"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
nightjar cpb@ wrote:
....
The Building Research Establishment did extensive tests, to try to detect
rising damp, by standing various building materials in water for
prolonged
periods. They concluded that damp does not rise more than, at most, a few
inches, which implies that the DPC is entirely superfluous. Good
ventilation
is far more important for avoiding damp problems.


Well it made about a foot in my old house up 18th century porous brick.

The theortical lift in a glass tube of 0.2mm diameter, which should be more
effective at producing a straight lift from capillary action than the
variable size passageways in a brick, is 14cm, although the theoritcal lift
is not normally achieved. That suggests that either you have a reduced force
of gravity in your house, or a higher than normal surface tension in your
water, or it was not rising damp.

Colin Bignell