Old listed building full refurbishment - Rotting joists, dampness problems and remedies
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2020
- 300 year old listed building being fully renovated. Floor joist being replaced as the old ones have rotted due to dampness. The walls are all affected by rising damp, amplified by some of the modern cement plaster and gypsum finish.
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These videos are incredibly helpful for my project. Thank you very much!
Seems nuts that so many damp specialists dont start with reducing the ground level, aiding breathability via lime mortar, clearing air bricks etc.
Yes, you are right, drainage helps with certain dampness related things but doesn't help with everything. The problem is not the water. You can drain water away or make it evaporate. The real problem are the salts. Salts bond humidity chemically and keep the buildings damp. So there is more than just water. More info here: www.coreconservation.co.uk/the-effect-of-ground-salts-onto-masonry/
That was Great
Would be interesting to see the work in progress and also the completed project to observe how successful the suggested measures turn out. Personally I would like to see a bit more of the diagnostic process explained as we are simply told that this is a case of "rising damp" - for example, some of the worst affected parts of the wall appear to be at or below ground level and could therefor be classified as penetrating damp. As a surveyor, whenever I am told that the issue is "rising damp" my response is often to ask how this was diagnosed (I like to see the evidence) and importantly were other possibilities considered and eliminated/remedied (eg poor external ground drainage etc) prior to concluding that the problem is solely rising damp. In other words was the investigation undertaken in accordance with Building Research Establishment Digest 245 - Rising Damp in Walls - Diagnosis & Treatment. Similarly to the medical model the process is Investigation, Diagnosis, Treatment.
Hi Alan, We have published a number of videos about surveying or diagnosing dampness problems in all buildings. Here are links to some of them.
ruclips.net/video/plujEsKRXzU/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/oOFJYcdbwP4/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/ce17b8cbxkk/видео.html
can you explain what the damp proofing system you are going to use is? Sounds like you say an automatic DPC system? Thanks
A non-invasive solution for rising damp for old and listed buildings is the magnetic DPC technology: www.coreconservation.co.uk/magnetic-dpc-construction/
Surely that new dpc system will eventually fail like the others before it. Wouldnt it be better to tackle the cause, probably by lowering the outside ground level, or separating it with a drainage channel?
Research has shown that rising damp is the actual cause. It is a standalone wetting mechanism that occurs independently of rainwater ingress of lack of drainage etc. Those causes can obviously make it worse, but it will occur without those causes too.
This is difficult to prove in a real building as there are too many affects all affecting the walls at the same time. But it's easy to prove in a lab where these individual variables can be turned on or off independently. More info here: www.coreconservation.co.uk/rising-damp-what-is-it/
@@coreconservation Whilst i agree with the evidence you have shown, it comes down to which you believe to be the overriding factor. A combination of solutions can help, lowering the outside ground by digging a perimeter drain provides a surface for the moisture to evaporate away, rather than ingress from. It is a permanent aid to reducing damp. chemical dpc's and other solutions will always only be temporary, and usually rely on tanking plaster to hide its ineffectiveness.
The misunderstanding here is that it's not a problem that the wall absorbs water. It eventually goes away, comes back, goes away and on and on. The real problem is all of those other factors which make it much worse and very visible because it traps the moisture and eventually leads to spalling and other nasty things such as mould. Then, your drainage, lime plaster/mortar, lowering outside ground levels etc is what must be done.
Could this be a case of bogus science designed to sell a proprietary plaster treatment?
It is hard to argue with the Romans as some of their buildings have stood the test of times for 2 millennia and they were experts in lime and the technology of natural pozzolans (volcanic sands and ashes mixed to lime). Here is a link demonstrating the performance of the plaster: ruclips.net/video/2EajpaPCYKI/видео.html
But it's up to you what you use on a building.