I bought an old mid-terrace back in the early Summer, moved in and got down to tidying up and starting to get quotes for the bathrooms and kitchen that'll need sorting.
The kitchen is galley style, 9 sq/m so by no means huge, 3 walls are internal, the 4th was external but maybe around 20 years ago there was a lean to with a polycarb roof knocked up on the adjoining side, there's no water egress on the outside of that wall.
Builder came Sunday to quote on updating the lean to, on entering the kitchen the first thing he said was 'you know you've got damp in here don't you' which I kind of did, last week I pulled the skirting, around a 1m section off the wall situated next to the sound PVC door to go into the lean to. It was slightly moist but not wet behind, and the face of the plaster in that area was slightly damp to the touch. There's lino on the floor, maybe 20/30 years old, it smells a bit musty if you pull it up but generally there's no mould on any walls etc.
I'm pretty sure there's no DPM under the slab as you cant see it lapping out anywhere, builder wants to do the standard, rip out, dig a foot down, and re slab with membrane. I'm about to tile and put a new kitchen on top of the floor next year and Ill be here for at least 5 years I'd say.
Is a total re-slab the only way? Not really looking to cut corners, if it needs doing it needs doing, but access isn't the easiest to get rid of the waste and wanted to check other options
Plaster: gypsum in an old house is always a damp magnet
Lino: traps damp as it's impermeable
Pete Ward on YouTube gives you an idea of the issues with modern materials in an old house.
I'd be looking at a limecrete floor if required
Interesting stuff, I'll definitely give more of that a watch.
Any opinions from the morning crew?
Ventilation management is key in my house, no furniture against outside walls, good ventilation to keep air flow, it's a constant battle.
Sounds a bit like our house , when you say old are we talking so old (100 years or so) that the original outside wall hasn’t got any footings and is held up by the lean to? (Don’t ask how I know about that scenario!!)
yeah, its around 100 years old, but there are footings at the wall base, the house is on a hill so the kitchen floor is around a meter and a half from ground level, there's concrete stairs down to the yard out the back
As its a kitchen, and summer - I would be checking for leaks from water systems.
ha, I have found one, it's on the opposite side of the kitchen, and seems contained but there's a very old copper pipe that has a connecting part that has moisture on it externally, i'll dig it out later, it looks like it angles down and is buried beneath the current floor to go under a doorway to the adjoining bathroom - plan is to redirect the water in from the mains by chopping off the existing copper pipe just after the stop tap, then directing up and around the ceiling rather than under the floor, so it'll just take that piping out altogether
Even though, should the slab be re-fitted with a DPM?
Even though, should the slab be re-fitted with a DPM?
my view yes
I relaid a slab in a kitchen precisely because of this - it was damp with no dpm. I removed the floor and redid it in modern materials with a DPM and the damp was no more
the house is on a hill so the kitchen floor is around a meter and a half from ground level
If the floor is 1.5m above the outside ground level, I don't see why it needs a DPM - it shouldn't be getting damp from underneath unless there's water coming down the inside of the walls. You will be losing heat through it though, so if you do re-lay it put polystyrene under it. Or dig out and put in a suspended floor with insulation under it and ventilation under that.
As above floors over 4ft from the ground... wheres the damp coming from
Is it cavity wall?
Kitchen window leaking. Check for gaps in the silicone, around the frame and on the surrounds
Kitchen waste pipe leaking
Guttering leaking above kitchen
You can inject chemical dpm stuff
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IWQ4KAqcrUvDUfj6Z05dqOo4d9rXmukGARwCTxUEF4-jG4ID2JHIDw9-mrjSQIZFyU0ggtydaRRVE-rgH-pD6KdqbthPD2PPCJTCnRtm6k-2Ui9mM6arlFatxTiVgiiFJXpxuo2dIaTDiF4sXZMP_-sD6BGhUCDesEnPc4KerPXXT_a1oqsqEEhsCSTwbpQbZC6ocS01kN308tlTrTWNuGLKjeyCRKlDRJMbPycgfuyt1iX6G2qVx1BQBik3p6aa26WZwbgGrNznYSTcl8XGMP35tBubl_PlL7aFoYj9RmUZBIOH2s6GZswtxVRd7pr_bBYEOlSBxGFJq6OZVDLQg9l2ZU4qzLlDtfPgZRHtAu6cB0Nqyu729OP59dZo0ZS6YV6G5xqYhgqWAHOWgOh9xuRmUhQ3T5dduAfHhjaYIrnYbehC-izCf4A3m8BV3-nGaYKOIroMMw5-1PewslxrQYgaWOp9CpAU-ZhYxNcpTgYsjqriuZk0itnMja0wSSlYrE3ypFuNFCB1P3hB6qrj2_oVYVPX7bTicJGHxSJRPt-guM44KCMyEvITEpcK7KHXFDgtVSYwDp_KprLdafTaKfBzJEawHG85I7e5RYKB-bawPJYLiY4IaNO8w76g6vrcTF-ijQ5s8y_Q2o4xGrVjM7-PrBtTsITaT5hoZdjuZjGtyDvzoYjt-J-2e-B6cTcBEV0b1wXVsaX-u78_WkbcbnU=w1157-h867-no?authuser= 0" alt="null" />
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Gdyq4ydrnp_GxrUeahMd_XWHch6mvAEBTmeL_JCeW748Q89arTRZMJ1eWw2byx9F_GkkWW87FZpRhDTx7_ubfS0WSUHnKcKrrvf_zEblHGjDHtVAbx9klngqFjZ5RkZbQs9d-RpnGIl972RRJ_kjQFMREQaVLfbhvFhEunsv2ryfBkfBAcfKr9rTykUbMfHjJDPKuBQkoTtVL1D6A92L-J9vC7yJsGPYdLj3_yWUgJhUxZu4EiPaZWwdIeQyW6JNg1okvhnhOyd3AkLdTl7ixRG8t3KyEtygxNTAuIQUXUKqOItr8N5xFV9SodPJU3eS4kKnqK7PuloiNeYoJTNCYjp9v8yuPF1m1eNYKeTl7Vo0lQjtMDFKkqBByMk0IHRqpQdLOQraDcPZYmCDQ7-CVsLxeCEsiAZMdv0aX9Oe2Z4ygQtrlGikD6D4suUZIy9IuEIeiax9Ben-U6vQZi1vuzHrvatAzfRGNv1ytHvg1FNXeB3ZviT0cBehuorXJowGuWZfLe6WT09gbUKXTJnw4H2SMeHP1R_7oKiJvRrdjyNRzHUaCNHj2Ouh7iAH5zZnCb7aNc7TdwZDWwLqkS23oV41yMu85fJY7c8ggAYm5pngbxdZ5pB-ZkkVOfmPmY7eYz_iXcZs5M0AnjXWUrMPKyqDSoFgSXPM7bKIM1sQ_FDTXXeV6LeC8DDmSj8yup29fsw0C7-APA0MJP22c5y1wDw=w1157-h867-no?authuser= 0" alt="null" />
has a connecting part that has moisture on it externally
Condensation, cold pipe, warm moist air
OK, 'scuse the mess, trying to do 4 things at once with work calls and all that.
Kitchen floor is roughly about the level the white paint goes to on the outside / last pic
That floor level is too high to be worrying about damp membranes.
The lower of the two pipes is leaking. What’s the story with the plaster disappearing around it? Is it all crumbled? Looks like it’s been leaking for years and carved a little channel.
Dig out that pipe more and sort out that fitting.
Yeah, the old feller before me had just buried that pipe fitting with some non-porus compound, once I'd scrapped that back the plaster just crumbles off, it's like that under the units as well, once you can get to it it just crumbles off with your hands.
So forget the DPM and get all the old plaster off and replace with something else
That pipe fitting goes under the floor, tbh I'm looking at replacing that whole section and coming in to the kitchen around the top of the ceiling, instead of down and up to the boiler as it is now, at least I'll know there's any leaks in future and have easy access, rather than digging that pipe out
To check if it condensation warm the pipe with a hot air gun or hairdryer for a few mins. Enough to warm up the water inside.
Wipe it off with tissue
Leave 20 mins, check with another sheet of tissue.
The warm pipe wont condense but will weep
Dpnt discard pe x barrier pipe, its getting very popular in the trade