HELP: Damp cellar and damp coming through external walls Damp can be a major issue in the home. Find answers to questions or post your own here.

[parry76]

Can someone please help. We have a 3 bed terraced hse with a cellar. Our cellar is very damp - to the point that water drips of the pipes and beams. The ground is earth and the walls are brick - there is no dpc at present. We have been managing it slightly by running a dehumidifier - which has taken away some of the excess damp but obviously is not a long term solution.

Our house is sperated from next door on one side by a passage way, also brick and earth flooring. Along that wall we have damp in the lounge and dining room.

When we bought the house in Sept last year we had a dpc injected from the outside - but we did not have the plaster taken off on the inside - this was not offered to us at the time and we didn't know that this was necessary. As a result the damp has come through our decorating to the extent that at Christmas the wallpaper in the lounge started to bubble.

We did have a sofa pushed against that wall and after pulling it away from the wall eased the problem - however surely there is some better solution.

We have considered having the cellar tanked and converted, however I am concerned that this will trap the damp in the walls causing the existing problem in the lounge and dining room to worsen.

Would tanking the cellar help? Or would concreting the floor to prevent moisure to seep through the ground make a difference. As for the damp wall - would concreting the floor of the passageway help prevent excess moisure - PLEASE HELP we have had so much differing advice we don't know what to do.

[nigelsfay]

Hi there! Sorry to hear of your problems with damp but laying a concrete floor and tanking the cellar is the only option for you if you want to dry the cellar out. Unfortunately though this will not help with your rising damp issue in the house. If you used a reputable contractor for the dpc injection you should have a guarantee and will need them to come back and deal with it.
There is no way you can inject a dpc from the outside and leave the existing plaster in place, it must be stripped off to a level of about 1.5m high. Rising damp carriess salt from the ground and unless you remove the plster and deal with the salts in the wall by temporarily neutralising them and then applying a barrier, you will continue to have a problem. Also check if you have a render course on the outside of the house that it does not breach the dpc or again you will have problems.
Good luck and I hope you get it sorted.