£500 to fix damp

[NoWayWoman]

I have blown render on GF of an old Victorian terrace. So damp inside paint won't even dry. Things are warping daily.

It's the only part of the house with plumbing. Kitchen leads to the only bathroom at the back, and back door. We do have GCH.

The blown render would cost about £10,000 to fix. I have more like £500. What would be my best actions to address the damp?

I'm currently thinking:

1. Dehumidifier between kitchen and bathroom
2. Damp proof paint on kitchen walls
3. Fit a great extractor fan in the bathroom
4. Windows open when we're in the kitchen

Any thoughts and experiences gratefully received.

You are wasting your time without establishing what is causing the leak. You say the render is blown, but has that been caused by anything. Check your plumbing, guttering for blockages, go in the loft and check for water ingress through the roof, as a first. Check your drains are not blocked as well.

So damp inside paint won't even dry. Things are warping daily.

You need dry walls before doing anything else.

It's the only part of the house with plumbing.

Have you fully investigated for any leaks? Checked gutters. Floor levels/blocked drains/air bricks?

The blown render would cost about £10,000 to fix. I have more like £500. What would be my best actions to address the damp?

Find the cause and treat that. No point in repairing or replacing render until the wall has dried out. that's like putting an Elastoplast on a Broken Leg.

Dehumidifier between kitchen and bathroom - Yes as a temporary solution

Damp proof paint on kitchen walls - NO. - thats not solving the problem it spending money to disguise it and won't work.

Fit a great extractor fan in the bathroom - yes - the more ventilation everywhere the better.

Windows open when we're in the kitchen - have them open as often as you can.

Any thoughts and experiences gratefully received.

Find the cause. Do not inject with chemicals. There will be a leak inside or out, something blocked...... Find the problem. Deal with it - ask here if unsure. Leave the wall to dry out - eg through winter/spring and possibly summer. Then paint or so on.

A dry house is a warm house. A dry old house is achieved through ventilation and using the correct products on walls and so on. Please don't disguise the problem, that will cost you more and not work.

Take as much blown render off as you can and try to dry the inside of the wall oir with heat and ventilation.

Damp proof paint will just trap the damp and make the problem worse..... talking from experience

Is the render over the orginal bricks? If it’s Victorian it was unlikely to be rendered orginally. Agree with the others this is not something you can patch up without getting to the source of the problem. Has it been very wet where you are if it’s warping things daily? Did it dry out over the summer? It could be a pipe leak.

Are you sure the renders blown?

We had 2 areas of cracked/damaged render (one on the crack where it joins the neighbors house and 1 on the corner where it meets the public street and a chunk was missing where people brush past). We had it patched with new render and the damp is completely gone.

We also had separate damp issue on an internal wall, it had everyone even the damp experts baffled as it didn't match any known damp patterns/rules and had seemingly no cause. Their best guess was salts in the plaster was sucking moisture out of the air into the wall, they suggested we could replace all the plaster with no guarantee of it actually being fixed or we could just wall rock it to hide it (and if it is the cause would stop it sucking water out of the air), we did that latter and it cost £550.