Damp problem

[colin178]

Hi all

Just wanted to pick your brains, totally off tiling topic i know but i need some advice.

I have damp patches on my bedroom wall, i've had my roof tiles, chimney stack and pots and gutters checked and they are ok. My builder friend took one look at my gable end and said the whole wall needs re-pointing or rendering as the pointing is just dropping out. I got him to re-point the worst bits as unfortunately i cant afford the whole job to be done.

The problem is i need to put the house on the market next year due to needing another bedroom. I cant really afford to have the re-pointing or rendering done so i was wondering wether i could do anything to the internal wall instead (it is plasterboard dot and dabbed onto cavity wall)?

Perhaps remove plasterboard, screw some aqua panel to the brick instead then screw some new plasterboard to that and paper over?

Sorry but i really need help on this as i am totally clueless when it comes to damp!

Hope you can help

Cheers

Col

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

why don't you just get a ladder and rake out morter on brick work were the patches of damp corispond outside and re point with morte that has a integral weterproofer in the mix this is cheaper than what you are surgesting

 

[Rob Z]

Hi Colin, What Gooner said makes the most sense-stop the water from getting in as much as can be done. By putting something on the inside to stop the water from getting to the plasterboard, it will just push the moisture through the masonry to another part of the house where there is no Aqua panel to stop it.

 

[colin178]

Thanks for the replies guys!

My builder friend did exactly what gooner said and re-pointed the affected areas but the damp patches remain and dont seem to be drying out.

He said whoever had re-pointed it previous to me buying the house had no where near used enough cement in the mixture as it was just like dried sand (crumbling away from the joints).

So i suppose i'll have to pay for the big job then.

Just thought there would be a way to sort it out cheaply before we move house.

Col

 

[jay]

hi you could source an external sealer for brickwork (natural sealer by construction chemicals) that drys leaving a natural look but if mortar is missing leaving gaps and holes this wont work you need to re point :8:

 

[Ajax123]

Cheapest way would be to get a ladder or hir a scaffold tower and re point it your self. It is not a difficult job to do. and does not require super specialist skills, tools or materials. A pointing trowel £2.99. A plasterers hawk. I usually make these as I need them from bits of wood i usually have lying around, but you can buy one for about £10. A decent sized soft bristled brush, usually use a wallpaper paste brush £1.99. Some bags of mortar sand or soft sand some bags of cement (calculate howmany you need and it will probably be very few), some mortar plasticiser - £4.99, and a mixing bucket £1.99. The ladder you can hire on a weekly basis for only a few pounds a week. No point spending loads of dosh on tools for a one off job and you just throw them away if you don't want them any more at the end.

 

[White Room]

How old is your property

 

[colin178]

1930's semi mate, couldnt tell which year exactly!

 

[lucius]

If the pointing is deteriated and you are getting penetrating damp it needs to be repointed or the gable end will eventualy become unstable and dangerous it is your duty as a houseowner to maintain the outside of the house. If it is 1930s built it is a good chance that it is built of lime morter it is a soft material which allows for some seasonal movement and allows the house to breathe, much softer than cement.If you repoint with sand and cement any slight movement in the house will cause the harder cement pointing to crack and allow water in eventualy loosening the pointing or worse on softer bricks cause them to spall.Unfortunately most tradesman you call in will use S&C as they dont know any better and most house owners dont know or dont care.Get a specialist in who knows what they are doing.
Lucius

 

[Ajax123]

If the pointing is deteriated and you are getting penetrating damp it needs to be repointed or the gable end will eventualy become unstable and dangerous it is your duty as a houseowner to maintain the outside of the house. If it is 1930s built it is a good chance that it is built of lime morter it is a soft material which allows for some seasonal movement and allows the house to breathe, much softer than cement.If you repoint with sand and cement any slight movement in the house will cause the harder cement pointing to crack and allow water in eventualy loosening the pointing or worse on softer bricks cause them to spall.Unfortunately most tradesman you call in will use S&C as they dont know any better and most house owners dont know or dont care.Get a specialist in who knows what they are doing.
Lucius

Does anyone still use Lime Mortar for this type of application. Sonuds expensive (Not that I disagree with you) I only ever come across lime mortar with natural stone building and high spec (english heritage type) refurbs nowadays.

 

[Colour Republic]

There is no quick fix for this.

The problem you have is that even if you sort the damp out the problems will still be found out on a survey. Imagine this, you manage to find a buyer, you start the legal work, they get a survey done some weeks in to the sale and either pull out or drop their price, wasting everybody’s time.

Your only hope is that the buyers don't have a survey done which is unlikely.

Whenever friends of mine are buying or looking at property they always get me to take a look first as I can give them a true valuation of a property. You can have two identical looking houses next to each other and an estate agent would value them the same, but I give friends the real run down, the state of the electrics, plumbing, brickwork etc. etc. so I would value them very differently

(on a side note I really looked forward to HIP's coming out as it would have made a masive difference as to how properties are valued but the government watered it down so much it is now little more than an added cost)

The situation you are describing happened last year to a friend of mine, they saw a house and put an offer in (which they were told was owned by a builder, the estate agent was trying to reassure them everything was in order) I take a look go into the attic and I notice how dusty the insulation is by the gable end, So I scrape some pointing out with my finger and it just fell away, I could have poked my finger right through to outside it was that bad! IMO the whole elevation needed rebuilding!

So I told them the real reason the builder wanted shot of it! But they so easily could have been 1-2 months into the sale before this came up, with both sides having costs before the sale fell through or price dropped.

So it's up to you, either allow for this in your sale price, have the work done (professionally if it's bad) or just hope to God the buyers don't have a survey or get a basic one done where the surveyor doesn't bother to look in the attic.

Sorry to put a downer on it

 

[lucius]

Does anyone still use lime morter for this kind of aplication?
Yes i do but not this time of year needs quite a bit of nursing for curing it dosent like frost untill cured.
Lucius.

 

[White Room]

You can buy ready mixed lime morter from specialist suppliers, the lime is a Hydraulic nhl 3.5, you may struggle to find a builders merchants who supply but worth a search

As your've got a cavity in the walls I'd like to know how moisture is creeping across

 

[kilty55]

any issues with water(condensation on the bedroom windows mate or any signs of mould? if so what colour is the mould?

im askin as i experienced a similar issue this year on my bedroom wall,,black mould appeared in patches and wall was cold and damp

i insulted the loft and cavity wall insulation was put in also added new windows still didnt solve the issue..evenyually got a system from a company called envirovent fitted as the problem was not enough ventilation in the house causing moisture on the outide bedroom wall sorted in 24 hours after it was installed,this may not be relevant but worth a look. good luck

 

[lucius]

Quite right Kilty alot of the time it is condensation especialy when insulation has been added nearly always a lack of vetilation.
I didnt see the bit about it being a cavity wall and they were about pre 1930 but unusual on houses, Normaly penetrating damp on cavity walls is caused by morter droppings on the wall ties but usualy on a wall this old they have deteriated which is another issue.
NHL 3 would be fine for repointing but i prefer Lime Putty.
Lucius

 

[colin178]

any issues with water(condensation on the bedroom windows mate or any signs of mould? if so what colour is the mould?

im askin as i experienced a similar issue this year on my bedroom wall,,black mould appeared in patches and wall was cold and damp

i insulted the loft and cavity wall insulation was put in also added new windows still didnt solve the issue..evenyually got a system from a company called envirovent fitted as the problem was not enough ventilation in the house causing moisture on the outide bedroom wall sorted in 24 hours after it was installed,this may not be relevant but worth a look. good luck

Yes mate the window in the bedroom is double glazing and does have condensation on it, it was poorly fitted by the previous owner by the look of it.

As for the ventilation my builder put an air brick in the outside wall, i suppose it wouldnt hurt if i was to put one in at the base of the wall in my bedroom. And maybe see if i can get a new window too.

Thanks for your help Kilty!