Damp, front room. Solutions?
Discussion
I’m sure this is not related to my damp bay window thread 
Front room has always got hints of damp inside facing wall, in the corner. Nothing bad and I kind of think it’s airflow. Anyway the missus is convinced it’s water that lays outside on driveway when it rains (drive tips towards the house)
Would putting in a drainage channel of type shown do the job do you think? Would it make any difference. There is a drain just round the corner, (and yes driveway concrete looks terrible I know)
It sits along the front, like this but sometimes worse (can’t find pic):
Thinking of this type of thing:
Front room has always got hints of damp inside facing wall, in the corner. Nothing bad and I kind of think it’s airflow. Anyway the missus is convinced it’s water that lays outside on driveway when it rains (drive tips towards the house)
Would putting in a drainage channel of type shown do the job do you think? Would it make any difference. There is a drain just round the corner, (and yes driveway concrete looks terrible I know)
It sits along the front, like this but sometimes worse (can’t find pic):
Thinking of this type of thing:
finlo said:
KAgantua said:
Wheres your dpc?
Poking out just below the bottom course of bricks?Thanks chaps. So really the crappy drive which must have been poured with very thick concrete at some point a couple of decades ago needs to come up, and driveway be dug down / done more properly. The airbrick at the front (pic 1) is indeed very close to the ground due to this.
I assume dpc is somewhere as whole road was built at same time and I don’t think it’s a known problem (ie missing) or I would have heard about it from neighbours over the years I imagine.
Edit found 2 other pics, I think that black squidgy line does look like bitumen?
I assume dpc is somewhere as whole road was built at same time and I don’t think it’s a known problem (ie missing) or I would have heard about it from neighbours over the years I imagine.
Edit found 2 other pics, I think that black squidgy line does look like bitumen?
Edited by CoolHands on Sunday 25th May 20:39
Bear in mind, it looks like a cavity wall.
It's the inner leaf of the wall you want to keep dry.
So, it's the inner leaf's damp course which matters.
It may be at a different level to the outer one. It may be a different material (slate? bitumen?), the outer one may even be absent.
As well as lowering the concrete in contact with the wall, it might be prudent to get a borescope and look in the cavity.
are those air bricks below floor level or just to vent the cavity?
If you can look under the floor, I'd do so.
Somebody's been at it, with white plastic louvres over air bricks.
I'm always suspicious of double glazing and similar retrofits bridging cavities or directing rain into the wall.
Is there cavity wall insulation?
It's annoying to fix one obvious fault that everyone points out, and not solve the problem.
As you have damp upstairs, looking beyond ground level might be prudent, IMHO.
I've been there, fixing issues one at a time, all was fine, eventually! But I wish I'd understood all the problems on day one.
But, yeah, I'd be getting rid of the that standing water. Ideally chop away that concrete to create a gulley.
But simply lowering the standing water by a couple of bricks might not make any real difference.
You want the water gone ASAP after rain, not just cosily out of sight in a shallow trench.
What's the ground water/ water table situation?
It's the inner leaf of the wall you want to keep dry.
So, it's the inner leaf's damp course which matters.
It may be at a different level to the outer one. It may be a different material (slate? bitumen?), the outer one may even be absent.
As well as lowering the concrete in contact with the wall, it might be prudent to get a borescope and look in the cavity.
are those air bricks below floor level or just to vent the cavity?
If you can look under the floor, I'd do so.
Somebody's been at it, with white plastic louvres over air bricks.
I'm always suspicious of double glazing and similar retrofits bridging cavities or directing rain into the wall.
Is there cavity wall insulation?
It's annoying to fix one obvious fault that everyone points out, and not solve the problem.
As you have damp upstairs, looking beyond ground level might be prudent, IMHO.
I've been there, fixing issues one at a time, all was fine, eventually! But I wish I'd understood all the problems on day one.
But, yeah, I'd be getting rid of the that standing water. Ideally chop away that concrete to create a gulley.
But simply lowering the standing water by a couple of bricks might not make any real difference.
You want the water gone ASAP after rain, not just cosily out of sight in a shallow trench.
What's the ground water/ water table situation?
Not sure about ground water (not my expertise!) but it is clay (NW London) so water doesn’t soak away very easily. There is a drain on the corner so was thinking to get the drainage channel into that.
It is cavity wall, thankfully(?) I resisted cabity wall installation chancers a few years ago when the government were shovelling money into double glazing type shonky firms. I remember turning away salesman that literally came round knocking doors. Suspect cavity will have loads of crap in it though as in general the building quality of the house is pretty dire (noticed in various ways, inc top of the walls when looking behind the eaves etc). So probably breached, thinking about it.
It is cavity wall, thankfully(?) I resisted cabity wall installation chancers a few years ago when the government were shovelling money into double glazing type shonky firms. I remember turning away salesman that literally came round knocking doors. Suspect cavity will have loads of crap in it though as in general the building quality of the house is pretty dire (noticed in various ways, inc top of the walls when looking behind the eaves etc). So probably breached, thinking about it.
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