Damp

[moon]

Our property in france is built on sloping ground, as a result the main bedroom floor is about a third of a metre below the adjacent living room floor.

We have a very minor issue with damp at base of wall in living room the walls of which are painted, in the bedroom where it is papered the discoloration can be upto a third of a metre from the floor. My wife would like me to paint the bottom half metre of wall in the bedroom with a damp sealant.

I am worried that this will only move the problem higher up the wall and possibly even make it worst. Any advice.

Bob

PS I am really imperial but as this is living france I have used metric

 

 

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]Our property in france is built on sloping ground, as a result the main bedroom floor is about a third of a metre below the adjacent living room floor. We have a very minor issue with damp at base of...[/quote]

If you prevent the damp from getting out of the bottom of the wall, then it will just come out higher up. Better to try and find the cause of the damp, and fix it. If the damp is coming from below (less likely than you would expect), then it is difficult to fix. If however, as you are living on a slope, it is probably caused by water running past the house. Check that there is no earth banked up against the outside of the house and that you have adequate drainage past the house.

Failing that, then dryline the wall with green placo. Allow plenty of airflow behind the placo & you will effectively hide the damp.

 

[WendyG]

[quote]If you prevent the damp from getting out of the bottom of the wall, then it will just come out higher up. Better to try and find the cause of the damp, and fix it. If the damp is coming from below (le...[/quote]

When we bought our house 3 years ago it was very damp because the earth outside came up almost to window level.  The previous owners had boarded over the lower part of the walls to conceal the damp.   We borrowed a digger and took all the earth away and let the walls air and bingo no more damp!

Also unsympathetic cement rendering can have a similar effect.  We have removed most of this from our stone walls and the house is now bone dry all the time.

It is a fairly big job but very well worth it as damp is smelly and unhealthy especially if you leave the house unoccupied for fairly long periods.

We left all the walls and doors open in the hot dry weather over the initial years so it had a good chance to dry out.

Good luck.

 

[Patf]

We had the same problem as you Jekyll, but worse as there were actual pools of water on the floor after rain. After digging the soil out husband painted on 3 coats of black waterproof stuff (externally) then put plastic draining pipes down, some mesh material and filled up with pebbles. Quite expensive but it worked. Pat.

[Hindhaugh]

Yes, everyone is going along the same route which normally works but make sure you have searched every nook for water leaks etc. The previous French owner of our cottege had those dehumidifier 'tubs' that operate via crystals on all the window cills and around the rooms when we inspected the house, the place was damp with a capital 'D'. I discovered leaking waste pipes, bath wastes, dripping water joints hidden in walls, external waste pipes that fed onto the ground and back into the walls these had been leaking for years and years - all done by the plumber from hell!

We have replaced and corrected all the plumbing and dug out around the cottage inserting drainage pipes and a 400mm wide lead strip against the wall from ground level before backfilling. After some months with a big dehumidifier the place is a sweet as a blooming rose and dry with a capital 'D'.

John

[moon]

Many thanks to everyone, confirmed my fears about painting on this damp proof paint.

Whether the problem really counts as damp as far as others problems seem to go, we dont have a damp smell, just paper coming off wall and white powdery deposit on wall from time to time (effervescence?) .

Floor is well above surrounding/outside ground levels, probably by a couple of feet, only wall that seems to be effected is the one between the two rooms, and because of the different levels I would say the the problem area on the wall is probably that which is built against the earth under the living room floor.

Bob

[WJT]

[quote]If you prevent the damp from getting out of the bottom of the wall, then it will just come out higher up. Better to try and find the cause of the damp, and fix it. If the damp is coming from below (le...[/quote]

Hi Nick, can you tell me what green placo is? It sounds like something we need. Unfortunately, we have terrible damp as well, the ground level outside of one wall is probably 2 meters high. However, we cannot dig because the house was built on the side of a hill and built right into solid stone on that wall The land slopes quite dramatically down to the house which also increases the problem with water. It looks like the only solution for us is some drainage on the inside and building a second wall in front of the drain (tanking, from what I have been told)). I would love to hear any other suggestions if anyone has any because obviously this is not the most ideal situation.

[Guest CFrost]

Possible alternative is tanking. Using a cement render "painted" onto the internal walls, it bonds with the wall creating a waterproof membrane. I have seen these products used in public house cellars to stop  serious water ingress. The results have to be seen to be believed. Many other products available for tanking including latex/ rubber bitumen emulsion. See http://www.pickquick.co.uk hope this helps

 

pq

[WJT]

Hi Jetlag, the link looks very interesting. We have been told that if we put something directly onto the stone wall it could cause other problems. I have never really understood this. We have been told to put a drain and have enough space for ventilation between the two walls with ventilation holes in the tanked or second wall for the air to circulate. It does seem to me that if the wall was made impermeable to water or damp that would sort it. The walls are stone built directly onto rock. Can you think of any reason that this would not work or why we have been advised not to?

[Guest CFrost]

I can understand the theory that if you stop water gaining access at one point, it will seek out another point of access but it would still need to find an access lower than the highest level at which the source  itself is at (does that make sense??)

ie. if the highest level of the source is for instance 2 metres high, then if all area's below the two metre level are tanked then it will not be able to gain access. Even whilst "soaking up" through the walls to a higher level there is still a limit to the hieght it can attain.

Whilst being a pub landlord our cellar had water seeping through the walls and the previous solution was to allow this to happen, create a drain and then pump it back out.It was the EHO that called a draw to this because of the risks of air borne contamination to cask conditioned ales in the cellar and hence the tanking was undertaken and was amazingly successful.

The people that applied the tanking showed me that if they created a hole in the tanking, which they did whilst I watched, a flow of water began to run from the hole, which they then stopped again with the product, obviously treated area's cannot be punctured.

Speak to the people at pick quick, they are very helpfull and know there products and its limitations very well

 

regards

phil

 

 

[Pangur]

On a similar note, we've been advised to look into getting a VMC system (Ventilation Méchanique Controllé) to help with damp problems.  Anyone know who does this kind of thing: a plumber?

[WJT]

Hi Jetlag, thank you very much for the information. I did phone phone the people at pick quick as you suggested but unfortunately, I am just too far for them to deal with. However, he suggested I look at the triton-chemicals.com website of which I did and phoned. The man there suggested that I take a look at the Isola Platon product for our situation. Must admit,it is a bit difficult to explain the situation by phone and figure out the best solution for us but will be looking into it. Thank you again.