Rising damp in solid wall. Anyone successfully sorted?

[0nTheEdge]

After waiting years for an interior wall to dry out after getting the chimney fixed, it would appear we have rising damp. The skirting boards are rotten and we have a timemark 2/3 metre high (discovered when we moved in but we assumed was chimney/roof issue). The wall is a solid (as in non cavity) as built before 1920 which I understand makes it much harder to deal with. Has anyone been through this and come out the other side with a proper solution?

Wood burner and tanking

Most damp is caused by external problems. So
Is the chimney capped? Does the stack have a vent?
Is there a water or soil pipe near the affected wall? Above or below.
Is it an external wall? If yes is there something breaching the dpc?

When we first saw the tidemark it was mostly across the chimney breast inside the house and a bit to either side. We had the chimney rebuilt, lowered and capped off (there is also small ventilation gaps at top) we had flashing redone, roof ridge bed tiles refixed, etc. etc. The plaster inside is still damp and it's spread across the bottom of the walls although we do have a dehumidifier on all the time. There's even a little patch of wet on the carpet in front of the chimney breast. Skirting board has started to rot at breast and also wall. Black mould in corners at breast/wall corners.

It's not near the soil pipe bathroom/kitchen pipes either.

What flooring do you have down (both immediate floor covering and concrete vs floorboards)? If you have moisture trapped under the floor it can damage the walls.

We have carpet but to be honest I'm not sure what is underneath. It's all carpet downstairs except kitchen which I think is an extension.

Yes, you just have to find out where the water is coming from, and stop it. Most often it is a leak, even when the homeowner says it isn't.

It might be due to sloping paving causing rainwater to run towards the house, it might be that your house is built on an underground spring. Such causes are less probable.

You should start by taking up the floor against the wet wall, and seeing what us underneath. Thus will not be hard if it is floorboards.

Have you got a water meter?

Have you got radiators?

Does your boiler have a pressure gauge?

Before the extension was built, where was the kitchen?

How old is the house? Terraced? Semi? Detached?

It was built circa 1910, no radiators on that wall, or pipes. There are 2 chimney breasts. It's a semi, no problem with damp on wall shared with neighbour. It looks like solid wall construction from outside, brick pattern changes at chimney breast which I suppose us to be expected. We have 'fixed' roof 3 times now, along with all the chimney work. Have started smashing plaster from the wall downstairs to help it dry out as we need replace anyway. We have a sensor dehumidifier upstairs and downstairs. We're 3 years in and I feel like we're never going to fix it 😭

smashing plaster from the wall downstairs to help it dry out

you don't mean this is an upstairs wall?

Concrete floors can wick moisture up walls if it can’t evaporate from the floor so if you got rubber backed or non porous carpet or underlay that could be the issue.
I’d try taking the carpet up and seeing if it all dries out, hopefully at this time of year a few weeks will do it.
Concrete really attracts moisture where are traditional materials such as lime don’t.
Lime plaster painted with lime wash lets walls breath and is a fairly cheap but good option
If the floor is concrete and you can dig down outside the house next to the damp wall to see if there’s a lot of water in the soil. If there is you can put french drains in to take the water away.
Is the soil or finished surface level outside lower than the floor level inside? If not lower it
If the floor is concrete is it laid on a damp proof membrane?
If you have to relay the floor you can run the visqueen all along where the concrete floor will be and continue it up the damp wall (higher than the tide mark) and then dry line it
You could paint all the exterior brick work with Thompson’s water seal a fairly inexpensive treatment as the bricks may have become porous.
I presume the gutters are fine as is the flashing on the chimney and a cowl or cap to stop water coming down the chimney.
Obviously try the least expensive options first. It can be cured I’ve purchased some horrifically damp houses in the past and all have been cured eventually.

Thank you for all of the advice so far. it's a downstairs wall, although we have issues upstairs on the same wall which we think are due to condensation. We vent windows, installed an extractor fan and have the dehumidifier on the landing.
The thought of stripping the carpet downstairs does appeal as we have kids so it's knackered. Will need some big rugs though as youngest is 2.
The propsed course of action is to strip plaster to a metre up, drill holes into the mortar as low down as possible and insert dry rods.

Our 1900s terraced house had rising damp throughout the downstairs. We had the plaster stripped from the base 1m high, walls injected with chemical damp proofing and replastered. Whilst the plaster was off we dug out soggy wood from the walls, I guess where the floor boards used to be! That probably made a big difference on it's own.

The propsed course of action is to strip plaster to a metre up, drill holes into the mortar as low down as possible and insert dry rods

And you need to see if a water pipe runs near that wall inside or out, is it leaking? Is the guttering working properly. Has a drain broken? Water takes the path of least resistance. I had a roof leak that actually came out on the inside 6 feet away from source. You need to look further.

We have one wall that won’t dry out.
Even in very dry weather the moisture in the wall doesn’t go away much.

It’s not condensation, it’s not leaky pipework (all has been renewed and doesn’t run there)
Outside plumbing and drainage has been checked,
Gutter checked.

Multiple damp specialists have come round and told me it’s rising damp and told me to inject it.
I know this really won’t do much so instead I had a historic buildings specialist hemp and lime the wall.

It’s still a damp area but the wall can breath now

To add - this damp area happens to be where a concrete floor has been laid (badly)
We couldn’t afford to renew that so we are managing it with the way it is

The propsed course of action is to strip plaster to a metre up, drill holes into the mortar as low down as possible and insert dry rods.

this action will not cure leaky pipes or drains, nor will it repair gutters, nor will it stop water penetration from the ground.

Have you got a water meter?

Does your boiler have a pressure gauge?

If you have a camera on your phone, look at the exposed brickwork, for a wide mortar bed, having a black line from a double layer of slate, and post some pics. This is quite usual in old houses. It will originally have been two bricks up from ground level, but may by now have been buried or hidden. You have the best chance of seeing it near the door.

Then have a look at the outside wall nearest your wet patch.

And photograph the wall and gutters above.

I live in an older (late 1800s?) property and had a problem with damp on one external wall. At the suggestion of the surveyor I had a window put into the cellar with one of those spinny fans and got rid of the carpets to allow more circulation. All the damp plaster removed and those damp-proof injections in the walls before re-plastering. Worked a treat, and even my cellar no longer has a damp smell.

Also my DSis had a terrible damp problem in her cellar, and like the fabulous PigletJohn suggested to you, it was caused by a sewage pipe that had been laid so it flowed up-hill, and had then got a crack in it.

To add - this damp area happens to be where a concrete floor has been laid (badly)

sadly this is a bodge often found when long-term water has caused a wooden floor to rot, and instead of repairing the leaking pipe or drain, somebody pours concrete over it.

Since the source of water remains, the house continues to be damp.

Sooner later, somebody has to identify and repair the cause.

While you're looking for the water meter, look at the soil-pipes and waste gulleys, and any manholes, and consider how the drains make their way round your house and to the sewer in the road.

Here's a diagram of the set up. The bathroom is above the kitchen.

I'm not sure where the water meter is. The boiler is in the kitchen near the sink. The pressure is a little on the low side although in range.

Oh I thought it was an internal wall .

So if you look at the wall outside you can’t see any dpc? Is the outside rendered or just the brickwork, and if it is rendered, what with? Is there any evidence of the tide mark from outside?

Does the concrete outside come right up to touch the wall?

Looking at the diagram it seems obvious that it must be the chimney, it must be so frustrating if you’ve done as much as you can to fix that with no improvement.

As your boiler has a pressure gauge, it probably isn't leaking from a radiator pipe. If it was, the pressure would drop and you would have to top it up.

Looking at your plan, it's quite probable that the incoming water supply enters under the front door and runs under the floor to the kitchen. In this case there will be a stopcock, either near the front door, or where the front gate used to be when the house was built. It might have been paved or concreted over by some idiot. There ought to be a small iron lid, just big enough to put your hand down. There might also be one in the pavement, probably in a straight line with the route to the kitchen. This i where you will likely find the water meter, if you have one. The lid will be modern, a bit bigger, and possibly black plastic. It can be levered up with the handle of an (old) spoon.

It is very likely that the soil pipe runs down the outside wall from the bathroom, and the sink waste pipe runs into a gulley nearby, and the underground drainage from these runs across the back of the house and into a drain that runs past the side of your house. In a semi it may join up wuth the next-door drains and it might run down the side of their house. There will be manhole covers that give clues where it is.

The gutters from the back of the house probably run via downpipes near the corners into gullies, or possibly straight into the ground. These are likely to run past the side of your house into the same, or possibly a different, drain. Some idiot may have concreted over them. At that age, especially if you live where there was a town, dock or industrial area prior to 1945, the gullies and drains in the ground are pretty sure to be cracked and leaking. If there are signs that the concrete over them is cracked or has been repaired, this will be due to the ground sinking as a result of the leak.

As you have some wooden floors, the house will have been built with air bricks along the external walls. Please add them to your plan and photograph them for us. Some idiot may have concreted over them. If your street has similar houses built at the same time, you may be able to see their pipes and manhole covers, the builder is likely to have used the same method for all his houses.

Having looked at the picture I am inclined towards a drain or downpipe being the source of the water.

You really need to look under the floorboards near the water and see what you find.

Ask around for a local small builder. A semi-retired person will have the boards up in a jiffy, and will be familiar with the travails of the local houses.

First pic is crumbly wall under the diner window, the next 2 are the first two of four air bricks

Sorry there are only 3 airbricks, this is last one near front of house