DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

I live in a converted victorian house, divided into five flats.
Since I moved in almost 2 years ago now, I've a few problems
with damp in the main bedroom and now also in the smaller 2nd bedroom.
The main bedroom damp was cured via DPC on the exterior walls
of the house and seems to of cured the problem totally.

My main problem now is the 2nd bedroom which has an internal
wall that has some sort of damp getting to it, this is resulting in the
wall flaking the paint and making the plaster very dusty when touched.
The internal wall has my bathroom on the other side of it, but I can't
find anything that could be causing this damp via the bathroom side
of the wall.

Just before xmas last year I got a plaster guy I knew to replaster the whole wall with 2 layers of waterproof/damp resistant plaster and was told to let the plaster dry for at least a good few weeks. To be honest most of the wall dried out with a few days apart from the places the damp was before, I left the wall for almost 3 months which I thought was well over
a enough time for new plaster to dry out.

I painted on PVA which i was told to do before repainting the wall, I then
gave the wall two coats of paint. Within about a day or so I could see the outline of the damp on the wall again. As of now the wall has become chalky again and start to blister the paint and also flake the paint.
(see photos attached)

[IMG]http://i28.tinypic.com/21dkbgj.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i29.tinypic.com/1zwydko.jpg[/IMG]

I am stumbed as to what to do to sort this damp problem out??
I've even hired a dehumedifer to try & dry out this wall but that
did't seem to make the slightest difference to the wall.

Any help would be greatful
B








[img][/img]

[quote="ginger_benn"]I painted on PVA which i was told to do before repainting the wall,..."

Oh dear - take the person out who suggested that and shoot him.

"(see photos attached)"

First pic very indistinct so difficult to say what's going on there.

2nd pic looks like efflorescence - salts coming out of plaster as it dries - which neither paint nor PVA will stick to coupled with new paint making PVA go live again (it never sets) resulting in bubbling. Efflorescence )chalky deposit you mention) WILL keep coming back if the wall behind remains damp.

Get a damp meter on the wall for starters rather than guessing.

Is the wall in the bathroom immediately behind this tiled?

Where is the shower in relation?

What's the condition of the tile grout?

What's the condition of the silicone sealant (if any)

"To be honest most of the wall dried out with a few days apart from the places the damp was before",

Re-plastering it hasn't solved it then.

"I left the wall for almost 3 months which I thought was well over
a enough time for new plaster to dry out."

You are right.

Indicators thus far are it's coming through from the bathroom.


Cheers

Thanks for your reply Rosebery, I've got a few answers to your questions:

[b]Is the wall in the bathroom immediately behind this tiled?[/b]
A: no the wall in bathroom is not tiled on the other side of the wall,
the is only a radiator and basin on that side of the wall which are showing no show of leaks etc.

[b]Where is the shower in relation?[/b]
A: The shower is on the far wall of the bathroom and along way away from
the internal wall that is showing the damp in the other room.

[b]What's the condition of the tile grout? [/b]
A: Grout condition is fine

[b]What's the condition of the silicone sealant[/b]
A: Silicone sealant is fine

[b]Re-plastering it hasn't solved it then?[/b]
A: Nope the re-plastering has't solved the problem

If I can rule out the bathroom, what else could be causing the damp/efflorescence problem I am getting?

Cheers
B

Hello. Not sure if you have already resolved this problem but are you sure you dont have an ongoing leak somewhere? Its strange that you found damp patches occuring after such a short period after having the wall replastered and finished. The reason I ask is because I live in a 2 bed flat which is part of a converted block of 10. I experienced the same problems you have been seeing with paintwork peeling off and damp patches. After finally getting my buildings insurance involved, we found there were several hidden leaks in the pipe work and the walls were sucking up the moisture. Just a thought

Hi
I'd be grateful for advice on a related topic. Water has been coming through an internal brick wall from a bathroom and causing damp on the other side of the wall in the kitchen. The tiling didn't go up high enough in the bathroom and there was a horizontal wooden trim that the water was getting behind. The wall at the end of the bath is plasterboard and some of this was also damp. The tiling has now been extended, the wooden strip removed and I have patched in some more dry plasterboard. The kitchen wall is still damp though. I used a dehumidifier for a week but it didn't seem to help. Would it be a good idea to remove the plaster in the damp areas? Would this help to dry the damp out more quickly?

Caro