damp in 1 room only...

B

BoscoTalking

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just wanted to pick your brains on this please!

House is 3 bed semi over 30 years old and the box room has from time to time shown signs of black damp in one patch - a foot by two foot long - starting from the skirting board up where the bed is next to the wall.

Its not dust as was previously suspected as it does not hoover off but does wash off. so I'm now torn with thinking that it is lack of ventilation (no vents in any room in the house but this is especially small) or damp coming in the wall which would need another fix...

any idea which is it and what to do about sorting it out.
 
Re: dampin 1 room only...

Vent is very importance. Check outside of wall for leaking gutters/downpipes.
 
no guttering is fine and downpipe is not situated there so i don't know why there is a damp / blackish patch there, but yep there is no vent in the room at all.:(
 
There is a possibility that some remedial work was done there and a lighweight plaster used in the making good. This could allow lateral penetration of moisture. If the wall is on the ground floor and the plaster is going down to the solid floor, it may be a DPC problem. A crack in the external render could also be a culprit. If there was a dense plaster used in that area it could be condensation.
 
Could your chimney back onto that section of the wall?
If so, you could have condensation in your stack
 
I was told of an unusual case years ago where a dirty wall tie allowed water across the cavity and formed a damp spot on the internal wall.The internal leaf was opened locally and the culprit uncovered.This may be a possible cause here.
Before you do anything I would suggest that you look at the ventilation issue.It is not a big deal to put wall vents into a block wall just hire the core for blockwork from your local hire shop.Each core should only take about 15 mins plus clean up time.Run a section of 4'' pipe in the duct (this should fit nice and tight).If the external finish is dry or wet dash it will take a bit of tidy trimming locally to place an external vent to match existing vents.After that you could monitor the situation and take extra action if it doesn't improve.
 
Is the porch immediately below the box room? Ours is and the box room was constantly damp. We got it dry lined about two years ago and the difference is great. Worth considering.
 
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