Hi Everyone,

Got a few queries that Im hoping someone might be able to help with...

Im starting to renovate the dining room in our house. When we moved in 4yrs
ago the survey picked up a bit of damp in the walls either side of the
mantel piece. The damp was repaired and although I didnt watch what they
did, the visible outcome was a two new patches of plaster from floor level
upto the height of the mantel on either side of the fireplace.

Now - we've had the fireplace removed and Im decorating in preparation for
the installation of a hole in the wall electric fire.

First question - having removd the skirting board, there was what looked
like expanding foam that the damp people put in when replacing the skirting
board. Is this likely to have been for any particular reason or may they
have just used it to fix the skirting? The plaster doesnt go right down to
the floor so this may have been to keep the skirting vertical this there is
no solid fixing - is this likely to be correct?

Secondly, with regard to the fireplace, the fitter who came to do first part
of the fireplace install, bricked up the bottom of the original grate
opening to create a "hole" in the wall about 50cm up from the floor. Im
doing the plaster work around this new brickwork.

Questions

1. There is a series of holes around the outside wall in the bricks just
above the floorboard level (floorboards have a 50cm cavity beneath them to
hte ground). Im presuming that these holes form the dampproof course. Is
this correct?

2. The fitter, bricked up from floor level (just below the level of the
holes in the bricks eitehr side of the opening) to the height of the hole -
should he have put something in here with regard to stopping damp or does
this not matter as this is merely the front of "proper" chimney opening?

3. Where the hearth was there is a concrete slab which (on looking under the
floor) is supported on bricks going down to the soil under the floor. As
this slab was slightly below the floor level, I levelled it using levelling
compound. Now a small area of the levelling compound near where it meets the
wall (and to agree the new bit of wall the fitter built) is showing signs of
being damp - they are a darker colour but not physcially damp. As the
concrete slab is below the dampproof course, Im assuming that this is to be
expected - is that the case?

4. I was intending painting with waterproof floor paint and putting some
polythene down before carpet goes down. Is this the best course of action?
Alternatively, I can take out the levlling compound i put in, and put a
layer of a waterproof membrane underneath some new levelling compound?

Many many thanks for your thoughts...

Tim