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I'm buying an old (1850s) house, which has extensive damp to one wall, due to porous bricks. I'm intending to build an extension on the wall in question, so both sides of the brick will actually be indoors. My surveyor has said that I need to dryline the walls as the bricks are so wet.

I've read about drylining on this website and I'm really worried that I'm just covering up a problem, rather than solving it. If I get the brickwork dry lined, will the problem come back to haunt me later? How do the bricks ever dry out? If they don't, that's really bad isn't it? Should I hire a huge dehumidifier instead?

Can anyone help?

Thanks very much, Helen.

hi helenyoung,
You mentioned that this wall after the extension is complete, will become an internal wall.
The reason why the wall is damp is because of external condition and porous bricks.
So once this wall becomes an internal wall it should dry out under those conditions.
I'd let it dry out before you dry line the wall. I think you been getting confusing information.
You can use plasterboards with moisture barriers and also fix moisture barriers to the wall. But i'd let nature take is course and leave it to dry out.
Regards
KB

Hi KB,

Thanks for that. I sort of suspected that might be the case, but obviously I'm no expert so I wanted to see what other people thought. The wall will be inside, so I think I'll get the extension done, leave the wall in question to dry out and then get it plastered as normal.

Thanks very much for your reply! :D

Helen.

your theory will only work, if the extension goes right up under the eves of the original wall/roof.
If it does not, then the rain will still soak into the exposed wall and you will have a wet inside wall.
If it does not, then you either need a damp proof course inserted in the wall above the extension, or will need to have some sort of waterproof cladding over the exposed wall. A properly installed dpc will be very expensive.