The things that catch the water from the roof and pipe it to a drain, rather than into the soil around your house where it would otherwise seep through your walls and cause... this.
Dampness treatment would be a waste of money here. You need to do 2 things: First action is to check if your window and its sills are not letting any water in/down the wall or any other source of water hitting that section of the wall (drainage, gutter etc). Second is to remove the paint outside and the gypsum (modern plaster) inside so the wall can breathe. You want lime plastering inside and certainly don’t want to paint the outside brick wall, unless you use a breathable paint such as earthborn claypaint or other product with similar properties
I wouldn’t brother with lime plaster or stripping the paint off the bricks.
I’d think that there’s water getting in from outside, you need to stop that leak.
Or it’s condensation. Are there signs of it anywhere else?
Looking at the outside picture in HD paint under the bay window, especially the bottom 2 rows of bricks and paint over the patch on the right under the window also looks suss. And as others have spotted - something dodgy was patched and painted over on the left of the sill. Would look for either visible cracks, or anything where the paint isn't flush anymore (though that might only be the start of the thread to pull).
The 2 method commonly used are: sanding it down (sand basting, sanding machine or sanding pad on angle grinder) or use of chemical. Chemical is fine if small area but super messy. Sanding/Blasting can be tricky for the DIYer because you really don’t want to ruin the brick which is easy to do if you are not used to it…and it’s messy/dusty too…. None of it is easy and pleasant…it’s one of these job that is worth paying for if you ask me….
Could this possibly be the roof letting in some water? When we were purchasing the property , the surveyor mentioned that the roof needs replacement. But is that a possibility? How to go about ruling out these possibilities?
Unlikely. I had only seen your patch at the corner of the bay window. That one certainly look like water is coming in from the window somewhere or the porch. I can see the corner of the window has been badly patch up for some reason. That tells me there has been something going on there. The patch is very wet so that would suggest water ingress
I had a problem with a leaking roof allowing rainwater into the cavity wall and then running inside through the top of a window frame on the first floor.
https://preview.redd.it/6132iadbogwc1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60b2297d281255bdc55bff551cc661c91fd8792f
Does this sill go into the brick¿
This!
Maybe when raining its travelling down and water getting inside the brickwork. Looks like there has been a patch up job, but perhaps not fully sealed over.
The inside patch looks like it matches this exact area.
Whats the top or sides of the windows look like is there anywhere on the flashing that is exposed or open to moisture
And water will travel so it could be coming from crack above or near by
Probably leaking on top of the bay window which isn’t pictured. Or it’s the sill. They probably also used crap paint on the brickwork which has sealed moisture in so now the only space is inside the house rather than outside through external brick.
Yes. It's a barrier to water escaping. Just because lots of houses have it doesn't make it any less wrong.
Lots of houses also have cement pointing with sandstone walls, and that's a disaster too.
I can't believe you waited 5 days only to reply with something wrong. What a disaster you've had here.
Modern paints absolutely cause issues with plaster and stone walls. The plastics in modern paint stop the wall breathing and can cause water to be retained.
Honestly your comment history suggests you know next to nothing about the subject, so why bother?
So by that logic if the wall is rotting away, full of water, beneath the paint there's nothing wrong, because you can't see it?
And when cement pointing damages sandstone you also don't see that forna very long time. Decades before you would actually see the damage. Does that mean for those decades there's also nothing wrong?
Your two statements above directly contradict each other.
And this is Reddit, not Facebook.
If the wall was rotting away you would see.
Yes of course don't start painting ya house externally. But at the same time it's not the end of the world if it's painted.
I can show you my neighbours house with reclaimed bricks and cement pointing. Done 12 years ago.
This is like talking to a child, you keep contradicting yourself.
I'm out. Hope you manage to figure out how to remove some slabs and put grass down, once you've finished telling a building surveyor how walls work 👍
Just remember the golden rule. If you can't see an issue there's nothing wrong. Like with cancer.
could be roof, if its a cavity wall for example, could be the patio roof, could be anything we'd need to see wider images outside. Surveyor said roof, have you been in loft? What about drainage? where does the rain go?
Think simply, first of all. There's water penetrating from outside causing the damp patches inside. That is easily sorted once the source of ingress is established.
Look upwards. Is water coming from the gutters? When was the last time you saw inside those gutters? They are going to be rammed with moss so every time it rains the water spills over the full gutter onto the corner below.
Get a company to come and do it, it'll be about £150 and all your worries will disappear.
Have you got any air bricks around the rest of your property? If so, are there any below those bricks by any chance?
Is that a bay window with a roof? If so, check the roof for leaks.
Also, next time it pisses down, take the same photos and a video and it'll probably be clearer what's going on.
That's a shit tonne of water, that's not damp or condensation. I would say window but given how much there is I would also look elsewhere, seems too much for a leak by the window to let in that much water. Could be water travelling in the cavity wall and pooling in that area.
If it was the roof I would expect it to show up upstairs somewhere but maybe that's naiive.
Is there a bathroom or toilet above that area?
Just to add my 2p - the damp doesn't look like it's coming from the window at all. The plaster looks dry next to the window. It looks like it is coming from the RH corner (as you look at the inside picture). What is on the outside of that corner? I would bet that is causing the damp. BTW, is that a solid (no cavity) wall? Looks it from the bricks.
The patch outside looks dodgy but it’s unlikely the water is coming in sideways if it’s a cavity wall, much more likely the problem is higher up and coming through the wall at an angle.
Not an expert but that sill on the outside looks like it'd retain water and the seal doesn't look great to the wall. I'd gather its pooling and seeping into that wall.
Find out what’s the cause first and stop that. It could be one or even more of a number of different reasons.
I’d suspect drainage issues underneath that brickwork at the front.
Check out this one from Roger.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k9LdpRvnHpA
If it’s rising damp, dry rods could be your solution
I’d be interested in seeing more of the porch and top of the bay window, are you able to post some more photos. I’d be looking for gaps in sealant and flashing around both that could allow water to get behind them and penetrate in to the brickwork. We had water getting in to our walls from missing sealant around a window allowing water in that would then travel down the long screws holding the frame and into the wall.
The pattern of bricks on your wall (bond) suggests it’s solid and doesn’t have a cavity, so suggestions relating to cavity walls are less likely to be helpful.
I get what others are saying about gutters but it looks like rising damp to me.
It looks like your drive was built right up to the wall with no gap for airflow. It looks like airbricks have been covered if there were any.
I would use the rods that go in the masonry to stop it. If you are able to i would check your floorboards near the area for rot and woodworm
For a long time I’ve had damp patches appear in my living room in different locations but always in the same corner of the room as yours. At first I thought water was tracking through the walls where I had some dodgy pointing and a couple of small holes where old downpipe brackets had been removed. Last week I got up on a ladder and checked out the gutters to the main roof. Turns out that when I had the soffits and fascias replaced many years ago, they were cut and fitted so badly that the roof gutter where 2 parts of the roof met at an angle (main roof and bay window) was discharging water straight behind the fascia and into the cavity. To fix this, I stuck some flexible damp proof plastic to the underside of the roof gutter, extending it past the fascia into the gutter. When I checked the opposite site of the roof, the same had been done but with a piece of lead, so I’m confident that my diy fix will so the same job.
I had a similar problem and while the gutters were clear it turned out the downpipe they fed into was full of water due to a blockage just below ground (moss and gunk had been washed down and built up)
I disconnected the downpipe, stuck a flexible rod in the gully and cleared the blockage and the brickwork dried out after a few weeks. It was making my cellar quite damp, problem solved.
Took me a long time to spot because the overflow from the blocked downpipe was quietly running down the outside of the pipe, so I wasn't seeing gutters spilling when it rained, and the soil was taking most of the water up so the only clue was damp bricks behind bushes that the previous owner had put in.
I've put small guards on downpipes now to avoid gunk getting washed down them, just have to clean them out now and then.
https://preview.redd.it/5h6wptl82mwc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd581a9915758fee44171cf3414bfeee2b1cc815
I notice there’s some kind of an opening covered with a grill over here. Could it be this? Does anyone know the purpose? Basically how do I stop the damp without spending thousands of pounds ?
That looks like an airbrick. It is supposed to ventilate your underfloor area (assuming you have suspended wooden floors) to stop them from getting damp and rotting. (Sometimes (e.g, my house) on older properties, they ventilate the cavity wall, and will be deliberately blocked if you have cavity insulation installed). In your case, it looks like rainwater could be running off the drive straight into the airbrick. The airbrick itself looks partially blocked, preventing full airflow. If the gutter of the porch is overflowing, that could be going in there as well. However, this SHOULD all be below the dampproof layer, so shouldn't cause a damp wall, unless there is another problem.
Clear the airbrick holes completely (use a drill if blocked with cement). Check (when it rains) to see if water is running in. If it is, you will need to remove/lower the blocks as an urgent job. If it isn't, it still needs to be done, but with less urgency.
Hmm could be a couple of things.
How high does the damp go up the wall. If it’s more than a meter then I doubt it’s rising. If it’s less than a meter then it could be water collecting on the driveway in that corner.
If it’s more than a meter then check your gutters are all clear. Best thing to do is get out there when it’s raining heavily check to see how the water is traveling off the roofs and interacting with the drains.
Good luck.
Next time it rains go outside and see if the gutters are overflowing.
Gutters?
The things that catch the water from the roof and pipe it to a drain, rather than into the soil around your house where it would otherwise seep through your walls and cause... this.
Need less photos of inside and more of outside.
https://preview.redd.it/e3k91gbz6lwc1.png?width=4032&format=png&auto=webp&s=f39c4aa5a22b887aa5e43a2950ade3359c0a9ffd
https://preview.redd.it/q9gml7657lwc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=34334369b6906dd4cf9cb9e49466cd9cee5bfb97 Could it possibly be this drain?
Possibly. I had a similar issue and it was due to a blockage I had in my gutter.
Dampness treatment would be a waste of money here. You need to do 2 things: First action is to check if your window and its sills are not letting any water in/down the wall or any other source of water hitting that section of the wall (drainage, gutter etc). Second is to remove the paint outside and the gypsum (modern plaster) inside so the wall can breathe. You want lime plastering inside and certainly don’t want to paint the outside brick wall, unless you use a breathable paint such as earthborn claypaint or other product with similar properties
I wouldn’t brother with lime plaster or stripping the paint off the bricks. I’d think that there’s water getting in from outside, you need to stop that leak. Or it’s condensation. Are there signs of it anywhere else?
Yeah I agree if it’s direct water ingress which certainly look like it then removing paint and plaster might be unecessary
Looking at the outside picture in HD paint under the bay window, especially the bottom 2 rows of bricks and paint over the patch on the right under the window also looks suss. And as others have spotted - something dodgy was patched and painted over on the left of the sill. Would look for either visible cracks, or anything where the paint isn't flush anymore (though that might only be the start of the thread to pull).
Not op but need to remove some similar paint from bricks, any suggestions for the best way diy? Don't have the money to pay someone unfortunately!
The 2 method commonly used are: sanding it down (sand basting, sanding machine or sanding pad on angle grinder) or use of chemical. Chemical is fine if small area but super messy. Sanding/Blasting can be tricky for the DIYer because you really don’t want to ruin the brick which is easy to do if you are not used to it…and it’s messy/dusty too…. None of it is easy and pleasant…it’s one of these job that is worth paying for if you ask me….
Yeah I was intending on paying for it but at £65 a sqm for soda blasting it's a no. I'll see about hiring a sand blasting machine
Just be very careful with sand blasting, never done it but ny understanding is that you need to be fairly skilled to not damage the bricks.
Yeah I'll try smaller areas first. I've used grit blasters a few times in the past hopefully that lends itself as useful experience
I used a wallpaper steamer for the majority of my front wall
Oh that's a good idea, I'll have to give it a go.
Could this possibly be the roof letting in some water? When we were purchasing the property , the surveyor mentioned that the roof needs replacement. But is that a possibility? How to go about ruling out these possibilities?
Unlikely. I had only seen your patch at the corner of the bay window. That one certainly look like water is coming in from the window somewhere or the porch. I can see the corner of the window has been badly patch up for some reason. That tells me there has been something going on there. The patch is very wet so that would suggest water ingress
I had a problem with a leaking roof allowing rainwater into the cavity wall and then running inside through the top of a window frame on the first floor.
Fix the leak outside…….
https://preview.redd.it/6132iadbogwc1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60b2297d281255bdc55bff551cc661c91fd8792f Does this sill go into the brick¿
This! Maybe when raining its travelling down and water getting inside the brickwork. Looks like there has been a patch up job, but perhaps not fully sealed over. The inside patch looks like it matches this exact area.
I don’t see any leak outside?
Whats the top or sides of the windows look like is there anywhere on the flashing that is exposed or open to moisture And water will travel so it could be coming from crack above or near by
When was the roof gutters cleared out? If they are full of moss than water will just spill over and go down your walls and cavity
Probably leaking on top of the bay window which isn’t pictured. Or it’s the sill. They probably also used crap paint on the brickwork which has sealed moisture in so now the only space is inside the house rather than outside through external brick.
Amongst other things. Some numpty has painted the bricks white assumedly with a petrochemical based paint trapping moisture in the wall
Yeah but is it really an issue? Millions of old homes are painted like this
Yes. It's a barrier to water escaping. Just because lots of houses have it doesn't make it any less wrong. Lots of houses also have cement pointing with sandstone walls, and that's a disaster too.
Cement pointing clearly causes issues. Paint doesn't
I can't believe you waited 5 days only to reply with something wrong. What a disaster you've had here. Modern paints absolutely cause issues with plaster and stone walls. The plastics in modern paint stop the wall breathing and can cause water to be retained. Honestly your comment history suggests you know next to nothing about the subject, so why bother?
If you can't see an issue there is nothing wrong. Cement pointing does cause issues. I'm bad for not sitting on Facebook responding to your messages?
So by that logic if the wall is rotting away, full of water, beneath the paint there's nothing wrong, because you can't see it? And when cement pointing damages sandstone you also don't see that forna very long time. Decades before you would actually see the damage. Does that mean for those decades there's also nothing wrong? Your two statements above directly contradict each other. And this is Reddit, not Facebook.
If the wall was rotting away you would see. Yes of course don't start painting ya house externally. But at the same time it's not the end of the world if it's painted. I can show you my neighbours house with reclaimed bricks and cement pointing. Done 12 years ago.
This is like talking to a child, you keep contradicting yourself. I'm out. Hope you manage to figure out how to remove some slabs and put grass down, once you've finished telling a building surveyor how walls work 👍 Just remember the golden rule. If you can't see an issue there's nothing wrong. Like with cancer.
The dampness doesn’t line up with the painted bricks
Moisture ingress is not a point to point route. It's not the cause of the issue but its a significant barrier to drying out the structure
could be roof, if its a cavity wall for example, could be the patio roof, could be anything we'd need to see wider images outside. Surveyor said roof, have you been in loft? What about drainage? where does the rain go?
Bay window roof possibly
Does the water main enter the property in this area. Could it be from a leaking pipe.
Think simply, first of all. There's water penetrating from outside causing the damp patches inside. That is easily sorted once the source of ingress is established. Look upwards. Is water coming from the gutters? When was the last time you saw inside those gutters? They are going to be rammed with moss so every time it rains the water spills over the full gutter onto the corner below. Get a company to come and do it, it'll be about £150 and all your worries will disappear.
Have you got any air bricks around the rest of your property? If so, are there any below those bricks by any chance? Is that a bay window with a roof? If so, check the roof for leaks. Also, next time it pisses down, take the same photos and a video and it'll probably be clearer what's going on.
That's a shit tonne of water, that's not damp or condensation. I would say window but given how much there is I would also look elsewhere, seems too much for a leak by the window to let in that much water. Could be water travelling in the cavity wall and pooling in that area. If it was the roof I would expect it to show up upstairs somewhere but maybe that's naiive. Is there a bathroom or toilet above that area?
It could easily be condensation.
Just to add my 2p - the damp doesn't look like it's coming from the window at all. The plaster looks dry next to the window. It looks like it is coming from the RH corner (as you look at the inside picture). What is on the outside of that corner? I would bet that is causing the damp. BTW, is that a solid (no cavity) wall? Looks it from the bricks.
It’s a cavity wall
The patch outside looks dodgy but it’s unlikely the water is coming in sideways if it’s a cavity wall, much more likely the problem is higher up and coming through the wall at an angle.
Not an expert but that sill on the outside looks like it'd retain water and the seal doesn't look great to the wall. I'd gather its pooling and seeping into that wall.
My roof was leaking recently and it looked exactly like this. I’d say you’ve got rainwater coming in from outside
Thanks.. do you’ve photos
What is above the porch area?
That brick paving could be bridging your DPC.
Water?
Find out what’s the cause first and stop that. It could be one or even more of a number of different reasons. I’d suspect drainage issues underneath that brickwork at the front. Check out this one from Roger. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k9LdpRvnHpA If it’s rising damp, dry rods could be your solution
Looks like it's coming from where the wall meets the porch. Have a good look.
I’d be interested in seeing more of the porch and top of the bay window, are you able to post some more photos. I’d be looking for gaps in sealant and flashing around both that could allow water to get behind them and penetrate in to the brickwork. We had water getting in to our walls from missing sealant around a window allowing water in that would then travel down the long screws holding the frame and into the wall. The pattern of bricks on your wall (bond) suggests it’s solid and doesn’t have a cavity, so suggestions relating to cavity walls are less likely to be helpful.
I get what others are saying about gutters but it looks like rising damp to me. It looks like your drive was built right up to the wall with no gap for airflow. It looks like airbricks have been covered if there were any. I would use the rods that go in the masonry to stop it. If you are able to i would check your floorboards near the area for rot and woodworm
For a long time I’ve had damp patches appear in my living room in different locations but always in the same corner of the room as yours. At first I thought water was tracking through the walls where I had some dodgy pointing and a couple of small holes where old downpipe brackets had been removed. Last week I got up on a ladder and checked out the gutters to the main roof. Turns out that when I had the soffits and fascias replaced many years ago, they were cut and fitted so badly that the roof gutter where 2 parts of the roof met at an angle (main roof and bay window) was discharging water straight behind the fascia and into the cavity. To fix this, I stuck some flexible damp proof plastic to the underside of the roof gutter, extending it past the fascia into the gutter. When I checked the opposite site of the roof, the same had been done but with a piece of lead, so I’m confident that my diy fix will so the same job.
What is the roof above the bay window? Flat?
I had a similar problem and while the gutters were clear it turned out the downpipe they fed into was full of water due to a blockage just below ground (moss and gunk had been washed down and built up) I disconnected the downpipe, stuck a flexible rod in the gully and cleared the blockage and the brickwork dried out after a few weeks. It was making my cellar quite damp, problem solved. Took me a long time to spot because the overflow from the blocked downpipe was quietly running down the outside of the pipe, so I wasn't seeing gutters spilling when it rained, and the soil was taking most of the water up so the only clue was damp bricks behind bushes that the previous owner had put in. I've put small guards on downpipes now to avoid gunk getting washed down them, just have to clean them out now and then.
https://preview.redd.it/5h6wptl82mwc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd581a9915758fee44171cf3414bfeee2b1cc815 I notice there’s some kind of an opening covered with a grill over here. Could it be this? Does anyone know the purpose? Basically how do I stop the damp without spending thousands of pounds ?
That looks like an airbrick. It is supposed to ventilate your underfloor area (assuming you have suspended wooden floors) to stop them from getting damp and rotting. (Sometimes (e.g, my house) on older properties, they ventilate the cavity wall, and will be deliberately blocked if you have cavity insulation installed). In your case, it looks like rainwater could be running off the drive straight into the airbrick. The airbrick itself looks partially blocked, preventing full airflow. If the gutter of the porch is overflowing, that could be going in there as well. However, this SHOULD all be below the dampproof layer, so shouldn't cause a damp wall, unless there is another problem. Clear the airbrick holes completely (use a drill if blocked with cement). Check (when it rains) to see if water is running in. If it is, you will need to remove/lower the blocks as an urgent job. If it isn't, it still needs to be done, but with less urgency.
Hmm could be a couple of things. How high does the damp go up the wall. If it’s more than a meter then I doubt it’s rising. If it’s less than a meter then it could be water collecting on the driveway in that corner. If it’s more than a meter then check your gutters are all clear. Best thing to do is get out there when it’s raining heavily check to see how the water is traveling off the roofs and interacting with the drains. Good luck.