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Question about tanking....? |
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| message from troubleinstore on 12 May 2004 |
Yesterday, I had the building control officer come to see me about some
damp which is affecting the inside of the outside wall at the back of
the house.
He told me that the reason for the damp was when the previous occupier
of the house had had flagstones laid in the back yard he had bridged the
damp course.
This part of the puzzle is easily remedied.
What I am concerned about is that he told me I would have to have all
the back wall tanked.
Damp is about one foot up the wall.
So could someone advise please. What is tanking. Do I have to rip up the
concrete floor (yuk), can I plaster over it on the walls.... etc etc etc.
He did say that the problem was not considered urgent.
Your help would be most appreciated.
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| BigWallop replied to troubleinstore on 12 May 2004 |
Tanking is just putting a waterproof layer on the inside of the walls and making sure
that water runs between the inside of the existing wall and the outside of the new
tank type structure. It's best for you to dig out the flag stones and make good the
problem that's causing the damp, then you won't need to do any tanking on the inside
because the damp won't occur again.
Bridging the damp proof course of walls is a common problem that cowboy builders cause
and is the easiest to remedy by undoing what they've done. It might take a couple of
summers or a dehumidifier to remove the damp marks, but this is better than spending
thousands on something you don't really need done.
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| troubleinstore replied to BigWallop on 12 May 2004 |
Many thanks for the above reply.
What worried me was the fact that upon removing the flagstones, there
would be 2 foot gap from the others that are there to the house wall,
but I have decided to cut about 6 inch off the flags and and then put a
border stone what you have in gardens so that it makes a trough:-
house x
x x - edging stone
x xxxxxxxxxxx - flagstones
xxxxx
!
trough
the reason for the trough is that water can run straight into the the drain.
As I will be replastering the inside walls anyway, would it not be
prudent to put some tanking on the inside walls and if so, could you
reccommend a suitable waterproofer to do the job...?
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| Christian McArdle replied to troubleinstore on 12 May 2004 |
You can sometimes get away with filling the trough with gravel if the
drainage is good. Although it sort of bridges the DPC, the water wants to go
down into the well drained trough and might not reach the house wall to
cause problems.
Christian.
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| troubleinstore replied to Christian McArdle on 12 May 2004 |
I should have, but failed to mention that the flagstones are laid upon
the original concrete yard. I do not know how deep the concrete is so I
will have to get the drill out and do a few pilot holes
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| BigWallop replied to troubleinstore on 12 May 2004 |
If the concrete is the original top surface, then how have the flag stones been laid
on top of it ? If they've been built up on top of the old surface, then you should
only have to remove the new stuff back to the old surface of the concrete. That's
taking that the old concrete surface didn't produce the same problems of bridging the
existing damp proof course and was well drained originally.
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| BigWallop replied to troubleinstore on 12 May 2004 |
<<snipped>>
The wall really needs specialist treatment because it needs to be injected and then
fully tanked with the proper materials to make it sound and to stop the further growth
of fungal spores and things. So try your home buildings insurance people for some
more advice on this as it will alter your policy if you don't tell them about a
possible structural fault and then make any claim against the policy.
My advice is, you get more advice from a specialist, reputable, company on this
problem and not to try and tackle it yourself, because you can cause more problems if
this type of job is done wrong.
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Archived message: Question about tanking....? (UK D-I-Y Home Decoration)
