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

How to treat damp kitchen wall, which may be single brick.

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 2.54 PM

We've lived in our 1930's semi for 14 years now, and as we've decided to stay there are things that must be done. My husband is definitely no diy-er and we always have to get people in to do anything but the most basic stuff. Our kitchen is long and narrow, with a step down to the bottom part. Top part of the room is floorboards, bottom part is solid. We believe that this bottom part was originally some kind of outhouse or something and think it's single brick construction. The joker who lived there before us had put guttering up but the downspout went straight into the ground - there was no drainage. We had that sorted by extending the downspout to a drain. Thought this had worked, but although there was slight improvement, it's still appearing through paintwork on the outer wall. Planning to have our kitchen re-fitted soon and I'd like this problem sorted beforehand as I'm sure the full extent of damage will become more apparent when the existing units are removed. Would the best solution be to have the wall re-built or is that a bit drastic?

Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?

2 Answers

GN Building Services (Stafford) Ltd

Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Stafford

It probably is single brick. The damp will be a combination of the fact that it is single brick, and rising damp, because I do not think the property has a DPC, or if it has, it is not effective. The cheapest cure is to remove the plasterboard or plaster from the wall, then replace it with foil lined plasterboard. This is cheap and easy to do. The foil lined plaster board must stop shortly above the floor so moisture is not conducted upwards. The foil prevents any moisture passing, so the inside will remain dry. This should be fixed to the wall with the correct adhesive, Stixall being one. To go further, you could have a new injection DPC added to the affected wall, this is also cheap and will greatly reduce rising damp. You could also paint the affected wall with a clear brick waterproofing liquid. This stops rain water soaking in from the outside. All of these will stop any damp appearing inside. The foil makes a mechanical barrier, the others will greatly reduce the wall becoming damp. Connecting the drain was without doubt worthwhile, this would have helped the rising damp but not cured it. Hope this helps. Regards, Paul Albright

Answered23 April 2015

Ewan Park

Rating: 5 out of 5

Fulham, South London, London

Single brick on an external wall is guaranteed to suffer condensation problems, especially in a kitchen environment. Condensation damp is often overlooked and everyone focuses on rising damp or damp from leaks. remove all plaster to expose brickwork. apply 2 coats KA Tanking Slurry. if the wall is straight and true attach 2x1 treated batten to wall @ 400mm centres filling drill holes with silicone before rawl plugs put in. fit 25mm celotex to battens. fit 12mm or 18mm plywood over celotex. 12.5mm plasterboard to ply with 10mm gap from floor. skim. Nothing will come through the wall and anything screwed onto the wall will never come loose. The celotex insulation warms the interior wall face so significantly reducing the possibility of condensation forming. A radiator, a good cooker hood extractor and some extra ventilation would also help. good luck.

Answered2 February 2019