martherer
Member
- Messages
- 5
- Location
- North London
Our home is a generic North London 2 bed Victorian end terrace with little in the way of original features. We have quite bad damp at the base of the party wall which I think is due to a combination of the ground being clay, a concrete floor in the kitchen pushing damp up the walls, and modern bonding and plaster stopping the walls from breathing. There was also a leaking soil pipe that we repaired about 5 years ago that would have been adding to the ground water - the wall improved after that but is still damp.
The concrete floor has had a timber floor laid on top but it's not suspended: the joists sit on bitumen directly on the concrete so under the timber there is only a 3" or so gap for air circulation. As the nearest joist to the damp wall is only about 2" away, in effect all the breathable area the wall has is a strip of brick 3" high breathing into a space 2" deep.
I know the best thing to do would be to remove the concrete and replace with a genuine suspended floor but we aren't in a position to do that financially or practically. I realise without sorting out the subfloor there will always be some damp in that wall so for now I'm looking to improve and manage rather than cure.
I was wondering about taking the wall back to brick for the bottom three feet and covering with wainscoting with vents in the panels and space for air to circulate behind - say up to 2". Is that likely to give enough ventilation that the damp neither rots the wood nor climbs into the plaster above?
Thank you
The concrete floor has had a timber floor laid on top but it's not suspended: the joists sit on bitumen directly on the concrete so under the timber there is only a 3" or so gap for air circulation. As the nearest joist to the damp wall is only about 2" away, in effect all the breathable area the wall has is a strip of brick 3" high breathing into a space 2" deep.
I know the best thing to do would be to remove the concrete and replace with a genuine suspended floor but we aren't in a position to do that financially or practically. I realise without sorting out the subfloor there will always be some damp in that wall so for now I'm looking to improve and manage rather than cure.
I was wondering about taking the wall back to brick for the bottom three feet and covering with wainscoting with vents in the panels and space for air to circulate behind - say up to 2". Is that likely to give enough ventilation that the damp neither rots the wood nor climbs into the plaster above?
Thank you