drop some of silicon dampproofing liquid all along there?

Hi Angling,
I have seen this before where plasterboard is touching the slab and draws moisture up from it. Remedial action was to remove the skirting and cut the plasterboard.

In your situation though, if it was the case of what I mentioned previously I would expect the damp to travel higher up the wall.

I think you will need to lift the carpet and pull the skirting off to investigate!

S

_________________
Measure twice, cut once!

Yes I agree. As I am in the process of finishing off an extension project I have stripped out an area in the hall which this wall passes along and there is another short spot about 4 inches long but I cannot fathom why as all looks OK just that the old damp course is showing about half inch proud of the wall and touches the floor screed. There was just a small evidence on the skirting i took off here but it was not even mouldy or black on the baretimber side and the painted side was fine, just like the photo though a small section of brown stain.

I need to take this larger section up I think to get a clearer picture.

I just did not want to wreck yet another part of the house just yet and wanted to fix this small section first. DO you think I should give this smal section the silicon injection treatment and soak the screed around it with proofing liquid?

Hi Angling,
You really need to fully investigate the problem as oposed to just temporarily hiding the problem until it gets worse.

S

_________________
Measure twice, cut once!

I agree really and I have got this bit fully stripped out I cannot really see what it is so I thought just I could get away with doing this section and see how it goes and when I get to renovate the room in the photo in a couple of months I will strip that all back and se if thongs become any clearer as what the issue is.