Hello, I've been googling this issue for weeks and not found anything that seems to fit. I bought the house last May (2019) and we keep getting damp that appears a day or two after it rains. I recently bought some storm dry against my better judgement and it appears to have made my damp issue worse. The patch seems taller and more defined. I'd also say it had extended more to the left (you can see it just above the skirting Outside, there seems to be nothing that indicates where it is coming from. The only thing to note is that it is above the coal chute which appears to have been bricked up. Any suggestions as to what my next actions should be? I've got a damp man coming round Saturday but I'm worried they'll insist on some creams. Any help would be much appreciated
I will do, couldn't tonight as we've got a lot of fog since bonfire night! Floor is floorboards on joists above a cellar. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow too.
You don't need a 'damp man'. It's clearly rain water, and he's not going to stop it raining. There will be a gap outside where the water is getting in. You need to have a close look at it to work out where the gap is, and then repair the gap.
I've attached pics of outside, inside the cellar and looking up from the cellar to the room. You can see light coming through the cellar, through the coal chute but the cellar isn't damp and the damp patch is far higher.
Yeh, I don't think I need a damp man it is just infuriating trying to find the source. Any tips or anything I can buy that can help me trace it?
As I said, just having a really close look for any cracks outside. Is there any mortar missing behind that waste pipe where the wall is a bit green? Or a cracked stone in the wall?
The patio is too high, rain is splashing up off the patio and entering the air bricks and wetting the wall. Using any waterproofing solution on this will prevent the water in the wall escaping to outside, it will all have to go inside the house, as you have noticed.
I'll take a closer look but I don't think so. The mortar, whilst thick, doesn't appear to be missing from any areas. I did look at the waste pipe as I saw an earlier thread on here and the damp was being caused by that. All looks okay though. The stone work appears fine and I think any cracks would have appeared when applying the solution but will double check
Would the suggestion then be to bring up the garden and drop it down? I did suspect this but my garden height isn't any different to next door and I don't think they've had any issues. I know it isn't a done thing but would block the air bricks help this then? I'm thinking of an angled "deflector" rather than actually blocking it up entirely
Could there be any leaking pipework behind or just above the skirting, but I would think that would also show damp on the basement ceiling.
Your pointing looks good shame it’s cement not lime. Look at the area of stone around the pipe to the left hand side, looks damper than the rest and the pointing below the pipe in that area hasn’t been done. Just saying
Thanks everyone for the responses so far. I've just taken a few exploratory photographs outside. Could any of these be the culprit (if it isn't the patio being too high)? The white stuff in the coal chute is the storm dry that hasn't cured. It looks bad with light coming through but it feels far too low.