"stuart noble" wrote in message ...
ANt wrote in message ...
The existing kitchen (a 70's flat roof extension looking from the
outside) was dry lined so the plan was to gut the kitchen back to the
brick, plaster and fit the kitchen etc etc. (there was damp and I
needed to get a chemical DPC in so needed gutting anyway)

Can't believe a 30 year old structure would be suffering from rising damp.


First day on the job and I get home tonight to find behind the dry
lining the wall was painted..looks older on the inside than the
outside also..hmmmm...I guess that's why they dry lined :-( The paint
is very flakey and the old brickwork quite crumbly.

Oil paint on the inside is a sure sign that the previous owners had
penetrating damp problems, and flaking paint is pretty conclusive.

Now I have until next Tuesday to remove the flakey paint so that the
plasterer has something to key into.

I think I'd postpone the plastering. If the DPC doesn't solve the whole
problem (which I'd put money on), you'll be back to square one.
As someone else has said, why not plasterboard it again and just get the
plasterer in to skim it? Try one board and see if it stays dry. Has to be
easier than needle guns etc (though of course less work for the
plasterer.....)
I would look at the outside pointing. If it comes away cleanly from the
brick, it's not doing its job and should be replaced.
Then of course there's the flat roof. They always leak but you should see
evidence of that on the ceiling as well.
I think you need to find the source of damp before thinking about plaster.

Now that the dry-linings off, I'm having the sureveyor back to retest
the walls.

Having looked at the construction, it may actually be older since
about 1/3rd of the way along the exposed wall there's a column of half
bricks at 90 degrees from floor to ceiling (the quarry tiles are
different along that line on the floor which on it's own didn't mean
much, but in conjunction with what appears to be an old end wall
suggests it's been extended/modified whatever). The far corner brick
work is blackened so they may have knocked through and renovated an
old coal shed.
The flat roof did leak and I replaced that last year..there are no
Ridge tiles along the raised edges/parapits of the roof which will be
causing runoff down the walls contributing to any penetrating damp
over the years. I don't see that as a huge problem now that the leaks
have been stopped but will be getting those installed as well.

There is an old barrier DPC line there and a chemical DPC that has
been drilled through the barrier all the way along the wall in the
past (that must be well over 15 years ago and it's also too close to
the solid floor anyway). It's possible, tho I have not been able to
check yet, that this line is still below the neighbours patio and this
is something that will be checked out this week. The neigbour is
willing to dig out if neccesary as we had a similar problem in the
main part of the building where his patio was blocking out our air
bricks.

So it's apparent that there was a damp problem that a chemical DPC
didn't neccesarily cure. Whether it was installed incorrectly, or
whether it was done so long ago it's past its best for the 300-400
pounds it costs, I'll need to get it done again as the house is
situated at the base of a steep incline which is the root of most of
the damp problems in the past and better to do it now, rather than
later. For the guarantee, that requires plastering to a specific depth
with salt retardent/waterproofed render. Dry-Lining doesn't meet the
spec.

Cheers,
Ant.