dampness

K

KevinM

Guest
I bought an old house 3 years ago and I just noticed that the walls in one of the rooms (study off kitchen) are often wet. However I haven't seen any mould even though I do smell dampness. The walls are dry-lined and I broke thru a small hole to see what colour the wall behind was and it was white with no obvious signs of dampness. We haven't turned on the central heating either so I wonder why the walls are so damp.
 
Re: damp

have a look at this - it may help you to diagnose the exact cause

condensation

My guess would be that warm moist air from the kitchen is condensing on the colder wall of the study

Penang
 
How wet were the walls and what made you notice? Is the ground level outside OK (i.e. 150mm below DPC level)?

You can test for condensation/dampness by taping a piece of tinfoil to the wall and leaving for 24 hrs. After that period, if there is moisture on the wall side of the tinfoil, your problem is rising damp. If the moisture is on the outside of the foil, it's condensation (it's also possible to get both).
 
damp

Cheers. I will try that tinfoil trick.
The wall was bone dry yesterday when I got home. I reckon it is condensation from hot kitchen air.
 
Don't forget condensation is just as bad as rising damp. You need good ventilation in the room. Helps to open the windows every now and then as well!
 
damp walls

When I bought my House (mid-terrace built 1890) the place smelled damp but the survey showed nothing untoward and I knew the current owner lived like a hermit with gas-fires and central heating on all the time so it was likely condensation. Neighbours who live in adjacent houses who have double-glazing and uPVC doors experience so much condensation from the daily routines of central heating, steam from cooking and washing-machine, CO2 from human breath etc.) that their windows are completely misted every morning and they need to use de-humidifiers. These work very well and are relatively inexpensive but there's the hassle of emptying them.

Though I'm sure Heinbloed won't approve :p my house has its original working sash windows and I don't get condensation as there is a (small!) draft. I also had a couple of additional ventilation bricks inserted, one at the front of the house, one at the back which allows good air circulation through the house beneath the floorboards. Any energy-loss from retaining the sashes (which is a system I like) is compensated by having thick, lined curtains.
 
smell of dampness

The smell lead to the original question.Since water has no obvious smell it is usually fungal spores in the air that
cause the "smell of dampness".Some of these spores can be dangerous to health and safety(they might be an indicator to rotting timber joists).If you have the "aspergillus niger" variety than the building is determined for demolition.This fungus produces the most carcinogenic natural substance known to us.
An environmental health officer might be able to point you to a lab that would take a sample of the air and breed the spores on a petri dish foe determination and to give advice.Just ignoring the smell is certainly not good for the health.
Such a test is not to expensive compared to the price of a house.It could be around €100 incl. report and sampling-that would be the upper range.
 
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