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Damp Proofing

Damp patches in first floor flat

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 3.32 PM

Hi, First floor flat No cavity wall insulation Damp patches on all 3 external walls. Converted 1330s house. No pipes/ drains leaks. We have a first floor flat and recently had large damp patches appearing at the bottom of all the exterior walls, right along the skirting boards. On 3 aspects of the flat, in 3 different rooms. a bit of black mould in one of the rooms. We noticed them a couple of days after we got back from being away over the Christmas holiday for 4 weeks. The flat was cold when we came back it had been left with minimum heating whilst unoccupied. We have no cavity wall insulation, the loft above is very well insulated and the floorboard layered with accoustic overlay boards throughout. There had been heavy driving rain at the time and freezing temperatures (Dorset). Could condensation be the reason for these damp marks? Or should we consider another cause? Many thanks.

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4 Answers

Anonymous user

If the damp is above the floor boards it’s a indicator that the damps rising above dpc or something is bridging the cavity which means external rain/ water is passing through the external brickwork to the cavity and travelling across a foreign object bridging the cavity which is touching the internal skin which will cause damp or another case is that the ground outside is not forcing rain and water away from the property which then would cause the ingress of moisture and damp or lastly, the property has had a company to fulfil the cavity which causes damp as there’s no air flow! Hope this helps, if further help is needed feel free to message or call and I can assist best where I can!

Answered13 February 2023

Swinton excavations ltd

Rating: 5 out of 5

Manchester

At a guess I would say a drain u trap had frozen or blocked not letting water pass. With the adverse weather we had. I would check that the ground out side is 150mm below damp course. If that’s not the issue I would check the roof that it’s not leaking into the cavity. Hope that’s helpful. Dan

Answered6 February 2023

ADR Property Maintenance

Rating: 5 out of 5

Boston

without looking at the building in question its really impossible to say exactly what is happening, the only thing I can say is its definitely not rising damp, post your job on the site and get a local expert round to asses the cause/cure. Personally I would start at the roof & Work down, could lack of insulation, tomu insulation,broken or cracked roof tile, broken or cracked ridge/hip tile, to name a few of the potential causes there are so many potential causes without looking & either discounting them it's impossible to say good luck Alex

Answered6 February 2023

Rapid Drains Ltd

Rating: 5 out of 5

Bournemouth

We have found in the past some cases of rising damp has been caused by leaking joins in underground sewerage pipes. We would recommend a drainage CCTV inspection to rule this out. Thanks

Answered4 February 2023