Ready to hire?

Post your job in minutes, browse real reviews and choose who to speak to.Post a job

Need some tips or advice?

Damp Proofing

Increasing damp in basement of 120 year old terrace house

Anonymous user 14/03/2024 - 2.34 PM

My house is a 120yr old terrace with a large basement. The back half is fine - it used to be the kitchen, I think. The front half is damp and becoming more damp with the amount of rain we've had. I can see it creeping across the walls, mainly from the top down and the plaster (underneath the painted surface - perhaps it was treated with some waterproofer?) is crumbling badly. This is only on one side as someone had built a false brick wall on the other side, though it shows through on the front new(ish) brick too. I am going to have the light switches removed I know, but what should I do about the badly damp walls? AND will it affect the hallway upstairs? Not that I can see any sign of damp there. Thanks

Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?

2 Answers

ADR Property Maintenance

Rating: 5 out of 5

Boston

without looking at it its impossible to say exactly what is happening, but three things you should never do to an old house is paint the walls with modern paint , re point or render with a modern render, your house would have been built with lime mortar this allows your building to breathe, if it has been repaired with modern material i.e. Portland cement,this will hold the water in the wall creating internal dampness the biggest issue is their can be many different reason & causes of dampness,loose or damaged roof tiles,eroded gutter felt,poor or in effective pointing.leaking gutters to name a few. your best bet is post your job on the site and get a local expert round to asses the cause/cost of repair. pick one that is used to working with old houses and understands how the materials used in the construction of your property all work to-gether in keeping the house dry. good luck alex

Answered30 January 2018

Anonymous user

It sounds like the false wall that has been added on has no damp course plus water that's penetrating through maybe because its single brick thick. solution would be to render the outside with a damp retardant in it to stop water coming through and replace the damaged plaster inside. hope that helps you

Answered1 April 2015