Solid exterior wall, insulated plasterboard and damp

OJD

New Member
I’ve recently taken ownership of a Victorian house that’s currently inhabitable but the previous owner had started renovation work. All of the solid walls have had their plaster removed, been taken back to brick and new plasterboard has been put up (around 14-18 months ago) but we have found 2 damp patches.

The first damp problem is underneath a bay window in the lounge. All the exterior walls have been plaster boarded with insulated plasterboards that have been dot and dabbed, which you can see in the picture with the black mildew. The previous owner has left a stack of boards in the house too so you can see what were used by the builders.

The second bit of damp I have found is in the dinning room. The previous owners bricked up the fireplace and plaster boarded with insulated board that was also dot and dabbed but in this room the damp spot has a green powdery mould on it which you can see in the second picture.

I know that both of these issues need to be addressed ASAP but what could be causing the damp in each area? The rest of the plasterboard around the house is dry. My concern is that all of the exterior walls have been dot and dabbed with insulated boards and they may develop issues with damp over time meaning they’re all going to have to come down and be replaced.

I should mention there hasn’t been any heating on in the house since September 2019 but I’ve now installed a thermostat and the heating has been set to 12 degrees to keep it dry until we start renovation work again.
 

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Check for any signs of penetrating damp around the window, might be some dodgy pointing or bad siliconing. Is the chimney capped off? Usually put a vent at the bottom of a bricked up chimney.

wipe over the areas with mould killer and see how it goes. Heating should help.
 
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Check for any signs of penetrating damp around the window, might be some dodgy pointing or bad siliconing. Is the chimney capped off? Usually put a vent at the bottom of a bricked up chimney.

wipe over the areas with mould killer and see how it goes. Heating should help.

Thanks for the reply, the builder who did all the previous renovation work is going to come round and see me next week. I suspect no vent was put in the chimney after it was capped off.

The bay window had new windows fitted about 12 months ago, so I think something might be off there or there maybe a leak in the roof which is causing that damp.
 
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