mike

write or speak to your local mayor.

whats just the opposite?

talk to your local mayor. They are good people with lots of power and they know what the revenue we provide does for them and local business. Dont let this happen without making a noise.

write to your local mayor, make local estate agents aware talk to your neighbours both french and english, make everybody aware that its the french towns,local business's and communes that will suffer most. The foreigners have brought life to communities that were dying, renovation to old buildings and most importantly cash into local economies all over france. Our local mayor has done everything he can to encourage incomers he knows its good business and boy will his town suffer if we leave or more people dont come to buy. And as for estate agents can you imagine how much they need this? Make a noise, do something positive about this and get as many other people as you can muster to do the same.

1. Thanks for the comment about the paint. We found the same problem in one of the bedrooms. The guy who "renovated" the house put ordinary paint onto the walls and it came off in plastic sheets in one room.But I cant get it off in the kitchen, do you have a method for that and what kind of paint did you then apply. I know there is a particular kind for lime plaster. 2. Thanks for your commet big mac. Its a bit confusing as we seem to have got into two conversations. We dont have a dehum or a vmc (yet) but we do have ,I think, lime plaster walls and a wood burner in the kitchen fireplace.

Thank you all for your comments.To answer a few of the questions posed;We are in the Limousin. The house has brick walls (built about 1900) and that is where the main problem seems to be . The damp is in the brick,mainly around the chimney breast, to the extent that some of the (lime?) plaster has lifted off. I have lifted a further area off to see if that would help with the drying proccess. It hasnt. We also have a wood burning stove on the fireplace should it be lined? I cant tell if it is or not!! And if its not could this be the cause? So many questions.....

We have damp in our kitchen walls, especially around the chimney breast. We have had a specialist damp proofing company come and do a survey and they said its not rising damp ,but shrugged when asked if they know what it might be!! Any one got/had a similar problem any thoughts much appreciated.

  1.When you talk about lining the chimney do you mean a "collar" around the pipe from the woodburner to the chiney pot or literally lining the chimney with some sort of "cladding". Forgive my ignorance if they are both one and the same thing. And/also 2. A metal "plate" has beenfitted insulating the chimney breast would drilling some vent holes in that help to pull air through or does it need to be more sophisticated than that? (and I dont mean champagne and caviar after the polo match)   

Hi Team Thanks for all this. I will check out the flashings on the roof,new one put on 3 years ago but as the damp is mainly around the chimney breast that could be a good reason. I will check the ventilation as I do think that circulation of air is part of it. Any more thoughts and observations greatfully received.

Now thats an interesting question. Dont know whats causing the damp but there is a lot of it in the local area. Although we are relatively high there are a lot of natural ponds and small lakes around.The supermarkets sell masses of dehumidifier kits. so we are aware of a problem. But ours seems rather more than that. We had a company in that installs damp courses and after metering the wall, including the outside wall, he told us that we did not need a damp course as it was not rising damp. They said he could put one in but it didnt need it. It does appear to be coming from the ground up but cant be sure. The worst of it seems to be coming from the chimney breast in the kitchen on the ground floor where it extends about 4 feet up one side of the chimney breast and in the lower part of the other.The fire place is quite wide and has a wood burning stove installed. There is one other patch on the internal kitchen wall and that appears to be at ground level  and some evidence in a cupboard under the stairs.  Ventilation could be a factor as could incorrect paint on the inside and outside walls maybe holding the moisture in and breaking through in patches but we dont know what paint was used or should be used on these walls. Its taxing my brain thats for sure.      

We live just outside St.Junien and have a moderately old (1900) brick built house. Our problem is that we have some damp in one or two walls. We know that damp is a problem in this area and we have been told that it isnt rising damp but there seems to be a bit more than is the norm. Can anyone help. If you have had this problem how did you cope with it and how did you go about getting it fixed. Is there a specialist in the area that we can talk to that can help without advising the use of a damp course (apparently not a good idea). Basically any comments thoughts and pointers would be very much appreciated.