daleyd
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- 9,832
- Location
- Wrexham, North Wales
That sounds similar to ours.My place was really bad with damp when I bought it. The place had been rebuilt after a fire in the 70s. So is way way beyond traditional building systems of lime etc.
The previous occupants had siliconed up every window to stop drafts and dried their washing on the radiators. The west wall was really damp, almost streaming. One of our neighbours has the tiled west wall like the slates described above.
Before the major refurb, I pointed the wall properly, it actually looked ok before I started, made a huge difference. But a percentage of the damp on the wall as down to condensation. The wet stone is exposed to the wind, it cools, a bit like an orsocool fridge. Warm inside with a humid atmosphere. And little air circulation.
Another finding was the house surrounded by concrete paths, when I cut into the first one to dig a new pipe in, it was a nice summers day but under the path was soaking. What we think was happening was rain running down the wall, and off the path down the crack between the stone and concrete, in effect keeping the base stones wetter than the rest of the exposed wall. So a day or two with a kango hammer, they have gone, and the ground around the house has a drain all the way round, covered in gravel so it can breath.
Later house stripped back to bare stone on the inside, floors out for underfloor heating, lots of alterations, new window lintels etc all put back with insulation. Im a bit paranoid now have a moisture meter. Only one bit of damp since, on the chimney.. blasted pointing.
In reality you are only the custodian of an old property maintining it as best you can till the next owner has better rose tinted glasses than yours. Its a lifestyle choice.
It’d be nice to go back to lime mortar and plaster etc but I haven’t got the time or money to even think about undertaking that, the damage was done long before we moved in.
Maybe we were just lucky but having proper ventilation and opening up fireplaces that had previously been blocked up seems to have been enough for us.