Damp proofing an old barn

Kildafornia

Hi lads, I have an old barn that I would like to use for woodworking etc (strictly a hobbyist). The walls are hand built stone, lime mortar, and I dont know if there were any damp proofing measures built in. The walls are in great condition, but could be 100 years old.

My plan was to dig out the muck, spread some 804 and compact it, add a layer of DPC, and pour a concrete floor to go right up against the walls. I'm worried that the DPC will just push the moisture against the old walls and damage them.

I could leave out the dpc altogether but the. My machines will probably rust away. Any advice?

BarryD

Is it basically dry inside? Is the roof in good condition? If so, the new floor sounds reasonable and should be fine. The roof should have no leaks and there should be adequate eaves/ guttering etc to shed the rainwater away from the walls. The walls themselves would need to be basically sound, if the rain drives onto one side, look at the inside - does it penetrate through? If it does, then you might or might not consider a coat of render on the outside. After that, water can & will get in around openings - windows and doors etc., if they are not sound.

Rising damp in walls is only an issue for a few feet and likely irrelevant for a work shed. Where problems can arise in my experience in our workshed is just lack of heat and moisture naturally in the air. You'd get a bit of rust on chisels etc. but not a problem otherwise with anything else.

Putting in a power supply is a different set of issues. Depending on what equipment you might want to use, think this through.

Trust this helps.

Kildafornia

BarryD wrote: »

Trust this helps.

It does indeed, cheers