Hi all

I need some advise on what I think maybe rising damp in my kitchen ?

When we refitted the kitchen, I noticed that along the bottom of one wall
the tiles came off very easily and the plasterboard underneath was mouldy. I
know I should have taken action at the time but I hoped that if I just
replastered and painted, the wall would be able to breath and dry out. One
year later and the paint along that wall is bubbling and flaky so my
optimism was a bit misplaced.

The wall in question is was what once was the outside wall but is now an
interior wall due to an extension (extension was done at least 20 years ago)
It's only 3' long and the flaky paintwork doesn't go above 6" in height but
is along most of the length. It's a cavity brick wall, the other side of
which is showing no signs of any problems. Floor is concrete with tiles. The
house does have a DPC but I have no idea if this was touched/breached when
the extension was done.

Any advice on the best way to tackle the problem would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Jim

On May 8, 11:13*pm, "JimM" wrote:
Hi all

I need some advise on what I think maybe rising damp in my kitchen ?

When we refitted the kitchen, I noticed that along the bottom of one wall
the tiles came off very easily and the plasterboard underneath was mouldy.. I
know I should have taken action at the time but I hoped that if I just
replastered and painted, the wall would be able to breath and dry out. One
year later and the paint along that wall is bubbling and flaky so my
optimism was a bit misplaced.

The wall in question is was what once was the outside wall but is now an
interior wall due to an extension (extension was done at least 20 years ago)
It's only 3' long and the flaky paintwork doesn't go above 6" in height but
is along most of the length. It's a cavity brick wall, the other side of
which is showing no signs of any problems. Floor is concrete with tiles. The
house does have a DPC but I have no idea if this was touched/breached when
the extension was done.

Any advice on the best way to tackle the problem would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Jim

scraping what you can off and repaint it with a porous paint might be
all you need do. Builder's lime makes an adequate white paint for
this.


NT

JimM wrote:
Hi all

I need some advise on what I think maybe rising damp in my kitchen ?

When we refitted the kitchen, I noticed that along the bottom of one
wall the tiles came off very easily and the plasterboard underneath
was mouldy. I know I should have taken action at the time but I hoped
that if I just replastered and painted, the wall would be able to
breath and dry out. One year later and the paint along that wall is
bubbling and flaky so my optimism was a bit misplaced.

The wall in question is was what once was the outside wall but is now
an interior wall due to an extension (extension was done at least 20
years ago) It's only 3' long and the flaky paintwork doesn't go above
6" in height but is along most of the length. It's a cavity brick
wall, the other side of which is showing no signs of any problems.
Floor is concrete with tiles. The house does have a DPC but I have no
idea if this was touched/breached when the extension was done.

Any advice on the best way to tackle the problem would be most
appreciated.
Thanks

Jim

Jim,

Before giving any advice on tackling the problem, a question first - is the
plasterboard touching the tiled floor or screed?

Cash

On 8 May, 23:13, "JimM" wrote:
Hi all

I need some advise on what I think maybe rising damp in my kitchen ?

When we refitted the kitchen, I noticed that along the bottom of one wall
the tiles came off very easily and the plasterboard underneath was mouldy. I
know I should have taken action at the time but I hoped that if I just
replastered and painted, the wall would be able to breath and dry out. One
year later and the paint along that wall is bubbling and flaky so my
optimism was a bit misplaced.

The wall in question is was what once was the outside wall but is now an
interior wall due to an extension (extension was done at least 20 years ago)
It's only 3' long and the flaky paintwork doesn't go above 6" in height but
is along most of the length. It's a cavity brick wall, the other side of
which is showing no signs of any problems. Floor is concrete with tiles. The
house does have a DPC but I have no idea if this was touched/breached when
the extension was done.

Any advice on the best way to tackle the problem would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Jim

Could there be a leaking pipe embedded in the wall or floor around
that area?

JimM wrote:
Hi all

I need some advise on what I think maybe rising damp in my kitchen ?

When we refitted the kitchen, I noticed that along the bottom of one
wall the tiles came off very easily and the plasterboard underneath was
mouldy. I know I should have taken action at the time but I hoped that
if I just replastered and painted, the wall would be able to breath and
dry out. One year later and the paint along that wall is bubbling and
flaky so my optimism was a bit misplaced.

The wall in question is was what once was the outside wall but is now an
interior wall due to an extension (extension was done at least 20 years
ago) It's only 3' long and the flaky paintwork doesn't go above 6" in
height but is along most of the length. It's a cavity brick wall, the
other side of which is showing no signs of any problems. Floor is
concrete with tiles. The house does have a DPC but I have no idea if
this was touched/breached when the extension was done.

Any advice on the best way to tackle the problem would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Jim



If the tiled wall has no heat source nearby, I'd suspect condensation
running down the tiles. Wipe the lower part with a kitchen towel in the
late evening and see how wet it is. If the situation improves mid
summer, I'd say that was conclusive. If not, at least it's the easiest
cause to identify/rule out.

On 8 May, 23:13, "JimM" wrote:
Hi all

I need some advise on what I think maybe rising damp in my kitchen ?

When we refitted the kitchen, I noticed that along the bottom of one wall
the tiles came off very easily and the plasterboard underneath was mouldy. I
know I should have taken action at the time but I hoped that if I just
replastered and painted, the wall would be able to breath and dry out. One
year later and the paint along that wall is bubbling and flaky so my
optimism was a bit misplaced.

The wall in question is was what once was the outside wall but is now an
interior wall due to an extension (extension was done at least 20 years ago)
It's only 3' long and the flaky paintwork doesn't go above 6" in height but
is along most of the length. It's a cavity brick wall, the other side of
which is showing no signs of any problems. Floor is concrete with tiles. The
house does have a DPC but I have no idea if this was touched/breached when
the extension was done.

Any advice on the best way to tackle the problem would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Jim

always hard to visualise these (any chance of some pics somewhere?)
but here goes:-
this 3' of wall that used to be external (until extension added) is
the rest of the wall still external and still connected to it?
If so is there a vertical DPC? how to check is obvious prob....

Background --- A house I did had a standard ex-LA "side entry type"
design that had been bricked across and a door and window installed by
previous owners.... the remnants of what were previously *external*
wall corners were always prone to damp and mould so when I did it up
(installed some french windows).
During that process I discovered there was no vertical DPC down each
side of the opening - as the brickwork returned to the (now) inside of
the opening there was no break so moisture "tracked" inwards and I am
convinced had caused the damp, flaky paint etc just as you describe.
The remedy for me was - before installing the new french windows, to
cut with a stihl saw a slot from top to bottom of each side of the
opening and insert DPC membrane - worked fine & problem solved.:))

Cheers
JimK

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses

Just to answer a couple of questions,

There's no longer any plasterboard on the wall in question, when the kitchen
was done I stripped it off and had it replastered and then painted.

A pic of the wall can be seen here

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...F0217small.jpg

The damp spreads along the wall into the dining room, although the yellow
paint isn't flaking but the corner beading is presumably rusting as there
are patches of this coming through the paint.

Cheers

Jim

On 9 May, 14:27, "JimM" wrote:
Hi guys

Thanks for the responses

Just to answer a couple of questions,

There's no longer any plasterboard on the wall in question, when the kitchen
was done I stripped it off and had it replastered and then painted.

A pic of the wall can be seen here

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...F0217small.jpg

The damp spreads along the wall into the dining room, although the yellow
paint isn't flaking but the corner beading is presumably rusting as there
are patches of this coming through the paint.

Cheers

Jim

righto thanks for pic...

So is the kitchen the extension? or was where you stood to take the
pic the extension?

Can you tell (praps by refernce to neighbours houses?) how the
building would have been arranged originally? (to give a clue as to
what this wall was exactly and how it would have been constructed).

I'm wondering if that bit of flaky wall visible and into yellow
(dining?) room is/was the outside leaf of a cavity wall and the new
floor has bridged the DPC...

Cheers
JimK

righto thanks for pic...

So is the kitchen the extension? or was where you stood to take the
pic the extension?

Can you tell (praps by refernce to neighbours houses?) how the
building would have been arranged originally? (to give a clue as to
what this wall was exactly and how it would have been constructed).

I'm wondering if that bit of flaky wall visible and into yellow
(dining?) room is/was the outside leaf of a cavity wall and the new
floor has bridged the DPC...

Cheers
JimK

Hi Jim

Thanks for your input

Where I took the photo is the extension, the wall with paint issues and the
part you can see that is painted yellow would originally have been the
outside face of the rear of the house. The extension runs the full width of
the back of the house so in effect it extended the kitchen and dining room.
The rest of the exterior walls of the house are cavity walls with breeze
block inner and brick outer, so would assume this wall to be the same.

Looking at the neighbours house the DPC is only 1 brick course up and the
door frame is directly on this, so the floor would appear to have been very
close to the DPC originally (no idea if this is normal ?) The flooring in
the kitchen runs very smoothly the full length but in the dining area there
is a noticeable bump in the floor at the point where it goes from old to
new. If the DPC has been bridged is there an easy way to tell without
ripping up the floors or is there a DIY solution that I can try and see
if that fixes the issue

Many Thanks

Jim

On 9 May, 18:15, "JimM" wrote:
righto thanks for pic...

So is the kitchen the extension? or was where you stood to take the
pic the extension?

Can you tell (praps by refernce to neighbours houses?) how the
building would have been arranged originally? (to give a clue as to
what this wall was exactly and how it would have been constructed).

I'm wondering if that bit of flaky wall visible and into yellow
(dining?) room is/was the outside leaf of a cavity wall and the new
floor has bridged the DPC...

Cheers
JimK

Hi Jim

Thanks for your input

Where I took the photo is the extension, the wall with paint issues and the
part you can see that is painted yellow would originally have been the
outside face of the rear of the house. The extension runs the full width of
the back of the house so in effect it extended the kitchen and dining room.
The rest of the exterior walls of the house are cavity walls with breeze
block inner and brick outer, so would assume this wall to be the same.

Looking at the neighbours house the DPC is only 1 brick course up and the
door frame is directly on this, so the floor would appear to have been very
close to the DPC originally (no idea if this is normal ?) The flooring in
the kitchen runs very smoothly the full length but in the dining area there
is a noticeable bump in the floor at the point where it goes from old to
new. If the DPC has been bridged is there an easy way to tell without
ripping up the floors or is there a DIY solution that I can try and see
if that fixes the issue

Many Thanks

Jim

Hi Jim,
when you say ...
" Looking at the neighbours house the DPC is only 1 brick course up
and the
door frame is directly on this, "

...1 brick course up from what? the ground or something else?

so in the photo - are we looking (left hand side) at what used to be
an external doorway (and still is on the neighbours) thru to your
present kitchen area?

as far as solutions -
I reckon you'd be best first trying to mask the issue and see if you
can live with it..solving it "properly" could end up being a messy and
expensive can-o'worms...

Are the walls (white and yellow) still plasterboard or trad. plaster?
is it actually "wet" or just flaky paint?

If the latter i.e. "cosmetic" I would be tempted to hack off the
skirting boards and 18" or so of the manky plasterboard- see what its
like behind - is the pboard on battens or dot and dabbed?

If not too grim behind existing I would look to replace with foil back
plasterboard - fixing it with adhesive lower down (gripfill or
similar) so avoiding puncturing the foil. At the external corner,
before fixing beading with more gripfill I'd look to seal the cut
edges of the pboard, at least lower down, with some water resistant
sealant - one of those MS polymers that stick to anything would be my
choice to try and maintain the damp barrier.

Leave a gap between the pboard and the floor (18mm say) hide that with
new skirts (if old are manky) but glue 'em on (after painting the back
and bottom edges with gloss to resist any damp).

Any good?

Cheers
JimK