Hi
We are currently renovating our mid terrace victorian house. We had the dining room replastered (skimmed mainly but certain spots were replaced). I left it for a month or so till it was complety dry painted two coats of Homebase basecoat watered down and two coats of Dulux Barley White. All was fine for about a month until we notice the paint in the bottom corner of the wall was starting to peel off. In come two builders with completly different opinions. We chose the builder who said the problem was caused by the dodgy rendering outside in the allyway. He replaced the bricks and cleared it all out. The plaster however does not seem to be drying out and its been over a month. Not sure where to go from here and ideas?
Second question we had the spare room skimmed as well and the fireplace looks dry but when we run the damp detecor over it it beeps saying there is moisture there. Its random spots on the fireplace and is on a joining wall with next door so not sure where on earth the damp could be coming from.
Thanks
ALison

Hi Alison,

Regarding the corner, its probably on the borderline timewise as to whether the render repair has worked (unless its clearly wringing wet!). However, I don't think you've got raging rising damp. You could test the area by painting it with a stain block like zinsser 123, and then overpainting with your topcoat - this will only work if the wall is 'dry'.

Corners are also prime areas for condensation problems - is this possible? is the room well ventilated? was there any mould forming? is the area covered by furniture? So before getting a damp proofing firm in I'd wait a little and do a bit more testing.

In the spare room (which I'm presuming is upstairs?), that's definitely not rising damp, but could be a bit of damp caused by the chimney. Is it used? is it capped off? is it ventilated? If its been skimmed, and the plaster has clearly dried out, I wouldn't worry too much about the bleeping damp detector - unless there is no chimney ventilation.

Best

The room is well ventilated, and there is no furniture covering the corner. There is a small allyway between us and the person next dooor on the other side of the wall and this seems to be where the problem is. The room was not plastered for ages and laid empty and there wasn't any mould or damp then.

Is the alley open to the elements, or is it one of those alleys where you or your neighbour are also above it as it were. What's the ground level outside in relation to inside? Sorry, probably seemingly obvious questions, but trying to picture it this end.

No our house is over the alley. I think that the ground may be sloping towards our house

The slope could be the problem, what about the levels? - if you can, I'd post some pictures, and then I, or someone else, may be able to give you a better idea.

Cheers