DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi, looking for some advice really.

I moved into a ground floor flat 3 years ago, from the moment we moved in we have had terrible problems with damp, the landlord put in a new DPC which seemed to help somewhat but the problem never went away.

This winter the wall has been so much damper and colder than usual but the landlord's handyman and someone else she sent to look at it both just shrugged and said DPC is working it must be something else.

But the injection sites where the new DPC went in seems to hold water during/ after rainfall, surely this means it isn't working? Directly inside is also wet to touch during wet weather.

She's now saying it's cold spots and condensation and says we should open the windows more and she'll look into insulation. (we already do literally everything we can to reduce condensation)

I'm really at the end of my tether, could this be cold spots or is there something else going on here?

Hi shekillerr,
From your pictures you either have single skin walls (wall is one brick thick) or you have cavity walls (two walls with a cavity between them).
If it’s single skin there is very little hope of stopping damp penetrating through the wall. If it’s cavity wall, the injection of a damp course should have been done internally, if indeed the internal DPC had failed.
Regards S

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post.

We do have cavity walls, someone else I showed the photo to suggested the DPC might be causing some bridging damp?

My landlord has decided to just reclad the inner walls with 50mm insulating plasterboards, do you think this will help the problem?

Hi shekillerr,
The most likely cause of your damp problems is debris in the bottom of the cavity. Poking damp proofing pellets into the outer wall may have made things worse inside because the debris can now only dry out inwards.
Installing insulated plasterboard inside will conceal the problem it will certainly not cure it. It may also lead to condensate coming out at the bottom of the wall.
Lucky for you that you are renting the flat.
Regards S