Internal wall damp help

[Cartref26]

Hi - looking for some help from those with more knowledge than me!

As we have stripped the woodchip off in the house we've just bought this damp is now visible. The plaster is sticky and wet, the skirting was dry.

It's an internal wall between lounge and stairs on an old house (1890). The heating has been off for 2 weeks so it is cold.

We have been told the water table is high, especially at the moment.

Any tips or help / best actions?! Thank you :)

Is it localised to just that place? What's the other side of the wall? Can you pull back that carpet to have a look around there and maybe lift a board or two? You might have to hack the plaster away to get a better look also... As it's an internal wall it's likely you have a small leak in pipework of some description. Just a random thought but could anything from further away have been leaking into running behind the woodchip paper and be trapped?

The other side of the wall is stairs, there is an understairs cupboard so I'll go in there tonight and see if it's damp the other side!

The carpet is being changed so I'm happy to pull it back but it's concrete under there so can't see much!

Is it likely to be a leak rather than rising from ground? A leak is possible due to the cold weather but it is electric heating and the bathrooms and kitchens are other side of house so I'm guessing there wouldn't be many pipes in that area although a could be wrong!

Oh and only on that wall, but spread across the wall :( this shows further down the same wall

Don't suppose there was a fridge stored in the room just where it's damp?
No reason for it to rise from the ground in the middle of the house but in my old house the mains water came in under the stairs...
Any pipes running behind that skirting? Is that a beading of silicone above the skirting?

No fridge but mains water pipe could be a possibility - I have no idea where that is! I think the white you can see is just paint but I will investigate more tonight and see what I can see.

How would I even go about finding out if pipes are under there? Stupid question probably!

Old houses sometimes had walls built down to the dirt, even if there is space under the floor. My guess it's rising damp and I'd be surprised if you don't have it in other walls. I had it on three internal walls (house 150 years old). Got a damp guy in to hack of all the plaster and deal with it.

Google "rising damp myth"