What's happening to the walls in my 1930's house 😔

[Dickorydockwhatthe]

We moved in November before which it had been left empty for a month. On move in day I noticed the condition of the fire chimney walk had deteriorated. Bumps where forming and paint starting to peel and flake, this has also spread. I seem to notice cracks in the walls every where but dh sjad they were there before and I'm just noticing things. The buyers survey mentioned no sign of subsidence. Anyone the one room in the house is now showing signs of bubble under the wall its almost a blister after it's been popped. This has definitely got bigger!! I love this house and I've waited forever to buy one like this and now I feel paranoid it's going to fall down and we've brought a money trap! Help anyone have experience with a 1930s house.

Has the chimney been blocked up?

It looks like damp / moisture that's been sealed under an oil based / damp stop paint. Most likely to make sure it doesn't show up on survey. You need to open it up and strip it back to see what's going on underneath

Our walls in 50's house look like this. The whole house is damp and the owners used salt based paint. I have to wipe the mould off all the walls ever few months 😞 if we ever manage to save up to afford our own property this has permanently put me off old houses.

Can you clarify:
Is this happening on the chimney breast, or on other walls too? I don’t understand whether you’re saying this is confined to one room or many rooms?

If the chimney is blocked up is there a ventilation grille or anything? Or if it’s not blocked do you have a fire - is the chimney lined?

Does the wall/chimney breast feel damp? It looks like bubbling paint more than a crack, is that right, or are there actually cracks in the plaster?

Have you done any redecorating yet during which you’ve stripped off the paint/wallpaper?

I doubt it’s subsidence, don’t worry too much.

I cant tell you anything about subsidence.
I can tell you chimney walls often get damp for different reasons to the rest of the house - like broken stacks or breaches in cavities and there is sometimes a kind of deposit (salt?) On chimney walls that causes patches too.
The other thing is some 1930s houses are still lime mortar and plaster which breathes differently and some vinyl paints can struggle on it. Our house is 1930 and it has lime mortar

Good point Raspberry, I assume you own the house OP?

Hi sorry thank you for the replies this is an internal wall in the living room so not the chimney which is why I don't understand although the wall connecting above it external. We have cracks some mainly hair line everywhere. Let me take a pic of the chimney sorry

This is the corner of the chimney breast.

Also this one has a vent with a radiator on the wall. We have another chimney breast in the living room which has a gas fire and one chimney stack.

My other concern is the wall my kitchen sink under the window. Which is this

When we viewed and we viewed twice we saw nothing like this only when we moved in. When I put the heating on the external walls literally sweated. I think you are right about the plaster. There seems to be a salty feeling under neath. How can we solve this? 😕

The previous owners appear to have covered up a potentially big damp problem. You need to strip it all back to be able to see what’s going on underneath.

What type of survey did you pay for?

Damp plain and simple. Damp is when moisture has got into the walls. If it's been covered up with paint then yes the paint will bubble up and flake off etc.

You need to establish the source of the damp I.e. where is the water coming in.

Flat roof?

Cracked render on the outside?

Leaking pipe?

It sounds like effloresence on internal walls. You need to find is there is damp somehow.
Does the place need repointing? Or has it had cavity wall insulation put in with re pointing needung doing?

Ask @pigletjohn he’s very knowledgeable about solutions

Or is it caps? @PigletJohn

The whole house is damp and the owners used salt based paint.
It would be the salt deposits from past fires/chimney stack in the brick and plaster @RaspberryBubblegum ? Not salt based paint.

If it is a massive problem could you sue the previous owners for covering this up?

I wonder (I'm no expert) if they decorated in a rush to put the house on the market and didn't let the walls dry properly between applying coats of paint. Because it doesn't look like damp – there's no mildew or water marks. That said, is the chimney breast against an outside wall with guttering? When we bought our wreck to do up, there was obvious damp on the walls that we needed to dry out by first having the guttering all replaced. We then bought this damp monitor off Amazon so we could see it was drying out properly. It was very satisfying see the numbers coming down!
As for the wall beneath the kitchen window, it just looks like a bad paint that's getting constantly wet from the sink. Probably worth putting some tiles along it as a splashback.

Also, did you not have a survey done? A survey would've picked up damp. Ours did – but the damp was blindingly obvious anyway! – and we got £3k knocked off the asking price.

You said 1930s home. What kind of plaster work do you have? Is it original lime plaster (white) or has it been covered with gypsum (pink modern plaster)?

How about outside the damp walls? Is there cladding/and extension on these walls? Have you got double glazing and blocked chimney?

Reason I'm asking is sometimes period buildings have not been looked after properly through the use of modern materials that don't let the house breathe.

It's seems to be the outside walls that are mainly the issue. And I am wondering if it could be the rendering. Also in the hall way above the stairs their seems to be a ventilation system didn't notice it before so they obviously have had damp 🙁. How do we solve this is is solvable? I'm so stressed. Dh paid for basic survey I didn't get chance to read it and he said there were no real issues 🙄

Ooh, the blistering wall sounds very much like “the girl who lives on the third floor”...

Yep, looks like damp to me 😬

Dh paid for basic survey I didn't get chance to read it and he said there were no real issues.

Did he just pay for the valuation survey by the mortgage company or did you have that AND a basic survey? A valuation survey wouldn't show up damp but a basic survey would have. You need to get him to show you what was said asap.

That is definitely damp. I live in a large house over 200 years old of dubious construction and every downstairs room has had (or in some cases still has) issues such as you have shown here. Because it is so old, it doesnt have a damp proof course and each room has had to be stripped back to bare stone and injected with silicon. This isnt as hard a job as you might imagine, but of course it is costly. Your house should have a damp proof course so it may not be that, but you definitely need an expert in to investigate the source.