damp in a bedroom that is four foot above the floor?

Question

we have recently moved into a bungalow and to find damp along the floor beggers belief, what causes it and how do we stop it never to return, can we claim from the past owners

Answer 1

I dont see how you can claim from the last owners,didnt you have a full structural survey done ?

Thats what they are for to find any faults before you sign.

Answer 2

It's not clear from your question whether this is damp that's rising from the ground to 4 feet up - which is classic rising damp - or an isolated patch 4 feet above the ground. Sadly this site does not let the questioner reply or amend questions so we'll never know. If rising damp, you need to hack off the plaster to 1 meter high, inject a new damp proof course from both sides, and replaster with waterproof plaster; leave a gap at floor level, and use a treated timber or plastic skirting board to cover the gap. And check that the ground outside is below the level of the DPC. If it's a damp patch, could be as suggested above - drains, guttering, burst pipes, maybe bad pointing between the bricks outside.
Beware of damp in floor / ceiling timbers - this could lead to dry rot which will spread right through the house, threading its way through the brickwork to all your timber.
Whatever it is, do not be tempted to use that rubberised waterproof paint to try to exclude the damp. All this does is hide it, and it will rot really quickly behind it - it's only useful for say a squat with six months to live.
Houses cost a lot of time and money to look after. Suggest you get some good DIY books from the library and see their schedule of checks to make through the year.
And no, you have no come-back against previous owners (unless house is less than 10 years old when it should have a builders' guarantee). If you had a survey done you can try suing the surveyor but they usually have weaselly get-out clauses. Buyer beware.

Answer 3

The damp is most probably caused by the outside guttering overflowing and letting the water run down the outside wall.

Answer 4

Four feet above the floor (between the verticle 2x4s) is a horizontal 2x4, I think it's called a fire break.
You either have a leak in the roof that is running down the inside of the wall and collecting on top of that 2x4.
or...
You have a pipe in the wall that is leaking.

Answer 5

make sure it is ventilated first, as this will cause rising damp, and mould on walls and furniture and clothing. Next find out if you have any damp course. Normally the damp course comes with deeds to premises if in place.

Answer 6

Check that the height of your garden is not above the damp course, this is the cheapest and most obvious way to stop damp

Answer 7

you need to fix the root cause of the damp, are your bedroom walls getting wet when its raining outside? make sure your guttering is doing its job, and the outside walls don't have water running down them, check the pointing in the brick, or is it condensation from inside? in this case heat and ventilate the room.

Answer 8

Check roof tiles. gutters(may be blocked with leaves at this time of year)and drainpipes.Where is your water tank? check if above room it could be leaking.If you had a survey done it should have been found then,or it could be something has happened since. Good Luck.

Answer 9

almost cetain this one leaking guttering running on to wall making it damp. Fix guttering and bobs your uncle

Answer 10

need damp course putting in maybe have to re plaster wall