Re: Re: Dampness advice needed.

Hi,
My house is a Georgain 2 storey over basement , the basement is of a random stone construct, the levels above are brick. The damp people that I had in from the Golden pages told me to inject the walls to create a DP Layer, the other told me to put an electric current running around the base of the walls in the rooms.

When I pointed out that you cannot acheive a consistant Dpc layer with random stone the guy told me I was wrong. The electric current thing is meant to be a gimmick.

So I put in a concrete floor with the standard plastic sheeting(dpc) beneath it. I hacked away all the soaking cement render – I think a 1950’s tanking solution. The internal walls were battened and plaster boarded. the external wall was drylined and the cavity vented to the outside. I put holes with radiator cover mesh in them into the skirting to permit warm air from the room to take away the misture from the base of the walls. Venting into the house is not the best, but it is better for the house than keeping the water in the walls, rising to the upper levels.

It was almost free but a bit risky. But the theory is Heat and Ventilation are the key to dry walls. Most people will advise you to spend a few thousand on it. It is hard to get expert objective advice because people are selling solutions. Its been fine for 2 years now . . . . .
But I don’t know what the survey would say about my homemade solution, if I try to sell. But currently I don’t have a damp problem. I don’t know what the little hand held damp reader will say though.