DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi Everyone :D

We have recently bought a house that we are renovating and then planning on renting it out. The house is a mid townhouse (ex local authority house), it was built in the 50's and is of brick construction. We have taken the plaster off all of the walls and while we were taking it off the last wall I thought the bricks looked a slightly different colour. On closer inspection I noticed that the noggins of wood inserted in the mortar beds (to attach the skirting boards to) were rotten, but only in a 3 brick section, the rest of the walls look ok.

I borrowed a moisture meter from a friend and it went off scale when I touched the bricks, but a few bricks further everything was fine. I then proceeded to check around the room and sometimes it registered and other times it didn't (but no where near as bad as the first time).

Now I know this may be a stupid question, but is it normal to have a slight amount of damp register on the meter? The reason I ask is because if we hadn't have taken the plaster off we would never have know there was damp, you certainly couldn't see any discolouration on the plaster/wallpaper.

Sorry to ask such a silly question, but I don't want to get someone out to fix the damp for them to say I need a whole new DPC if I don't. I do know that we need something doing but I don't know to what extent. The fact that I am a woman (and women can't possibly know anything about building) makes me even more nervous about being taken advantage of.

Also does anyone have any ideas on how much this will cost me?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer :D

Rach

r4chy,
You will always get varying degrees of dampness in any property, the problem will identifying the cause of the high readings in the 3 brick section.
Is the section in question backing onto a bathroom? Is it on an outside wall? Is it on the ground floor? You will have to provide more details if you want advice.
Because you have purchased an ex LA property it is unlikely that it is a problem with the original build.
end

Hi Stoneyboy

Thanks for your reply :)

The damp section is on the ground floor on an internal wall. I know the wall isn't backing onto a kitchen, but I will ask the neighbours if they have installed a utility room/wc (they had a ground floor extension, so I don't know the layout of their house). I'll let you know when I find out :D

Thanks again.

r4chy

Have a look at this link - most things will be explained - there is loads of information on here which may help you! We found it great and saved a lot of money on unneccesary damp proofing work.

Google "heritage-house.org/damp.html"