mike Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 If it is an old house with thick stone walls with a rubble core there will be significant thermal inertia in temperature rise; the warmer wet recent weather will cause condensation on the walls at a lower temperature. Strictly speaking the dew point and the relative humidity of the air entering the kitchen will affect the magnitude of the condensate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Or just the chimney leaking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 If it is an old house with thick stone walls with a rubble core there will be significant thermal inertia in temperature rise; the warmer wet recent weather will cause condensation on the walls at a lower temperature. Strictly speaking the dew point and the relative humidity of the air entering the kitchen will affect the magnitude of the condensate Put another way...they all do it to a greater or lesser degree....Sika do some render additives if you want to try to tank the wall but most would simply make sure the external pointing was in good nick ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 What type of stone is your house made of, there are differences depending on where you are in France. Are you talking about internal or external walls and ventilation is usually the best problem solver, fitting a VMC cures most of the problems.Taking temperature and humidity readings is also useful to see how much of a problem there is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virginia.c Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 TheiereWhat is VMC please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman II Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Ventilation Mcanique Controllehttp://www.ideesmaison.com/Bricolage/Equipements-confort/Ventiler-et-aerer-sa-maison/La-VMC-Ventilation-Mecanique-Controlee.htmlBasically extractor fan which sits in loft and pulls warm damp air out of rooms. More sophisticated version have a heat exchanger which uses heat from air leaving room and uses it to warm the replacement air Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 A whole of house extractor fan, very low power 35watts (ish) but creates air flow throughout the buildingFound in most Brico'sEDIT: Crossed with Anton's post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virginia.c Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thank you both for the info, i will look into these because we currently run a dehumidifier when we are not there and a fan may be better in the warmer months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 For certain it will cost you a lot less to run and also dehumidifiers pull moisture from the building which if you have limestone walls is just replaced by more moisture from outside so you don't win.VMC's work just as well in winter providing you leave all internal doors open so air can circulate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 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..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Virginia C, look here:http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/2130435/ShowPost.aspxI promise that you'll learn all that you ever want to know about VMCsBTW, I have one in my new house but it took several tries on the OH's part before we could get it to work without tripping all the lights in the house! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Around the chimney? you sure the dehum isn't actually causing the problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 A VMC should be left on all the time, they are very very good at keeping a home aired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 We had the same problem, made worse by the fact that the last owner had used a plasticky-type paint to cover the damp patches. This all had to be peeled off, the crumbly plaster scraped off, and the whole area replastered using "breathable" plaster. After being allowed to dry out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virginia.c Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Thank you Sweet, very helpful indeed. I think this would definitely work whilst the house is shut up. Like many others our house is built into a hillside so the back and side walls downstairs are built into the rock. On top of this the house is reversed so the bedrooms/bathrooms are downstairs. We have run a dehumidifier successfully downstairs but they do use a fair amount of electricity even when set to auto. I am absolutely paranoid about beds getting damp and maybe use it too much for this reason. Will be interesting to see how much it would cost to install VMC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Once again please consider the fact that a dehum can pull damp through walls ....We dry flooded buildings and have seen some funnies including drying out of water seals in toilets (Sewers don't smell nice) If you are in a house with no DPCs the dehum may cause as many problems as it solves and could consume a fair amount of juice to 'circulate' the same moisture. Barrier systems such as delta membrane can be very effective in conjunction with dry lining etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virginia.c Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I know what you are saying but the walls are dry lined to waist height then are lovely stone above. We are loathe to put anything on top of the stone as this would really spoil the look of the rooms. The dehu is on the auto setting, so not on all of the time. When we first got the place i was hoping to find something to seal the stone walls but of course they need to breathe so this was rejected. We did dig down around the exterior to the bed rock, then put in drains and backfilled with gravel so we have a much better situation now. Very interested to get any other input (apologies to the OP for hijacking his thread) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baba21 Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 What exactly means ventilation mécanique contrôlée ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 It is a suction unit that goes in your loft and has a pipe that goes into a sort of 'air' tile in the roof. There are pipes from this unit that lead to your ceilings, especially in the 'damp' rooms, kitchen, bathroom etc and then there is a neat little unit that comes up through your ceiling and the pipe attaches to it. You leave it on all the time and it sucks the air through your house and chucks it outside.I love these things, they keep the house well ventilated and I wanted one here in the UK. I could have bought them easily enough, but it was suggested that instead of chucking the air out of the roof, we bought an air recouperation system, that works in the same way, sucks air from rooms, but then there is a choice. It will chuck the air out of the roof in summer, but in winter, cleans the air and as the air will be warm has more pipes running from it that push the warm cleaned air into which ever rooms we want. Hopefully when it is all up and running for next winter we will like it. It was a lot more money that the marvellous VMC's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Probably something you've already got, but just to check that you have got a cowl on top of the chimney?We knew someone with an old, damp holiday home who had a VMC fitted and it didn't make much difference. Old houses don't seem to be suited to being shut up for long periods - much the best if someone can go in regularly and open windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Most of our windows had trickle vents, so 'air' could always get in. We even put some trickle vents in some windows that hadn't got them. We bought the anti insect covers to go over these holes in the windows.Wouldn't that be a solution in an old house? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 [quote user="Pommier"]. Old houses don't seem to be suited to being shut up for long periods - much the best if someone can go in regularly and open windows.[/quote]Or why not leave the odd window open slightly with the shutters firmly locked to keep intruders out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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