DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

hi

had a conservatory built. the walls are double brick, except were the plastic patio doors sit , this is single brick. Outside we have pea gravel between the brick work and the patio. The problem is on this single row of bricks it is damp. Could it be the pea gravel holding rain water and saturating the bricks. What can i do, does the water repelant coating you can buy help,or should i remove the pea gravel.

thanks

TC

hommerj,
There should not be any problems with the row of bricks under the patio door being damp - ignore it.
end

thanks for your reply.

can you be more specific please why do you say ignore it, when the bricks are damp it looks awful.

there are like salt crystals on the inside of the brickwork.

TC

hommerj,
This is a classic problem where there is no damp course fitted on the bricks under the cill. However if you have pea shingle covering the bricks on the outside this may be making the damp worse. Try removing the pea shingle so the the whole depth of one brick is exposed.
end

Your damp proof course is level with the bottom of the door frame.
The bricks below are in contact with the ground and may be dry/damp/wet.
This is normal.

The pea shingle will not transfer water to the bricks and should be left in place.
The damp proof course should be more than six inches above the ground/top of pea shingle, this is to stop rain bouncing up the wall and making it wet. If the top of the pea shingle is high, lower it.

The silicon paint that you refer to, is designed to shed rain water, to stop the rain soaking into the wall above the damp proof course. In this situation, where the bricks are damp/wet because of contact with the ground it will not help.

Thanks for your reply how do i stop the inside of the bricks looking dark and damp, also the bricks get what looks like a fur on them looks like salt.

Thanks

TC

unfortunately there is nothing that you can do about the colour of bricks that are in contact with the ground. When they are wet they look dark, in the summer when its dry(?) it ever, they will lighten again. The fur, is down to various chemical salts that were in the clay when the bricks were made, the process of getting wet, then drying out, moves the salts to the surface of the bricks. Wet, always moves to cold, once the world warms up, it will go away.

Thanks for all your help


TC

Hi guys,

Perry is right in what he says. But I am a bit confused, how come you can see the bricks underneath the patio door set from the inside?

Usually, the door set sits on a DPC which is more or less 150mm or two courses up from the outside paving level AND the inside floor level comes up to the same height of the DPC on the inside.

Basically the floor should be approximately level with the bottom of (or slightly higher, tiles etc) the door frame.

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick ;-)

Cheers