The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 3:32 pm**

My neighbour asked me to pop into there house to take a look upstairs as they seam to have a lot of damp.

This is what I found....

Landing damp in corner

Bedroom

Wall joining neighbour next door...

Wall at the rear of the house adjoining neighbour

Right hand side, they are both external walls

Note a sink in the bottom right corner

The only obvious things I could see from the inside of the house on the landing is that the loft hatch is not sealed any where near any good, so I opened the hatch to find lots of dripping water.

I explained they are loosing a lot of heat out the house through the loft hatch and it needs to be fixed to sort the condensation in the loft.

From the outside all I could see is a very small crack in the back wall that needs fixing when it gets warmer, as to cold now for cement.

Also the only other thing was the waste pipe from the sink in the bedroom was not sealed from the outside, and this may be causing a little water ingress....

I can get some pictures of the outside if needed....

The only other things I can think of is guttering blocked or roof tiles leaking or flashings not right...

But I've just had another thought while writing this, either leaking pipe to sink or condensation of the pipe work from the cold water tank in the loft.....

Your thoughts on this please

Thanks Simon

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 5:19 pm**

condensation
insulate and ventilate the loft
fit an extractor to the bathroom
check gutters and flashings
sorted
LLL

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:55 pm**

Good advice, also check bottom of roof joist for damp, sign of a failing roof and causes damp to run to exterior walls. Looks to me like a mix of mildew (is it a solid wall construction) and damp from above

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:06 pm**

Bathroom is downstairs at the back of the house, the walls are of solid construction,

Roof above that bedroom has been replaced a couple of years ago......

Thanks Simon

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:29 pm**

i would say condensation aswell

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:03 pm**

Have them consider external or internal insulation, there are grants available this year, mine cost Â£1000 just for materials, so god knows what you would pay labour and a plasterer

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:24 pm**

Had a customer in Bramhall, very attractive bored housewife, ask me in to look at a "damp patch in the bedroom".

Good job I resisted the urge to start taking my jeans off going upstairs.

She opened the door to present me with large damp stain on the wall.

Told her to call a roofer.

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:52 am**

Ok all I took a quick picture of the back of the house, the main roof which has 2 roof vents at the back is suffering a lot of condensation, I've put this down to the loft hatch being so poor.

The bedroom roof is the next roof down (slopes to the left) this has the sink in it and loads of damp, it has no access inside the loft space...

And the lower roof is the bathroom on the back of the house.

Thanks Simon

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:27 pm**

its still condensation simon
I look at 3-4 of these every year and invariably its an elderly person
that rear roof where all the damp is looks to have no ventilation
i can see the tile vents in the top roof but hopefully they used breathable felt when they replaced that
sadly rendering over the brick work traps any moisture in the walls so its hard for it to evaporate
1 cut a 9 inch airbrick into the wall where the sink is put a hit and miss cover inside
2 check the flashing etc
3 install vents in that lower roof if none are there(at least 2)
4 turn the heating up
5 keep the window slightly open
6 sugar soap the walls
7 when it has dried (and it will do with heat and ventilation) redecoarte

the render is the root cause it traps moisture inside the brick work,but she is stuck with it now
cheers LLL

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:39 pm**

Tony thanks for that,
yes its no diffrence to when all my loft space was wet some time ago, ive since put roof vents in fixed a proper loft hatch with draft excluder fitted to it too and also fitted some round vents into my soffits at the front of the house..

my problems are now solved thanks to you guys for the help and advice..

well i will give her the good news and see what she wished to do...

thanks again all Simon

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2013 1:03 pm**

Ah also further to my last post the origonal roof just had the roof vents put into it last year and the roof on the very damp bedroom was retiled some time last year when it was cold and frosty, that may be a contribution to the problems she is having now also it has no vents in that roof.

Also the lady of the house has just informed me that she had the gas board out as they now do a house check thing and she was having problems with fuses keep tripping out.

They say the upstairs sockets are to blame as they are wet and they have now disconectted all the upstairs sockets and from the main fuse board.

with that in mind it sounds like she must have a leak or water getting into the walls quite alot.

thanks simon

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2013 1:44 pm**

Parapet wall failure, got to be

I can see failed render plus the age of the house, that will be letting in loads of water to both sides, remove and fit a hip somehow

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2013 1:53 pm**

it needs a builder/roofer to go out and do a site inspection really
but heat and ventilation are the key things to getting rid of damp
plus check the lead and flashings
cheers
LLL

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2013 6:08 pm**

Yes gents I make you right

Thanks Simon

The Brew Cabin

Large amount of damp in bedroom upstairs