malcolm
& Clementine the cat
- Messages
- 1,691
- Location
- Bedfordshire
I've got an internal wall where the ground levels are higher on the other side. It's been cement rendered of course and there was damp, salts and lifting wallpaper. It tends to dry in the winter as there is a radiator attached to the wall, but the damp comes back in the summer.
The obvious way to fix the problem would be to ventilate the other side of the wall but I've had a dig nearby and the soil isn't wet so I can't believe there is a lot of water coming through. I'm going to try to fix it by making the inside of the wall breathable. If that doesn't work I can try something else.
All good projects start with some destruction. There was a wire mesh behind the cement render so I kept chipping to the point where the wire mesh hadn't rusted away.
I've got a theory. The damp wouldn't have risen so far up the wall if it had a way out. Also a nice breathable lime plaster should provide a linear moisture level in the wall from soil moisture on one side to really dry on the inside. So just underneath the surface on the inside it should be pretty dry instead of damp.
I'm terrible at doing anything on the house over the winter but the base coat of lime render went on today. It's my own mix of sharp sand and some plastering sand I bought for something else and want to get rid of. Still more to do and I should know if it works by summer.
I find it funny that this is completely the opposite of tanking.
The obvious way to fix the problem would be to ventilate the other side of the wall but I've had a dig nearby and the soil isn't wet so I can't believe there is a lot of water coming through. I'm going to try to fix it by making the inside of the wall breathable. If that doesn't work I can try something else.
All good projects start with some destruction. There was a wire mesh behind the cement render so I kept chipping to the point where the wire mesh hadn't rusted away.
I've got a theory. The damp wouldn't have risen so far up the wall if it had a way out. Also a nice breathable lime plaster should provide a linear moisture level in the wall from soil moisture on one side to really dry on the inside. So just underneath the surface on the inside it should be pretty dry instead of damp.
I'm terrible at doing anything on the house over the winter but the base coat of lime render went on today. It's my own mix of sharp sand and some plastering sand I bought for something else and want to get rid of. Still more to do and I should know if it works by summer.
I find it funny that this is completely the opposite of tanking.