Damp

[take_yer_points]

lads

I have a bit of a damp problem in the house and want to work out where the damp is coming from.

The house is coming up on 100 years old and I've been in it for about 11 years now. I did some work to the house at the beginning of the year (removed a wall between the dining room and living room) - as a result there's only a door between the living area and the kitchen.

I first noticed the damp about 2 or 3 months ago on a blocked up chimney breast - it wasn't in the middle of the chimney breast though, it was in the bottom left and right corners. It came and went and I tried opening windows and leaving doors open to try and improve ventilation. That seemed to improve things a bit but didn't fix it entirely. I then discovered a leak under the kitchen sink which is now fixed - that seems to have stopped the damp on the chimney breast.

I've now noticed some mould has appeared just above the skirting behind the couch (just below a window). This is the first time I've noticed it - it might have been there for a while. There's very little of it but enough to piss me off.

Do you think the leak in the kitchen would have led to the dampness in the living area? The kitchen sink would be about 10 or 11 metres from where the damp appeared. In the last 11 years there's never been a hint of damp in the house and it seems to have coincided with the first winter after doing work to the house (although the work was finished before the end of Jan 2011 so still had a few cold and wet months then) and with the leak in the kitchen.

[BennyHarp]

We had a few issues at our house - is your house stone or brick? Apparently if its stone, the stone absorbs the damp over a period of time and if it doesnt get a chance to dry out this can seep through become visable on the inside as mouldy black marks. Our problem stemmed from a leak in the guttering which was causing the damp to build up consistently and not dry out. Also apparently next doors trees where blocking sun from getting to that side of the house which was again impacting on the speed the wall could dry. We sorted the guttering and next door trimmed their trees and we havent had any problems since. This could possibly all be nonsense as i know very little about it - but its what we were advised and it worked.

[take_yer_points]

We had a few issues at our house - is your house stone or brick? Apparently if its stone, the stone absorbs the damp over a period of time and if it doesnt get a chance to dry out this can seep through become visable on the inside as mouldy black marks. Our problem stemmed from a leak in the guttering which was causing the damp to build up consistently and not dry out. Also apparently next doors trees where blocking sun from getting to that side of the house which was again impacting on the speed the wall could dry. We sorted the guttering and next door trimmed their trees and we havent had any problems since. This could possibly all be nonsense as i know very little about it - but its what we were advised and it worked.

The house is brick.

The strange thing is that the chimney breast is an internal wall while the other wall is an external wall. I'm just not sure if the leak would have caused additional moisture in the air which in turn might have caused the damp - I'm hoping that's what's caused it moreso than something more complex (and expensive).

[Hereiam]

A couple of things.
You built up an existing chimney......was this flue left in is it open to the roof?
This is not damp, it is condensation problems.
Have you any babies in the house.....do u use a bottle steamer.....these will wreck ur house with mould.
The kitchen sink leak would be a source of moist air

[take_yer_points]

A couple of things.
You built up an existing chimney......was this flue left in is it open to the roof?
This is not damp, it is condensation problems.
Have you any babies in the house.....do u use a bottle steamer.....these will wreck ur house with mould.
The kitchen sink leak would be a source of moist air

Hereiam

I didn't block up the chimney - that was done before my time so I've no idea of the answer. There's no babies in the house so it's nto the steamer.

I'd thought myself it was condensation and was being caused by the leak - I've got rid of the mould that was there so might be best now just to keep an eye on it and hope it doesn't start up again

[Ulick]

Had a similar problem with a chimney myself. As Hereiam suggests it turned out to be moisture in the chimney. Got cap for the pot on the roof and the problem went away.

[Arthur_Friend]

On the subject of damp here is an interesting article about rising damp.

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/rising_damp.html

[Skiddybadoo]

Funnily enough this issue was discussed at work today. A colleague mentioned he bought a dehumidifier from B&Q to tackle a several years long damp problem he had in the corner of his bedroom ceiling.

In 28 hours it had extracted 2 litres of water and the visible damp has disappeared.  As mentioned above this appears to be a condensation problem.

[Olly]

I don't know if this is any help but it might be worth considering. My family house growing up was riddled with damp. I slept in a room where the wall were continuously soaking. Even during the height of summer the water would be stampeding down the walls to the point that during breaks in any hearty activities me and my friends would come in and lick the walls to quench the thirsts.

We couldn't figure out why until my father had an Ulrika moment. He noticed that when any of us came in from the rain, we'd shake our heads and bodies frantically from side to side the way a dog would to dry out. He put a stop to this and even banished one of my brothers for 2 years from the house when he was caught shaking himself manically. Within 2 months the dampness was gone. My chronic bone pain and asthma was cured although we missed the instant refreshment and the stamp wetting opportunities.

Check if anyone is drying themselves like a dog like this - http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/22/130758623/scientists-reveal-how-fast-dogs-must-shake-to-dry-their-fur

[deiseach]

Funnily enough this issue was discussed at work today. A colleague mentioned he bought a dehumidifier from B&Q to tackle a several years long damp problem he had in the corner of his bedroom ceiling.

In 28 hours it had extracted 2 litres of water and the visible damp has disappeared.  As mentioned above this appears to be a condensation problem.

This would be the best place to start. I worked for a housing association once and the surveyors said that what people called 'damp' was usually condensation.