Damp Problems Again

[Ed_Zep]

I've posted before about this but I'm sorry, it's still there and a bit worrying as I'd like to sell the house and feel like this is stopping me.

photos show both sides of one of the walls in the kitchen where it's particularly bad. Where the boiler is an extension. Both the kitchen and extension have concrete floors, which I suspect are causing the problem.

As you can see, it's been replastered post-injection about 6 months ago but the walls are still damp.

There's a water supply pipe that runs under the concrete (it would...).

I've not heard any hissing and pressure seems ok so hopefully it's not a leak.

Any ideas on how to proceed gratefully received. The thing is, no one seems to agree that rising damp actually exists.

I got so-called "experts" from the BWPDA and they both said "rising damp".

Thanks everyone.

[Rusty Nail]

After looking at the photos and figuring out what was what and trying to see dampness i have decided the photos are crap and it probably is a rather large nail through the cold main under the wall.

[Ed_Zep]

There's no sound of water leaking, surely there would be.

[Lobster]

I can see a dark area immediately to the left of the door - could that be penetrating damp from around the door frame? Is that sealed properly?

Not sure what else I'm supposed to be looking at.

David

[Peter Parry]

Could you put some pictures up of the outside of the house covering the affected areas showing roof to floor and a bit of the surrounding ground?

What is the wall construction (single or cavity wall) in the kitchen and extension?

What is the ventilation in the kitchen?

Do you have a condensing clothes drier in the kitchen?

Was the re plastering done by the dampfiddlers?

Do you have a water meter?

You might look at

Mr Doyle has posted here occasionally and appears to know what he is doing.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I also can't really see enough detail in the photos. I don't understand the relationship between the pictures; are they both the same side of the same wall, or do you have a back door which goes into another room? What is the wall construction and external finish?

[Ed_Zep]

further. I'll post some more today.

The ventilation in the kitchen isn't... there may be an airbrick behind the washing machine.

The replastering was done by the builder who did the DPC, yes.

I don't have a water meter. It was too troublesome to install.

I'll try that site, thanks.

Ed.

[Peter Parry]

Ok - do you know the wall construction? (You can usually tell what it is by the brick pattern on the outside).

It's common for waterproof plaster to be used - it doesn't help solve the problem but hides it for long enough for the dampfmeister to make a getaway!

[Phil L]

As others have said, the pics are too small and taken from too far away, although both of them show damp but it's not rising...the one at the side of the pvc door shows damp *above* the dry plaster - this can't be rising damp because it would damp the bottom first.

The second shows damp above the worktop, again this can't be rising damp because it doesn't rise above 1m...on this shot, it looks like it's concentrated near the window frame. In both cases it looks like penetrating damp - IE water getting through from outside, either driving rain or a leaky downpipe/gutter...if it was a burst main, the water would rise up the wall like any other rising damp, and yes, rising damp does exist, but it's quite rare, it looks like you need some repointing doing outside, unless the exterior is rendered, in which case you don't need to look any further because this is your culprit.