Hello,
I've got a damp patch, half way up an internal wall. It's only small - maybe
6 inches by 4 inches. On the other side of the wall, I also have a small damp patch in a similar position. If I paint it, it just bubbles up. What is the best way of treating this? No idea why it is appearing in this particular position - I am in an old Victorian two up two down, and this wall was originally the external wall, before the extension was built for the kitchen / bathroom.cheers for any help.
Is there a pipe buried in the wall that is leaking?
As it was originally the external wall is it 9" solid brick or is there a cavity?
If it is a cavity wall it is possible that something is bridging this cavity and collecting moisture, though where the moisture is coming from is another matter, maybe a leak into the top of the wall?
Tony
Tony
Hi,
thanks for your reply.
yes, I guess that's the difficulty. The damp patch is directly next to the door frame (into the kitchen), about 3 feet up from the floor. The walls appear to be solid. I'm not aware of a cavity of any kind. It would be a pretty unusual place for a pipe I think. A leak at the top of the wall might be a good shout though, as part of the drain pipe looks like it's collapsed, and it might be possible that water from that could be running onto the wall. I had discounted that before, as I damp patch was in an unusual position.
cheers,
The message from "TMC" contains these words:
The damp has to come from somewhere and as it is only a small patch on both sides of the wall it isn't condensation. Ergo it must be coming down from somewhere above within the wall. It is quite possible for water to find its way through voids within the wall and pool at the point where its flow is restricted or barred but as it would take the line of least resistance the source doesn't have to be directly above the damp patch.
If it is rain water then in times of drought the patch should dry out or at least get dryer. However it could be a pipe that passes through the wall somewhere above that is leaking into the wall.
If you have defective guttering/downpipes that should be fixed as a matter of course regardless of whether it is causing your present problem. Obviously it would be a boon if fixing the drainage fixed the problem but the defective pointing would need attention too.
It is a leak from the new bathroom flowing down the line of least resistance. Probably a tap or shower/bath outlet weeping. It has descended the frame and hit the wooden wedge that was used to fix the frame.
wooden wedge and into the masonry. Just find and fix the leak and it should dry out no problem in this weather.
thanks, I think this is probably spot on. I just found the survey I got done on the house about 8 years ago, and the back wall (the one with the damp) is a 10.5" cavity wall, so it might be that the water from the faulty guttering is dripping down into the cavity (given that it's directly above it). I guess what threw me was where the damp patch was - half way up the wall - but as you say, it's flow is probably restricted at that point, so that's whats causing the problem.
cheers,
It is damp on both sides of the cavity?
Are you an idiot?
To start with, if it is coming in in the rainy weather it will dry out considerably when it's dry but when wet it will be wet as hell.
What could be constricting the cavity long enough to stop the rain dropping past it on the inside or staying long enough to cause quite a large damp patch?
If it is a small damp patch that is present in dry or wet spells it is coming from a leaking pipe or connection.
I think it was the broken down pipe, as it is directly above the wall with the damp patch. It was a fixed a few weeks ago, so hopefully the patch will now dry out.
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