Hotel Dampifornia

[a twig]

You can check out but you’ll never leave!

So, sadly had to sell our forever home in Somerset - moved to a newer house supposedly with no problems. Didn’t bother with a survey as have got bored of paying for ever more inventive works of fiction and so moved in to inevitably find daaaamp in the old section of the house that dates back to 1860…

The previous owners were kind enough to share the survey they had done when they purchased which said there was no DPC in the original building and also there was no asbestos anywhere in the building.

Having found asbestos in the building not long after we moved in and having paid handsomely to get it all removed, I started to doubt the other conclusions…

Inevitably there were significant damp problems, investigation of rainwater goods rapidly revealed a complete lack of soakaways, or even pipe work actually connected to anything. Along the way I started to question how the surveyor had established the lack of DPC given the external cement render going all the way down to the ground, but the previous owners had been conned into the inevitable silicon injection treatment which had then been implemented above the level of the floorboards

So today I set about reconnecting what pipework did exist, and cutting back the render - only to reveal, shock of horrors, a slate DPC!

So, a perfectly well constructed house damaged by damp for years due to an incorrectly diagnosed cement render bridging the DPC and defunct rainwater management

Now in the process of cutting the render back above the DPC and putting in a bellmouth as I can’t face hacking off the whole lot, making good the damaged soft reds below the DPC and getting a proper rainwater management system in place!

Had hoped the move meant I was done with damp but clearly not!

 

[a twig]

And yes poor Henry had his nozzle stuck down the gulley to clear out the gravel stuck in it

 

[Lacan07]

Sorry to hear this Twig, rather ties in with the latest discussions on here about over zealous or useless surveyors.

If you can hack of the render at the very bottom of the wall at least the moisture has somewhere to escape.

 

[a twig]

Yep - all fun and games

At least the external ground levels are fine and there is actually a DPC so I’m ahead compared to my last place!

 

[Kearn]

And yes poor Henry had his nozzle stuck down the gulley to clear out the gravel stuck in it

That’s what Henry lives for!! He used to clean out our old Georgian brick cellar floor and walls, when I was too lazy to brush… he’s eaten rock wool and more than few belly fulls of polystyrene munched by rodents in the current project, dust and pebbles from subfloor voids… all he’s ever asked for in return is one new power switch.

 

[88v8]

So, a perfectly well constructed house damaged by damp for years due to an incorrectly diagnosed cement render bridging the DPC ...

Bad luck, and a shame you had to sell your forever house...

Our previous house, 1920, had a single felt DPC. The builder, from whom we bought it, was skint at the time and it's all he could afford. And he put a concrete plinth all the way round the house bridging the DPC, and then pebble dashed the walls above, fortunately in lime.
Despite the bridging there was no damp.

Difference was that the bricks were flettons and quite hard. I suspect that what scuppered your house was the soft absorbent reds.

Ivor

 

[malcolm]

I don't worry about lime render bridging a DPC. Though I don't have any DPC so might not have put enough thought into it. I do make sure lime plaster inside doesn't reach the ground but that's only because the bottom bit of plaster is normally covered by skirting boards so can't freely evaporate water away.

Good to see previous experience is helping. Much more fun to figure out how to sort the trouble with the least intervention. I'm still on my first house and I made too much intervention to start with.

 

[a twig]

The external render here is cement sadly, with masonry paint on top and then a "never paint again" system sprayed over the top which is also failing.


I am therefore really hoping that just cutting away bottom of the render to above the DPC and installing a bell mouth at the bottom, plus putting in a new huge soakaway and renewing all the underground pipework to it will resolve the damp problems as I really can't face trying to remove and re-render all that!

 

[a twig]

Progress this evening after work, render hacked off and started clearing out the joints for pointing.



Bricks were sodden and worms were living in the mortar so definitely the right option, the bricks above the DPC while damp were a lot drier which is excellent news as it supports my theory that the DPC was fine and it was the bridging render and faulty rainwater management that were the issues!

Just need to crack on with repointing and bell mouth before winter comes, and as the bricks are fairly battered I will probably limewash below the bell mouth to neaten it all up a bit and give the bricks a fighting chance.

Suppose this thread should probably go into the Projects section now, @malcolm do you have the power to move it?

 

[malcolm]

Certainly do. I had assumed you were rendering the bottom bit in lime. Leaving the bricks exposed would definitely let them dry out but the beetles will get upset. What's a bell mouth?

Bricks don't look so bad considering you can see their faces attached to the concrete. I've been putting off removing a bit of concrete. Was there any technique you found reduced damage?

 

[a twig]

Thank you!

A bell mouth is a way of creating a rain drip at the bottom of a render, so using some of this (although probably not in such large quantities)!

Expamet Stainless Steel Bellmouth External Render Stop Bead 3m Long - Pack Of 25

Stainless steel angle beading is intended for outdoor use with cement based renders and is not suitable for use with gypsum based plasters. T x L x L1 16/20 x 58 x 25

www.tradingdepot.co.uk

I will then use an NHL (or maybe cement if I can bring myself as there is no benefit to using NHL) based render and that bell mouth stop bead to form the rain drip at the bottom of the render just above the DPC so there is no chance of any bridging.

This rather light hearted video pretty much covers off the approach I’m taking:

In terms of removal, slow and steady with the widest two from a set of proper sharp stone masons chisels - I do a bit of plinking away as a hobby and purchased a set about 8 or so years ago and so occasionally they get abused on jobs like this:



The dummy and the rounded ends help stop me wailing away too hard - slow and laborious but much less damage than an sds with a chisel bit!

 

[a twig]

So while one down pipe sort of flows away the other certainly does not, completely blocked, I gave up after excavating / removing the gulley and the first 3ft and it being still completely blocked, so I MacGyvered this out of some bits I had lying around as a temporary measure while I get ground workers in - I still can’t decide if I’m proud of it or utterly embarrassed

 

[a twig]

Progress today:

Re-pointing in lime putty mortar done including a bead for the step - will
brush back again tomorrow which will hopefully improve things. The bead is installed ready for the correction of the render.

Not my prettiest but bricks were in poor condition and all will be limewashed anyway so will look fine in the end.

 

[a twig]

Sadly said goodbye to this beauty today in order to fund the works:

 

[Lacan07]

Progress today:

Re-pointing in lime putty mortar done including a bead for the step - will
brush back again tomorrow which will hopefully improve things. The bead is installed ready for the correction of the render.

Not my prettiest but bricks were in poor condition and all will be limewashed anyway so will look fine in the end.

View attachment 11258

did you make your own mortar, what was the mix?

 

[a twig]

I did, 1 part lime putty, 1 part sharp sand and 2 parts builders sand.

 

[a twig]

Some progress today:

Some temporary plumbing put in to allow access, and then remaining sections of render removed, wall repointed with fat lime
mortar, bell mouth bead fitted and then rendering done.

I left part of the wall below the window as that is coming out and a door being reinstated in the near future.

So, just painting of the new render and limewashing of the bricks to go. Hopefully getting a more sensible quote for the soakaways on Wednesday otherwise it’s out with the shovels!

 

[a twig]

Forgot to post the finished pics - have decided not to limewash the brickwork for now, wanted to see more clearly how we get on over winter

Re-routed the sink waste so that the brackets are clear of the bead, that repointing I did in NHL 2 as after waiting 6 weeks for the putty based mortar to go off on the first section I decided life was too short.

House is noticeably dryer and less musty inside so all in all, worth doing, cheap, easy to DIY and seems very effective!

 

[a twig]

Moving on to the next stage, after receiving daft quotes to get rainwater drainage and a new soakaway done before winter - I’ve gone for a temporary solution, with two down pipes re-done into new gulleys and 100mm pipe now draining it all into a ditch that runs down the edge of our property, again £160 of pipe and gravel and a day of digging was a lot cheaper than the “professionals”

 

[Lacan07]

Moving on to the next stage, after receiving daft quotes to get rainwater drainage and a new soakaway done before winter - I’ve gone for a temporary solution, with two down pipes re-done into new gulleys and 100mm pipe now draining it all into a ditch that runs down the edge of our property, again £160 of pipe and gravel and a day of digging was a lot cheaper than the “professionals”

View attachment 11684

View attachment 11685

View attachment 11686

Nice work.