Efflorescence on plaster

L

LHewitt4

New Member
Ok so I’ve been doing a ton of research on this subject and found two different answers. I have just moved into a house I’ve just bought and there was suspected rising damp.... There was no obvious damp or mould on plaster just the salts on top of finished paint surface and causing paint flake. This is on lower levels on 3 walls. Two other walls had a terrible plastering job on them so peeled them back. One has the browning behind and solid and intact but before I took plaster skim off salts came through that wall. The second I have completely took back to brick because it was the wall on the back of the bathroom and I’m suspecting leaking water from bathroom before new bathroom was refitted to sell. Bricks on that wall are bone dry and no leaks obvious anymore...

Now with the salt issue I’m going to try neutralising it with acid and surfactant mix and see if that fixes it in the good walls... but in regards to the walls that now need plastering again, is this limelite brand just a con? Is there a simpler way to plaster the bare brick wall and over the browning whilst also letting the wall ‘breathe’. I am in no way a plasterer by trade and don’t know much about this. Someone said use limlite and another said would be ok just doing a sand and cement mix onto brick and then dab and finish...
I’d like to know what the best system would be or what I can do to prevent salts and damp getting through my finished walls. Thanks
 
Tons of research eh?
Salts do not go through walls but come out of them
Damp does not go through a wall but is more rather water wrongly present slash trapped there
You have not had any bites today the fish seem uninterested. I have newbie compassion still so knocking you back up the list....
If you sand and cement then no need to dot and dab???
Limelite is not a con??
There is more than one way to skim a cat - yes - skim a cat I said
Where you based?
You may get a lead here of an experienced pro which is what you need and I’m not that myself x
Best
 
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Thanks for the reply. I’ve just been reading loads online and only from what I’ve found it just seems there is always two different answers... either the side that says rising damp is a load of s**t or that I’d need DPC putting in etc.

Like I said I don’t know a lot at all, hell, I most probably don’t know jack s**t on the matter lol but that’s why I wanted to discuss it here and see what peoples opinions are. I’ve got no damp walls, just the quarry tiles a bit damp when I removed laminate. Brick wall feels and looks bone dry but the other walls with efflorescence have no damp or mould just salts on top of paint surface.
I live in New Arley, Coventry. I’d appreciate if there is anyone in here that could help who is local :)
 
Tinytom said:
In my experience the salt comes out after damp has stopped or when it dries out
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I’m hoping so. The roof has now been repaired anyway so ridges have all been pointed and chimney. No signs of penetrating damp there. I do plan on digging out a french drain at front of house though too to preven any damp running toward house as garden slopes toward it. The question is do I need breathable lime plaster or could it just be plastered as normal with board and skim on top of a sand and cement mix? Theres No signs of moisture or damp on bricks or browning.
 

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Previously it was board dabbed straight onto that brick wall as you can probably tell. Would there be any benefit to putting a sand cement mix over the brick first?
 
Damp proofing for what I can tell is a quick fix and usually just paints over the cracks.
Often a chain of events leading to issues and you have to go back along the timeline of your property to discover where it went wrong. Some will just be age related decay, some will be wrong approach and materials, some just down to modern living.

If all the obvious stuff has been checked like down pipes, cracked gully’s/blocked drains, blocked air vents, gaps around windows, things screwed into the wall externally, then check and rectify ground levels and add drains if needed.

if you’ve got quarry tiles on the floor, then chances are, there will be nothing more than ash/dirt under them, so a cold floor, which is why you’ve got condensation when you lifted the laminate. This would naturally be vented without.

You’d be better off sorting this out, if you’ve done everything else , so get digging :coffe:
 
Thanks for the reply! That makes a lot of sense to me as been reading how to put in a french drain this morning. Time to get me boots on then and grab a shovel haha. Hopefully that cures the problem by redirecting the rain away from the house. All guttering is working as it should and been cleared of gunk. Its a mid terrace house and have no problems at the back of the house where kitchen is. Wish me luck
 
LHewitt4 said:
Thanks for the reply! That makes a lot of sense to me as been reading how to put in a french drain this morning. Time to get me boots on then and grab a shovel haha. Hopefully that cures the problem by redirecting the rain away from the house. All guttering is working as it should and been cleared of gunk. Its a mid terrace house and have no problems at the back of the house where kitchen is. Wish me luck
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Take my house I’m doing up as an example.

Obvious damp issues when I bought it. It had been ‘damp proofed’ at some time, injected dpc, damp proof plaster added a metre all round, new floor joists and boards. All rotten 20 yrs later. All very well and good, but they never stopped the water coming in under the floor, so for a good proportion of the year, water lying and causing condensation. The joists and floor boards were always soaking wet underneath. Skirtings and door frames rotting at the bottom.

You can read all about it in the Crispy house diary, except you can’t cus it’s in the private members section and you’re just a member! :coffe:
 
ChrispyUK said:
Take my house I’m doing up as an example.

Obvious damp issues when I bought it. It had been ‘damp proofed’ at some time, injected dpc, damp proof plaster added a metre all round, new floor joists and boards. All rotten 20 yrs later. All very well and good, but they never stopped the water coming in under the floor, so for a good proportion of the year, water lying and causing condensation. The joists and floor boards were always soaking wet underneath. Skirtings and door frames rotting at the bottom.

You can read all about it in the Crispy house diary, except you can’t cus it’s in the private members section and you’re just a member! :coffe:
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It's there anyway I can take a look at this diary? It would help out a lot RN.
 
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