rising damp in shed

f140

have a farm rented from a neighbour. all the buildings are fine except the one where I park the tractor. It was built at the end of the 70s/ early 80s. It is a lean too shed. It has 9inch cavity blocks and then a galvanised roof and the floor is also concrete. The walls are plastered as well


it has rising damp. when the weather is damp the shed becomes damp and everything becomes wet. The tractor and everything becomes all damp. I suspect the farmer never put down damp proof course when building. Its the farmers son has it now and hes doesn't know a bit so no good asking him.


Is there any cheap solutions? don't want to be spending any money really on it as it is just rented. anything you could paint on that can prevent dampness etc?

BryanF

Create some form of venting Louvres to allow for cross ventilation

f140

BryanF wrote: »

Create some form of venting Louvres to allow for cross ventilation

there is a section on one side 10ft by 8ft that is open

Odelay

Is the outside ground higher than the floor of the shed along any of the walls?

f140

Odelay wrote: »

Is the outside ground higher than the floor of the shed along any of the walls?

yes but theres another concrete slab behind it and to the sides. shed slopes down slightly

BryanF

f140 wrote: »

there is a section on one side 10ft by 8ft that is open

Create the same on the other side.

Odelay

f140 wrote: »

yes but theres another concrete slab behind it and to the sides. shed slopes down slightly

I'd say that is the source of your problems, the higher ground outside. I'm no expert but think it will be expensive to sort. If it was just earth outside I'd have suggested excavating a trench.

I'm guessing no gutters either? Where does the water from the roof go?

f140

update - I was a bit mistaken. I thought there it was built up against a bank at the back but it isn't. theres a small slope in the shed but there isn't a bank of earth at the back.


there is a shoot at the side to take the rain.


was watching it again today and it was bone dry this morning and as the weather got softer today, I could see the damp coming through again. As I said the outside is built of 9 inch cavity blocks and both inside and outside are plastered. could it be bad plaster and absorbing water from the rain causing dampness inside? anything to paint onto the walls. the outside of the walls had this dirty damp looking colour today when damp.


so to sum up. all walls and concrete floor are getting damp. it is a lean too shed and the wall which connects the lean to to the original shed is dry in the shed on the original side but damp on the side of the lean too inside.

Safehands

f140 wrote: »

update - I was a bit mistaken. I thought there it was built up against a bank at the back but it isn't. theres a small slope in the shed but there isn't a bank of earth at the back. there is a shoot at the side to take the rain.
was watching it again today and it was bone dry this morning and as the weather got softer today, I could see the damp coming through again. As I said the outside is built of 9 inch cavity blocks and both inside and outside are plastered. could it be bad plaster and absorbing water from the rain causing dampness inside? anything to paint onto the walls. the outside of the walls had this dirty damp looking colour today when damp.
so to sum up. all walls and concrete floor are getting damp. it is a lean too shed and the wall which connects the lean to to the original shed is dry in the shed on the original side but damp on the side of the lean too inside.

I assume that if the rain is coming from the east, the walls on that side get wet and show signs of damp. Will the other walls and floor be wet also? Is there water coming from the roof? I don't think this is rising damp.

f140

Safehands wrote: »

I assume that if the rain is coming from the east, the walls on that side get wet and show signs of damp. Will the other walls and floor be wet also? Is there water coming from the roof? I don't think this is rising damp.

yes floor and all walls wet. definitely not coming from the roof. that is bone dry. the walls that get badly hit by the weather are normally south and west.


could it be coming through the plaster? bad plaster absorbing rain?

Calahonda52

This is hard to follow as your op title says rising damp but u dont tell how the shed walls and floor get damp.
Is it top down, or from bottom up?
All 4 walls together?
How far up or down?
Does the rainwater from shute get carried away in a drain.
Is the ground outside higher all around
My guess is that the water table is so high that the water collects under the shed floor and rises up the walls.
Forget about painting.
If u explain a bit more we can suggest some ideas.
One idea is to line the floor and up the walls with heavy duty plastic, with minimum of 450 mm overlap andjointts taped and pour another concrete slab

f140

Calahonda52 wrote: »

This is hard to follow as your op title says rising damp but u dont tell how the shed walls and floor get damp.
Is it top down, or from bottom up?
All 4 walls together?
How far up or down?
Does the rainwater from shute get carried away in a drain.
Is the ground outside higher all around
My guess is that the water table is so high that the water collects under the shed floor and rises up the walls.
Forget about painting.
If u explain a bit more we can suggest some ideas.
One idea is to line the floor and up the walls with heavy duty plastic, with minimum of 450 mm overlap andjointts taped and pour another concrete slab

in hind sight didn't give it the right title.
it hard to tell if it comes in from the top bottom etc as it just all seems to get damp evenly and eventually very damp. you don't see damp at one side and the otherside damp but instead an even coat of damp.


the rainwater goes down a down pipe and runs downwards so wouldn't be affecting it.


the ground outside gets higher at the back only but there is a much bigger drop about 60 feet below shed if you can understand.


there is the original shed and this is a lean too onto it. original shed remains bone dry but lean to gets damp. the lean to is where the problem is.


you could park a tractor inside lean to and damp would rise up the wheels and cab of tractor etc.


its hard to imagine any water collects as there wasn't much rain the last few weeks yet we got a small amount of rain today and it got damp fast.

f140

anyone with more advice?

Safehands

f140 wrote: »

in hind sight didn't give it the right title.
it hard to tell if it comes in from the top bottom etc as it just all seems to get damp evenly and eventually very damp. you don't see damp at one side and the otherside damp but instead an even coat of damp.
the rainwater goes down a down pipe and runs downwards so wouldn't be affecting it.
the ground outside gets higher at the back only but there is a much bigger drop about 60 feet below shed if you can understand.
there is the original shed and this is a lean too onto it. original shed remains bone dry but lean to gets damp. the lean to is where the problem is.
you could park a tractor inside lean to and damp would rise up the wheels and cab of tractor etc.
its hard to imagine any water collects as there wasn't much rain the last few weeks yet we got a small amount of rain today and it got damp fast.

I don't think you are explaining it very well. You say that 'damp' rises up the wheels of a tractor. Is this water or is it damp ie; condensation. I'm confused!

f140

bit of an update.


there was a big amount of rain the last few days with floods almost in fields for a bit. the shed stayed bone dry for this. the weather was just pure rain and it wasn't that dampy type weather.


it seems only when weather is dampish outside/ windy rain that it effects it. thoughts?

Kevin McCloud

Sounds like condensation to me that is on the tractor, it being steel.

jack of all

You have condensation issues due to poor ventilation/ lack of airflow through the shed.

f140

jack of all wrote: »

You have condensation issues due to poor ventilation/ lack of airflow through the shed.

after doing some reading, yes it looks like condensation is the problem. any ways now to try and get rid of this problem/ slacken it.


if I covered the open space, I presume it wouldn't make a difference and that condensation would still occur. if I took a sheet off at the other side would it make much of a difference. walls are going up about seven feet and sheets then continue up to the roof.