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!!!

In message .com,
writes
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?

ISTR my builder suggesting this for a flat I was refurbishing - there
was no rush to replaster, so I think it got about 3 months before
plastering.

--
Richard Faulkner

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

wrote in message
oups.com...
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!!!


I don't think that you need do anything special about the penetrating damp -
as long as the cause of the problem has been sorted, i.e. the loose down
pipe, certainly not a 'specialist company'! I had a damp patch when I moved
in and that was a cast iron pipe with a split down the back, replaced with
plastic and six months later the wall (north facing) had dried out, 25 years
further on still OK.

Peter

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?

The cure is simple, stop the water pssing all over the wall, let it
all dry out, and re-plaster. No special work needed.


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?

That's about it.


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

Is it an old house (how old?) or new?

Victorian terrace (liverpool). Needs fair amount of work doing to it
(lateral restraints, full gable, outrigger and rear elevation repoint,
DG, window lintel to replace, through lounge lintel to replace, most of
downstairs to replaster.

Apart from that, quite tidy :

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?
The cure is simple, stop the water pssing all over the wall, let it
all dry out, and re-plaster. No special work needed.


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?
That's about it.


Or can we just repoint, knock off and replaster with waterproofer added
to the plaster mix?
Is it an old house (how old?) or new?

Victorian terrace (liverpool). Needs fair amount of work doing to it
(lateral restraints, full gable, outrigger and rear elevation repoint,
DG, window lintel to replace, through lounge lintel to replace, most of
downstairs to replaster.

Apart from that, quite tidy :

Just do it. With the guttering fixed, the damp will subside. Don't even
think about replastering until its all dried out.

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

Is it an old house (how old?) or new?

Victorian terrace

Make sure that whoever re-points uses either lime mortar
(unlikely for most builders as it's a PITA for them) or
1:1:6, which is much more likely and OK for builders -
not straight cement:sand, even "with a plasticiser, mate,
so it's OK" (because it's not OK). Just a small point

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

Is it an old house (how old?) or new?

Victorian terrace

Make sure that whoever re-points uses either lime mortar
(unlikely for most builders as it's a PITA for them) or
1:1:6, which is much more likely and OK for builders -
not straight cement:sand, even "with a plasticiser, mate,
so it's OK" (because it's not OK). Just a small point

Whats the 1:1:6 mix of? Also what would be the implication of using
normal sand/cement mix (with plasticiser)?

Thanks.

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

Is it an old house (how old?) or new?

Victorian terrace

Make sure that whoever re-points uses either lime mortar
(unlikely for most builders as it's a PITA for them) or
1:1:6, which is much more likely and OK for builders -
not straight cement:sand, even "with a plasticiser, mate,
so it's OK" (because it's not OK). Just a small point


Whats the 1:1:6 mix of? Also what would be the implication of using
normal sand/cement mix (with plasticiser)?

1:1:6 is cement:lime:sand by volume. It's not as hard as cement
mortar. If you use cement:sand, it's effing hard. The mortar
used originally was soft lime mortar. Plasticiser in cement
mortar is for workability, it doesn't change the hardness. Under
some circumstances, if you use a hard mortar, it can lead to the
stuff being slowly ejected, or, much worse, damaging the brick
faces:

@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@ Brick
X- @@@@@@@@@
Y- ##::::::: ## = hard mortar, ::: = soft mortar (original lime).
X- @@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@ Brick
@@@@@@@@@

Large force transmitted at X possibly leading to flaking. The
hard mortar at Y may be ejected due to small movements of the
structure, potential water ingress and frost damage.

1:1:6 will also match in much better with the rest of the
buildings. You can use white cement, the results can be a bit
too white though! It's worth being a little careful with mortar
colour, to avoid eyesores.

Also what would be the implication of using normal sand/cement
mix (with plasticiser)?

Your wall will be utterly ruined as the mortar spalls all the brick faces,
costing tens of thousands of pounds to repair.

Christian.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
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?
The cure is simple, stop the water pssing all over the wall, let it
all dry out, and re-plaster. No special work needed.


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?
That's about it.


Or can we just repoint, knock off and replaster with waterproofer added
to the plaster mix?
Is it an old house (how old?) or new?

Victorian terrace (liverpool). Needs fair amount of work doing to it
(lateral restraints, full gable, outrigger and rear elevation repoint,
DG, window lintel to replace, through lounge lintel to replace, most of
downstairs to replaster.
Apart from that, quite tidy :

Just do it. With the guttering fixed, the damp will subside. Don't even
think about replastering until its all dried out.

Would placing a dehumidifier in the room help with the drying out from
the inside?

Richard Conway wrote:

Would placing a dehumidifier in the room help with the drying out from
the inside?

if the interior is damp, then yes, it would reduce RH and thus speed
drying. If its not, because its just a small damp patch, then not
really.


NT

Richard Conway wrote:

Would placing a dehumidifier in the room help with the drying out from
the inside?

if the interior is damp, then yes, it would reduce RH and thus speed
drying. If its not, because its just a small damp patch, then not
really.

Thats interesting - never occurred to me to use a dehumidifier. The
interior is not particularly damp, IIRC, so may not make a difference.

wrote:
Richard Conway wrote:


Would placing a dehumidifier in the room help with the drying out from
the inside?

if the interior is damp, then yes, it would reduce RH and thus speed
drying. If its not, because its just a small damp patch, then not
really.


Thats interesting - never occurred to me to use a dehumidifier. The
interior is not particularly damp, IIRC, so may not make a difference.


All sounds a bit complicated to me. Sort the downpipe out and you may
not need to do anything else.

Would placing a dehumidifier in the room help with the drying out from
the inside?

if the interior is damp, then yes, it would reduce RH and thus speed
drying. If its not, because its just a small damp patch, then not
really.


Thats interesting - never occurred to me to use a dehumidifier. The
interior is not particularly damp, IIRC, so may not make a difference.


All sounds a bit complicated to me. Sort the downpipe out and you may
not need to do anything else.

Thanks - I think it will need repointing at the front (at least partly)
and anyway all the front paint needs stripped/sanded as it is in a
state anyway.

Thanks for all the advice from the other posters, too.

All sounds a bit complicated to me. Sort the downpipe out and you may
not need to do anything else.

Thanks - I think it will need repointing at the front (at least partly)
and anyway all the front paint needs stripped/sanded as it is in a
state anyway.

Thanks for all the advice from the other posters, too.

do you mean the brickwork is painted? If so that wont help any.

NT

wrote:
Someone else wrote, but the attributions were munged *again*:
Thanks - I think it will need repointing at the front (at least partly)
and anyway all the front paint needs stripped/sanded as it is in a
state anyway.

do you mean the brickwork is painted? If so that wont help any.

I hope he's just talking about the timber... also, if it's the
brick, "sanding" isn't necessarily a great idea.

I think I used the wrong word!!! it needs some scraping as the some of
the paint is coming off.