Plastic coated metal is impervious to damp and gives a seperate
structure
just sitting on 6 to 8 struts in the ground Concrete would need
major
foundations and have to attach to the existing building everywhere which is
>I expert where damp will collect and may damage what is left.
I see. But plastic coated metal is not rust proof, I've used it, not for building with, but small objects. After a while the plastic cracks and the metal corrodes in style.
> >> Sounds like a better approach would be to dig down beside the house
>> >> outside and put a barrier in, but that doesnt come cheap, and would
>> >> need a struc eng to check on how it could be done.
>> It might be possible to do it by removing a brick, scraping a space
>> out on the other side 18" wide, or however much you can, filling space
>> with gravel, and replacing said brick. And repeating all over the >> wall.
>Unfortunately it's a random stone wall 2 feet thick :-)
Is that a problem? I havent done much work on stone walls, but what little I have I didnt see any difficulty in removing stones, but I dont know what yours is like of course.
You know ultimately there's even the option of rebuilding the underground section of wall, section by section. Think a nice plastic barrier, gravel and drain, waterproof engineering bricks, all tar painted, fibreglass cavity insulation... think I'd be very tempted.
> Inserting concrete in there would also help, on the other side of the
>> wall, 3:1 crete is pretty much impervious.
>This is what the previous owner tried at the side of the house. I can't say
>it has or hasn't worked as I don't know how bad it was before, but the wall
>is still damp. In fact you can see the line where the concrete stops (even
>through 2' of stone) as the wall suddenly gets drier.
OK, I'm wondering why water still gets through there... either your stone is porous, in which case you'll never fix it short of rebuilding that section, or more likely they used 1:1:6 which is porous instead of 3:1. I do mean underground wall here.
> Ha. Well, have you installed weep holes? Weep holes would
desaturate
> the ground on the other side of the wall to some extent. Since you
>> dont really want the water running in, drill weep hole and epoxy pipe
>> into it, run pipes to drainage.
>This sounds interesting. I assume this is into the uphill side of the hill.
>Any more details or links ?
in any wall thats below ground and wet. Details, links... no. Its standard prctice to put open weep holes into retaining walls to reduce the load they take, so you should be able to search and get some basics. The idea is just to drain the soil a bit, thus reducing the level of soil wetness. This would hopefully reduce the through-gress.
> Sounds like youve got a very difficult case there.
>>
>> I'm guessing also youve not replaced the wall mortar? In an old house
>> the lime will all be thoroughly porous, in a powdery state by now.
>Varies. The house had a lime render until 1999 and this kept the mortar in
>fairly good shape. I have repointed in lime where needed though and am
>currently playing with lime renders to find the optimum one that will stick
>in the gales we get here. Unfortunately what you end up needing with is a
>sacrificial top layer over a base coat. By the time the top layer fails the
>base coat is absolutely solid. Must be an easier way though.
I think we'er talking at cross purposes, I mean for the underground section thats letting water in.
> Cutting it out and getting 3:1 cement in there would fix that. As
>> you'll know from the PP folk this would not usually be considered the
>> right thing to do, but in this case it sounds like just whats
needed.
> Why 3:1? Waterproof. The downside is the potential for brick
cracking
> if the house should move/subside, but it sounds like a good risk swap >> in this case.
>It's a random stone house and moves regularly :-) There are some concrete
>repairs and these have sometimes called stone cracking so I'm trying to get
>rid of it slowly.
damn :(
> One thought does occur: I just wonder if ventilation could possibly be
>> making things worse, if the cellar is colder than outdoor temp,
>> venting will result in condensation and make it wetter. Venting only
>> helps if indoor temp > outdoor.
>That's a good point. Which seems to suggest I should only vent at night.
>That doesn't sound right but could be.
Makes sense, yup
> I really hope this house was very very cheap, cos it sounds a
badun.
Nope. But most of house is coming on fine. It has various bits from 1700s
>to 1980s and is huge. The part we are discussing here is the oldest part
>right down one end and even if I just sealed it off for good we
probably
wouldn't miss it.
>Once complete the gain in value round here will have made it well worth >doing.
>Of course it would have been far easier/cheaper to demolish and start again
>but Peak Park Authority won't allow that.
Right. I like the rebuild the underground wall idea myself, as anything else is at best a major bodge, and how well it works is gong to be all fairly iffy.
NT