DIYbanter - View Single Post - Damp treatment for *severe* penetrating damp

wrote:

Just buying a house at the moment that has had years of neglect. One
of the problems is a broken guttering pipe (in fact it is just loose,
but has been loose for about 15 years). This has led to water getting
through the brickwork on both levels and causing really severe
penetrating damp. One wall (upstairs) has been replastered in the last
few years and the plaster is totally gone in the corner. The
downstairs is not as bad but could still do with replastering.

The mortgage valuer has mentioned that the plaster needs to be removed
and the penetrating damp treated "by a company that can offer
guarantees for such work". What kind of treatment can you do to this?
Is it a matter of knocking off the plaster to the brick wall,
repointing outside and waiting a sufficient lenght of time for it to
dry out before replastering?

Or can we just repoint, knock off and replaster with waterproofer added
to the plaster mix?

Any help given gratefully received!

Not too worried about a guarantee for the work but need to know if we
are missing anything here!!!

Fix gutter pipe, repoint outside, remove plaster, wait ages for it to
all dry and replaster. Dont use waterproofers, they only retard
evaporation, which is what you want.

Stay away from damp treatment cons, er I mean companies.

I dare say a builder could give you a paper guarantee for £50, but
really a gtee is worthless in this case. I'd just shrug and say that
the paper's needed to get the mortgage, easy money for someone.

PS brickwork does take a long time to dry, months. So the builder job
could exclude replastering, that would get done later in the year.

NT