random round wet patches of paint - no mould or stain, been this way for 2 years!

the main reason for these damp spots is condensation. even though its been a couple of years and the room has dried out, these spots ( known as cold spots) will appear when the weather is normally cold and the house is warm. they are mainly found on the internal plastered face of external walls. the reason they appear is mainly, the cavity between the outside wall and internal wall has been bridged, when being built, by mortar allowing moisture from the outside seeping through to form a cold spot inside. when in contact with the warm air inside, condensation occurs. if not treated as soon as possible there may be a chance the salts in the brick or plaster which is known as effervesance to appear and over time will damage either the plaster or plasterboard. a common solution to this is to apply an oil or methylated spirit based damp block paint to the areas. stain blocks tend to hold back stains so it would be recommended to look at the tins and look for a product specifically that states ' damp resistant'

Hello Joanne, In answer to your query I would like to advise you that your wall sounds "Live" or "Blown" - meaning the plaster is wet. The best answer for this would be to hack off the existing plaster, reskim, miscoat and then redecorate. For a quick/cheap fix you could PVA over, stain block and decorate...but this is not advisable and would only mask the issue. Hope this helps, Emma x

Hi. Agree with Jonesy's. There could be metal ties going between the cavities from the outer brick to the inner brick, these can get snots of mortar dripping down the cavity and landing on them, when the walls are being built, and the moisture can travel through to the inner wall through this.