Advice needed

[AndreaK]

Can anyone recommend a roofer for a re-roof or repair to a small pan tile roof in Bridlington? I also need advice about the best exterior paint/primer to use on external sand + cement render over bricks. The previous coating had trapped huge amounts of moisture. Finally, regarding damp patches on the cement floor (one edge and a small area in the middle), I have been advised to dig down and lay hardcore, visquine membrane and kingspan insulation. Will this trap the water and send it seeping back up the brick walls and is there another way? The house was dripping wet when I bought it and I am slowly finding the leaks and increasing general breathability but need more expert advice on the 3 points above. It is a tiny cottage with no windows on the back wall, single brick walls with render.

Thank you.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I'm afraid I can't help you with the roofer.

Your cement sounds like a bit of a nightmare and ideally would be replaced with lime render, and your cement floor, ideally, taken up, then to lay flagstones on earth or create a suspended timber floor over earth, or lay a limecrete floor with breathable pamments on top. Don't really like the sound of the advice you've been given on your floor.

As for paint, if the intention is to keep the cement as it is, then I can't recommend Rose of Jericho's Exterior Emulsion highly enough. http://www.rose-of-jericho.demon.co.uk/

It's a lovely paint suitable for cement render that does its best to mirror something of the texture of limewash - by which I mean the natural pigment is very rich in this paint, and it isn't plasticcy, or Sandtex-y.

 

[MatthewC]

Can anyone recommend a roofer for a re-roof or repair to a small pan tile roof in Bridlington? I also need advice about the best exterior paint/primer to use on external sand + cement render over bricks. The previous coating had trapped huge amounts of moisture. Finally, regarding damp patches on the cement floor (one edge and a small area in the middle), I have been advised to dig down and lay hardcore, visquine membrane and kingspan insulation. Will this trap the water and send it seeping back up the brick walls and is there another way? The house was dripping wet when I bought it and I am slowly finding the leaks and increasing general breathability but need more expert advice on the 3 points above. It is a tiny cottage with no windows on the back wall, single brick walls with render.

Thank you.

Too far from Bridlington to advise on the roofer, but I agree with Joce that if you are going to dig up your cement floor then you have got to lay something appropriate. I have a limecrete floor in my kitchen with unsealed limestone flags and it does work (check the Ty Mawr website). If you do as you have been advised then yes, it will trap any water and affect the walls even more.

What do you have on the inside of your walls? It's the cement render outside that has trapped the moisture, not the paint. If the inside is also non-porous then you ceretainloy will have well and truly trapped moisture there. The best solution is to re-do the exterior render with NHL.

 

[AndreaK]

Thank you both for the responses, the advice so far is really useful. We took the old plaster off the brick walls as it was soaked and falling off anyway. After this the bricks dried quite quickly on the inside of the house. The builder suggested painting the bricks with something waterproof I can't remember, then re-plastering. Instead, I asked him to create stud walls in front of the brick, leaving a gap and we have put in adjustable air vents. I'm not sure if this is appropriate but I thought it would be better than his suggestion and might draw some moisture out when we use the dehumidifier. I love the idea of laying flagstones and hadn't considered this as an option but will definitely look into it.

Thanks again - I appreciate your help.

 

[masochists-r-us]

First commiserations. Damp problems are awful. My advice would be to look at all the past threads on damp problems as you will find some really good information. I definitely would not apply any kind of waterproofing to the bricks as suggested by the builder because this could only make things worse. You will probably need to take a series of actions over time to resolve your problem as you don't yet know where all this damp is coming from. Removing rotten plaster inside is good, adding some heating and ventilation would also be good, fixing the roof and any leaky gutters/pipes etc, checking and re mediating problems with external ground levels are the obvious priorities. Maybe add a good de-humidifier which will make the environment more pleasant to be in. Give it time to dry out and then re-assess. If the damp course in the floor has really failed then it will need re-doing. The external render if it has failed and allowed moisture to seep behind it, may also need to be removed, but I think best policy to proceed carefully and methodically and don't be tempted to rush into expensive and invasive works until you have a better understanding of the issues. Best of luck.

 

[AndreaK]

Just a quick update, when removing the loose bits from a groove in the floor I discovered what looks like red tiles under the concrete. I can't afford to uncover them at present but when I do eventually tackle the floor I will be doing the job very delicately by hand in the hope of finding an original tiled floor, complete enough to restore - exciting! Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Quarry tiles are really tough, so when you have time I'm sure that will be a very rewarding project!

 

[wobs]

Can anyone recommend a roofer for a re-roof or repair to a small pan tile roof in Bridlington?
Thank you.

As a Hull person, I may be able to recommend a roofer.

Our conservation area association has a list of tradesmen, including roofers. I'll PM you some names.