Replacing dpc the old way

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Barrysh
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Replacing dpc the old way

Post by Barrysh »

Hi, way back in the 70's when I bought my first terraced house the front wall was a bit damp. My dad, who was a retired brickie, took out a full course of internal bricks, about 3 at a time, cleared the cavity, put in a new dpc and bricked it back up. It cured the damp and it never returned. Couple of generations on my son has bought an ex council house with the same problem. I know the modern way is to pressure inject the brickwork to form a dpc but is there any reason why I can't tackle it the way my dad did. I know it's time consuming but I'm retired with plenty of time on my hands. Must be cheaper too, just a bit of mortar if the bricks can be reused. I might be way off the mark here but is there any reason why I can't simply cut out a mortar joint with a concrete saw, renew the dpc and cement it back up, again only 3 or 4 bricks at a time. Thanks for your time. Barry
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Job and Knock
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Re: Replacing dpc the old way

Post by Job and Knock »

Barrysh wrote:I might be way off the mark here but is there any reason why I can't simply cut out a mortar joint with a concrete saw, renew the dpc and cement it back up, again only 3 or 4 bricks at a time.
The only thing against that is that you won't be cleaning-out the cavity and if there is stuff in there you might still get moisture bridging of the cavity gap later on. Injection DPC doesn't sort that out either. Maybe if you could remove one brick and get a camera into see if your son's wall cavities are clear or not it would help you make a more informed choice
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Barrysh
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Re: Replacing dpc the old way

Post by Barrysh »

Hi thanks for that. Yes I was thinking of taking a brick out the outside wall and checking the cavity. If it was clear I would maybe have a go at fitting a dpc by just cutting out an internal mortar seam. Hopefully less mess that way.
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