Damp front of house and can't figure out how to fix?
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 12:08 pm
I've got a really preplexing problem, which I can't seem to figure out how to fix.
My house is a 300 year old terrace, made up of a mixture of brick and timber.
I repainted the house a few years ago, and in order to be a little sympathetic to the period, knocked off as much of the Sandtex as I could, and repainted with pozilime (limewash). All was good, but it highlighted damp areas as soon as the lime hardened.
Either side of the front door is permanently damp..
It used to be a shop, and there were tiles cemented on either side of the front door under the main windows. That's not helped the damp, so I'm knocking them off and will replaster with lime.
It's not damp inside the house, although as it's built onto the earth, there is some effloresense coming in under the front door threshold.
There's no damp inside the house behind the brickwork either side of the door.
The bricks themselves are damp. I have to limewash the white door surrounds, as this helps the moisture get out, and the pointing is lime, painted over with limewash. This seems to help, but it's not getting any better.
There are no leaks inside, and although there's a drain there on the pavament, that's not leaking in.
It doesn't appear to be rising damp, as it starts from halfway down, and not from ground level.
I'm contemplating knocking a couple of bricks out either side, and putting air bricks in to see if that would help.
Aside from that, I'm stumped.
Any thoughts?
Cheers,
Nick
My house is a 300 year old terrace, made up of a mixture of brick and timber.
I repainted the house a few years ago, and in order to be a little sympathetic to the period, knocked off as much of the Sandtex as I could, and repainted with pozilime (limewash). All was good, but it highlighted damp areas as soon as the lime hardened.
Either side of the front door is permanently damp..
It used to be a shop, and there were tiles cemented on either side of the front door under the main windows. That's not helped the damp, so I'm knocking them off and will replaster with lime.
It's not damp inside the house, although as it's built onto the earth, there is some effloresense coming in under the front door threshold.
There's no damp inside the house behind the brickwork either side of the door.
The bricks themselves are damp. I have to limewash the white door surrounds, as this helps the moisture get out, and the pointing is lime, painted over with limewash. This seems to help, but it's not getting any better.
There are no leaks inside, and although there's a drain there on the pavament, that's not leaking in.
It doesn't appear to be rising damp, as it starts from halfway down, and not from ground level.
I'm contemplating knocking a couple of bricks out either side, and putting air bricks in to see if that would help.
Aside from that, I'm stumped.
Any thoughts?
Cheers,
Nick