damp in new house

D

damp

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Hi.
We have been in our new house a year and a half. Last friday we noticed a good-sized (about 80 cm high and 1 m wide) wet spot on our inside utility wall, in the corner (NE, from which the rain seems to have been coming recently?). Using a dehumidifier on it since then (more than 5 days now) has got rid of most of it but not all. Does anyone have any ideas on what could cause this, and more importantly how it might be fixed?
We have had no other wet problems, even though we're on a hill in the west, and we have been delighted with all the work done on our house and all the guys that did it (no cowboys, top-class work). But still, this is a worry. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks!
 
Yes and all groundworks done too--footpaths, draining, etc.
 
Any cracks in the plaster or guttering

Our Gable wasn't painted or dashed so we could see a visible wet patch
 
Hi everyone,

Thanks for replying to my post. Not painted yet, maybe that could be it? I'll check for cracks, etc. No pipes there that I know of.
 
What can sometimes happen is the outer row of blocks get damp and the dampeness travelling along a tie between 2 rows of blocks and the inner wall gets damp - this happened to my house recently - but the house is only built a few months - in your case if a tie was at fault, the problem should have arisen earlier
 
Hello all,

Yeah, the idea of a wall tie causing the damp (or maybe a lump of mortar) was mentioned to me by our groundworks guy. Maybe hadn't happened before because we don't often get heavy rain from that direction?

We are not Home Bond certified.

Thanks everyone!
 
I think your own assessment and the input from others has given you an idea as to what it could be. If you rule out pipes or extractor ducting through the wall then the problem has to be with water penetrating from the outer surface.

A dirty wall tie is the most likely cause and its not a major job to sort out either
 
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