Bridging or rising damp?

[ArthurJob1]

The room has been papered which is potentially misleading me to think it’s rising damp, as the moisture is travelling up wallpaper.
However, it’s really inconsistent when looking at the levels.

I removed the skirting and to my surprise it wasn’t damp or rotten, which leads me to believe the gypsum has been layed on below the DPC.

The room has a dpm on the concrete floor (FYI).
There is however a damp patch/salt to the side of the chimney breast.

Any thoughts? Shall I drill and inject dryzone cream.
The room is going to be a kitchen so ideally, I was going to sand and cement.

 

[ArthurJob1]

Someone has skimmed over the cement

 

[Danny]

whats on the other side of the wall?

I have never seen rising damp....

 

[algeeman]

whats on the other side of the wall?

I have never seen rising damp....

I have in lift shafs
and basements

never on houses though

 

[John j]

Is all that on chimney breast .

 

[ArthurJob1]

Is all that on chimney breast .

Yes but there is some on internal walls too

 

[ArthurJob1]

whats on the other side of the wall?

I have never seen rising damp....

It’s an 8 metre external wall which has been repointed recently (by the looks of it)

 

[JessThePlasterer]

Cement isn’t my ‘go to’ for damp. Generally speaking, check what’s outside, mortar, brick faces, vegetation etc. Use breathable plaster or thermal board depending. Damp is ingress of water or condensation/ hot meets cold/ poor ventilation

 

[Smudger1]

Tank it and good dehumidifier.

 

[Danny]

I have in lift shafs
and basements

never on houses though

that is normally because they go below ground level and is penetrating damp

 

[essexandy]

that is normally because they go below ground level and is penetrating damp

Don't try talking sensibly to that dozy t**t @algeeman Danny.

 

[Dollar]

Sort the external chimney ...

 

[Retired Spread]

whats on the other side of the wall?

I have never seen rising damp....

 

[Retired Spread]

I'd lay money that you're getting water in from somewhere above and it's accumulating at the bottom

 

[The Hobo]

I'd lay money that you're getting water in from somewhere above and it's accumulating at the bottom

i would check the connection on on that t joint the jackdaws have thrown in /but agree with your way of thinking its not rising damp more of a chimney head problem

 

[Monkey Boy]

@Dollar does rising damp exist?

 

[Charlie 5]

What's the chimney breast in the bedroom like?

 

[smoother09]

You don't get chickens without cracking a few eggs over the years!

 

[Dollar]

@Dollar does rising damp exist?

Another hoax



The wall is sitting in water 24/7, and its bone dry - so, Mr Rising Damp man - debunked

 

[MakeItSmooth]

Another hoax

View attachment 65555

The wall is sitting in water 24/7, and its bone dry - so, Mr Rising Damp man - debunked

 

[ArthurJob1]

Right. So I’ve taken the cement/plaster off the chimney breast.

There was a back boiler in the space, which has been removed.
I’ve taken a brick out to the left and right of where the boiler used to be to add ventilation to the entire chimney.
I have also taken out some bricks at the front of the chimney (floor level) as there is a load of crap each side, which I intend to clean out to avoid any further issues and also aid ventilation.
As mentioned this is going to be a kitchen so I will box off main opening and install vents to maintain circulation.
They will be hidden behind the kitchen carcasses anyway.

How should I finish the chimney breast, sand/cement?
I’ve never used lime before but thinking that might be better.

 

[bobski]

Another hoax

View attachment 65555

The wall is sitting in water 24/7, and its bone dry - so, Mr Rising Damp man - debunked

View attachment 65556

Them 2 courses at the water line?


That are green?



Dry?

 

[Brimstone]

If rising damp does not exist why do we install DPC's above ground level? But it's over-hyped and not sure that applies here. Bit of a puzzle this one.
However, the entire chimney breast does not look right - extra un-jointed brickwork width increases, voids either side of the builders opening, false raised hearth installed later for stove.
How old is this property? Is there actually another fireplace and chimney above it ?- I'm wondering if this is a large filled-in front of an inglenook fireplace i.e huge void above it. Or the back boiler pipes are still there and leaking (but that would normally only be on one side). The thing is, the walls are damp well away from the chimney breast but it does not look like it has come from the bottom which leaves external thru the wall, either top down (tiled external chimney width reduction throwing it over onto wall?) or a porous solid wall that gets wet e.g. prevailing weather, why was it repointed and did they botch it?
Get rid of the duff liner and check out the chimney top and walls. If the cowl is still there then the liner is just a big pipe for rainwater. Older properties do not have DPM under the hearth so it could be damp coming up thru the wider hidden base into the walls but looks more like top-down water and quite a lot of it.
As others have said, and I presume you have already looked, for external bridging, bushes etc.

 

[Dollar]

An entire industry has grown up on the back of dpc & the need for it to be installed...
Another fuxin hoax

America not one dpc seen , Holland same & build out of the water

This list is the most likely cause of damp in your home ....

• Insulation
• Heating on/off - must be constantly ON, but low temp = 15 degrees C
• Avoid your house getting warm, then cold
• Modern paints
• Cement render
• Gypsum plaster
• Ground levels outside higher than inside
• Broken guttering or missing downpipes
• Vegetation growing near the wall
• Trees creating shade and moist air near a wall
• Lack of ventilation - double glazing, no vents
• Blocked chimneys - fireplace blocked up, no vents
• Furniture against walls creating cold, damp areas

 

[smoother09]

An entire industry has grown up on the back of dpc & the need for it to be installed...
Another fuxin hoax

America not one dpc seen , Holland same & build out of the water

This list is the most likely cause of damp in your home ....

• Insulation
• Heating on/off - must be constantly ON, but low temp = 15 degrees C
• Avoid your house getting warm, then cold
• Modern paints
• Cement render
• Gypsum plaster
• Ground levels outside higher than inside
• Broken guttering or missing downpipes
• Vegetation growing near the wall
• Trees creating shade and moist air near a wall
• Lack of ventilation - double glazing, no vents
• Blocked chimneys - fireplace blocked up, no vents
• Furniture against walls creating cold, damp areas

View attachment 65693

I have to agree people seem to get confused about what damp actually is

 

[MakeItSmooth]

I have to agree people seem to get confused about what damp actually is

Just checking - are you talking about 40yr old virgins, who've never been with a real woman?

 

[smoother09]

Just checking - are you talking about 40yr old virgins, who've never been with a real woman?

I could take your mrs away from you without trying!

 

[MakeItSmooth]

I could take your mrs away from you without trying!

My mrs could take your husband away from you without even trying!

 

[ArthurJob1]

@Brimstone
How old is this property?
- At a guess 1920's

Is there actually another fireplace and chimney above it?
- Yes but there isn't any damp on the upstairs one.

The back boiler pipes are still there and leaking (but that would normally only be on one side).
- The back boiler was working apparently, However, it was all pretty dry when I took it out, and pipework was coming from the opposite side to where the worst damp is.

On the other side, it's a huge external wall. On initial inspection, nothing untoward.I made sure all air bricks were clear, small weeds removed.
Cannot see any noticeable flaws in the pointing but may get some staging to inspect higher up.

Other than that, I'll check the top of the chimney, see what's going on up there.

 

[ArthurJob1]

I'm wondering whether it may be a combination of there being no circulation in the voids to the left and right of the back boiler, some minor water ingress from the external wall and some moisture from under the hearth.

Got plenty of other stuff to be doing round the house, so will leave it a few days and see if the ventilation helps

 

[Monkey Boy]

Put a fire on in it and keep it going
That’ll sort it

 

[ArthurJob1]

hahaha

 

[Brimstone]

An entire industry has grown up on the back of dpc & the need for it to be installed...
Another fuxin hoax

America not one dpc seen , Holland same & build out of the water

This list is the most likely cause of damp in your home ....

• Insulation
• Heating on/off - must be constantly ON, but low temp = 15 degrees C
• Avoid your house getting warm, then cold
• Modern paints
• Cement render
• Gypsum plaster
• Ground levels outside higher than inside
• Broken guttering or missing downpipes
• Vegetation growing near the wall
• Trees creating shade and moist air near a wall
• Lack of ventilation - double glazing, no vents
• Blocked chimneys - fireplace blocked up, no vents
• Furniture against walls creating cold, damp areas

View attachment 65693

I don't disagree with your list or that the DPC/Rising damp is over hyped and generally inaccurate.
But,..
you are wrong about foundation design in America and Holland. Some do have DPC, but they also have entirely different methods to achieve the same aim and avoid the same problem. Where they have not they have problems. Most houses in Holland before 1970 had wood foundations, many in the US too. Eg., they use a tanking and gravel sytem with now, a polyethylene wrap around the treated wood, basement, the lot, and a gap (circa 8", States vary) to above-ground sheathing etc. Others use a concrete slab foundation with concrete block suspended floors, there are variations but are all to avoid capilliary and bridging water ingress, generally called Rising Damp.
Right now there is a massive foundation failure problem in the Netherlands, affecting over a million homes, because in essence they have a floating foundation system and the ground is actually sinking due to falling water table levels and gas extraction. Hence why we should object to the underground shale oil and gas extraction in the UK.
I have personally seen what we call rising damp due to DPC failure several times, and seen it fixed with replacement DPC or chemical injection. I have also seen and that it works, to use the old lime plaster and render method on solid non-dpc foundations. Right now I have a visually obvious DPC failure in a corner of my house, needing bricks/lime mortar replacing and a bit of new DPC - and improving external surface drainage, my own fault.

 

[Brimstone]

PS - Have you actually been to the US, Canada, Holland, the rest of Europe, Australia and the Carribean and really looked at how they build there? I have, I fckn love construction and look at it in detail everywhere I go - and the local politics. Guess I'm just as weird as everybody else on here.
In Belgium, apart from leaving me staring at flemish brickwork while she went shopping, we had a great afternoon drinking 10% bloody lovely beer sitting in the sun while watching augered gravel & concrete replacement pile construction next to a canal for blocks of flats. Day release and college education done for real, loved it.

 

[Monkey Boy]

PS - Have you actually been to the US, Canada, Holland, the rest of Europe, Australia and the Carribean and really looked at how they build there? I have, I fckn love construction and look at it in detail everywhere I go - and the local politics. Guess I'm just as weird as everybody else on here.
In Belgium, apart from leaving me staring at flemish brickwork while she went shopping, we had a great afternoon drinking 10% bloody lovely beer sitting in the sun while watching augered gravel & concrete replacement pile construction next to a canal for blocks of flats. Day release and college education done for real, loved it.