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damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome

41 replies

Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:01

....1st pics follow....

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Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:03

Pics of the outside wall..

damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
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Blinkingblimey · 26/09/2019 13:07

Need pics of the full flank of the wall at the very least to Stand a chance of working out cause....all I can see right now is a bit of wall with damp on!

Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:10

Please see this wall with the door next to it (you can see the door handles). That's penetrating damp isn't it? And that wall isn't really finished off is it? It ought to have a cover stone on it like the one round the corner (see pic with wires)

Background: we've bought the basement flat beneath our house after many years of frustration and tension (it's a conversion of a large Victorian terraced house so we were very vulnerable to noise/smoke from below).

We now face the next challenge, which is that it is damp, to the extent that you can see mould on some inside walls. It also feels damp.

Now, it is a basement flat, but it is on a hill, so the wall on one side is underground but the other wall is not. It's not the underground wall side that's the problem! Surprisingly, it seems to be the above-ground side where the biggest issues are.

I went round with a moisture meter the other day. Having read about rising damp I was expecting a pattern of damp rising up to about 1m but it was much more patchy.

There was a particularly bad area about 1m up behind the wall-next-to-door, so I looked at the wall outside. It isn't finished, is it? Water is coming straight in isn't it?

I would appreciate any advice. This situation is quite a challenge - we knew it would be, but still....

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Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:12

ok blinking, hold on....

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Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:20

sorry the pics are slowing it down.

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Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:26

Wall with door

damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
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Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:27

Flank of wall with door from above

damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
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Noconsent · 26/09/2019 13:32

Other wall from above

damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
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somebrightmorning · 27/09/2019 13:40

bumping in hope!

PigletJohn · 27/09/2019 14:34

the bottom of the wall is wet, it looks like rainsplash.

Show us the gutter above, the downpipe, the edge of the roof, and any drains in the ground.

somebrightmorning · 27/09/2019 14:56

ooh thanks for replying.
I will draw a diagram over the weekend and attach more pics then bump the thread again

PigletJohn · 27/09/2019 15:00

please also pour a bucket of water on the concrete, and see if it runs towards the house (bad) or away from the house and into a drain (good)

It probably has drain gullies in salt-glazed clay (like a brown teapot). They are pretty sure to be broken and leaking. Photograph any that you can see. If the ground or concrete around them is sunken, cracked, patched or repaired, that is an indicator of an underground leak. So are bright red worms and wild tomato plants.

somebrightmorning · 27/09/2019 18:26

"please also pour a bucket of water on the concrete, and see if it runs towards the house (bad) or away from the house and into a drain (good)"

Now that I can do!

"So are bright red worms and wild tomato plants" - I don't think I heard that correctly....Confused

Hawkmoth · 27/09/2019 18:43

Yes you did. Tomatoes growing from escaped sewage...

somebrightmorning · 27/09/2019 19:10

yikes!!!! what?

I need proof this is actually a thing!

PigletJohn · 27/09/2019 21:10

tomato seeds pass through the digestive system unharmed and viable. They emerge ready to germinate. The like a damp, rich, well-manured soil.

A broken soil-pipe or sewer is ideal.

PigletJohn · 27/09/2019 21:12

"Eisenia fetida (older spelling: foetida), known under various common names such as redworm, brandling worm, panfish worm, trout worm, tiger worm, red wiggler worm, red Californian earthworm (erroneously), etc., is a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. These worms thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure. They are epigean, rarely found in soil. In this trait, they resemble Lumbricus rubellus. "

"Manure" again.

You can sell them to fishermen for bait.

PigletJohn · 27/09/2019 21:14

"Lumbricus rubellus naturally lives in soils high in organic matter, preferably dung and feces.[2] The worms require loose soil to burrow in and soil moist enough for gas exchange.[3] Further requirements include such abiotic factors as pH and temperature."

PigletJohn · 27/09/2019 21:24

worm

damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
somebrightmorning · 28/09/2019 11:48

Good morning all

Here is a diagram showing the shape of the wall. It runs along the length of what where originally two terraced houses (each is 5 stories high). So I’ve divided it into zones.

I will take pics of the wall at each zone.

damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
somebrightmorning · 28/09/2019 11:54

There are no worms or tomato plants!

PigletJohn · 28/09/2019 13:56

draw the drains and downpipes please, and shade in the wettest areas. There may be a correlation.

somebrightmorning · 28/09/2019 15:14

ok will do.
thank you.

somebrightmorning · 28/09/2019 16:52

Zone 1 does puddle but I have a pile of junk in the corner and moss has grown up. So I will remove that then try again

Here is a picture of drain in zone 2. In zones 2 and 3 the bucket of water flows away from the house

damp- probably multiple kinds! any help welcome
somebrightmorning · 28/09/2019 16:55

Here is a pic of the covered area under zone 4

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