Re: Re: Dampness advice needed.

Hi,
the problem you talk of is rising damp and it is down to the fact that you have put in concrete floors. This is one of the major problems people have when they take on old houses. They may point the walls with lime as they are supposed to but don’t know that the floor is as important when it comes to moisture. The damp under the house naturally rises upwards and where there is a lime floor (use 5NHL LIME) the water is taken in and released when the damp is a little less, but in a concrete floor the damp has nowhere to go because the concrete does not take it in, so the damp goes outwards and then rises up into the walls. this will still happen even if you have dpc under you concrete floor. The best, cheapest and easiest way to fix this is to dig a trench of about 6-8 inches deep along the walls inside the house and put down yellow perforated pipeing which is very cheap and you can get it any farmers store. you could also wrap this pipe in breathable dpc, this stops any little particals entering the pipe but allowing moisture in. Then at some point along the wall put a hole through to the outside. This will carry off any dampness and vent the floor as well if you come out above gorund level outside. Insice the house, cover the pipe over and the trench in with lime or cement and when it dries you’ll never notice a thing but your damp will be gone. Also never dry line an old stone building, use 2NHL lime to plaster the interior and mix hemp through it which is brilliant at retaining heat and can hold heat in a room longer than most fancy products around today. You really should have put down lime for the floor but if you do as above you should be ok.