Damp in Dinning Room on Party Wall - What Could be the Cause of This?
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:03 am
Hi guys
Hoping someone can shed some light on my problem here that I'm at a loss for.
I live in a mid terrace house built around 1900 and around Christmas time I noticed some small damp patch's in a corner of my dining room downstairs. I didn't really notice anything until around a week ago when I noticed the paint had bubbled and fell away very easily.
When I tapped the area, the plaster felt hollow. This week I began to remove the blown plaster to get to the wall underneath.
I can't see any visible staining and there is no mould around the area. But if touch the wall around 25cm up from the floor (towards the right hand side of the yellow part of the wall only) it feels very slightly damp.
I have visited next door to try and see if they have any issues in the adjacent corner and to investigate whether there is a leaking pipe somewhere to blame but the layout next door is very different to mine and their staircase is located directly adjacent to where my issue is, meaning there is absolutely no access to this bottom corner (in fact, the majority of this wall is inaccessible on my neighbours side because of the staircase).
This, teamed with the fact my neighbours have been renting the property for around 2 months so they are not sure if anything is unusual (although they have commented they have not noticed and damp or mould within their property) makes it very frustrating.
Does anybody have any suggestions as to where this moisture is coming from and how to remedy it? I must point out that that this wall is not exposed to the elements, there is my kitchen which comes off the dining room.
The only thing I can think to do is allow the wall to dry out (a radiator is very close by) apply a PVA solution to try and seal it before repairing the plaster.
Thanks for reading
Steve
Hoping someone can shed some light on my problem here that I'm at a loss for.
I live in a mid terrace house built around 1900 and around Christmas time I noticed some small damp patch's in a corner of my dining room downstairs. I didn't really notice anything until around a week ago when I noticed the paint had bubbled and fell away very easily.
When I tapped the area, the plaster felt hollow. This week I began to remove the blown plaster to get to the wall underneath.
I can't see any visible staining and there is no mould around the area. But if touch the wall around 25cm up from the floor (towards the right hand side of the yellow part of the wall only) it feels very slightly damp.
I have visited next door to try and see if they have any issues in the adjacent corner and to investigate whether there is a leaking pipe somewhere to blame but the layout next door is very different to mine and their staircase is located directly adjacent to where my issue is, meaning there is absolutely no access to this bottom corner (in fact, the majority of this wall is inaccessible on my neighbours side because of the staircase).
This, teamed with the fact my neighbours have been renting the property for around 2 months so they are not sure if anything is unusual (although they have commented they have not noticed and damp or mould within their property) makes it very frustrating.
Does anybody have any suggestions as to where this moisture is coming from and how to remedy it? I must point out that that this wall is not exposed to the elements, there is my kitchen which comes off the dining room.
The only thing I can think to do is allow the wall to dry out (a radiator is very close by) apply a PVA solution to try and seal it before repairing the plaster.
Thanks for reading
Steve