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i am in a privately rented house and have been here 6 years and for 6 years the house has had rising damp! i complained to the landlord and he sent his roofer round to paint some stuff on the living room floor :evil: which the smell almost killed me, i felt high as a kite! then he painted something which was black on the bricks outside the window.

Well that didnt cure nothing!! so i gave up as he wont do much about it, i bought damp proof membrane paint and damp proof membrane sheets and put 4 coats of paint on the floor and 2 layers of the damp proof sheets. it has recently been raining and i noticed the wallpaper looked a bit bubbly, i felt it and the walls was damp and then i felt around the skirting and lower part of the wall and it is very cold feeling and the skirting boards are sticky. the main wet area is near chimney breast and the chimney did get sorted last year and the damp still is there so i am wondering if it wasnt the chimney and was the rising damp spreading along the floor and up the wall.

I am unsure whether i can stop this at all or whether i have to live with it, my landlord is very slack and i know he wont do nothing about it and i have a expensive carpet i have laid which i dont want ruined!!! but am hoping with all the layers of paint and sheets that it wont damage my carpet too much :( but really need some help with what to do!!

the house is a mid terraced built about 1905, the floor is quarry tiles

Go to any one of the damp projects in our DIY Projects section and contact the company at the top of the project page. Property Repair Systems will talk to you on the phone and give you advice with no obligation to buy. But if you do choose to use the materials they suggest it will certainly be cheaper than anywhere else.

Hello,

I am sorry to hear your landlord isn't taking this issue seriously. There are a number of ways you can deal with the physical problem of Rising Damp but first you will need to establish that this is exactly the cause.

You have already made a request to your landlord so this is the first step along with notice to him/her that if they will not take the matter seriously then you will contact the Local Authority/Environmental Health Department who may take on the case for you, they will advise you further as to whether it may be beneficial for you to take the Landlord to court and ensure the remedial works are carried out.

It is the responsibility of the landlord to ensure that the external fabric or envelope of the dwelling is in good condition, if they do not then they will fail under the conditions of the Housing Act. It is NOT your responsibility to pay for works to the external envelope of a property.

Ensure you keep all correspondence in writing and be as polite as possible throughout!

I am guessing that the walls to your property are 1 brick thick (or 9"), which can be treated by the introduction of a chemical DPC from the external face but as mentioned there could be other contributory factors i.e. Defective drainage, water leaks or condensation (more difficult to diagnose)

I hope this helps and I look forward to hearing from you when the damp problem has been remedied......!

this might be of help: Search Google for handyowner.com and then search their site for "repair basement water leak"