Damp in house

pavb2

Hi all

Our house is an old stone cottage about 150 years old, there's always been a smell of damp about the place but no noticeable damp spots so I assume the damp/smell is coming through the floors and not the walls. The floors are concrete with ceramic tiles on top.

I don't think there is a damp proof course, the outside is field stone the internal walls are dry lined.

So what I would like to know is how do I go about getting rid of the smell? Picture attached the rendered walls are new build.

Any help appreciated.

Calahonda52

Whats the rest of the old wall construction: they look pretty thick.

Did you have the D/L done?.

How was it done?

Was the smell there before the D/L?

dathi

pavb2 wrote: »

Hi all

Our house is an old stone cottage about 150 years old, there's always been a smell of damp about the place but no noticeable damp spots so I assume the damp/smell is coming through the floors and not the walls. The floors are concrete with ceramic tiles on top.

I don't think there is a damp proof course, the outside is field stone the internal walls are dry lined.

So what I would like to know is how do I go about getting rid of the smell? Picture attached the rendered walls are new build.

Any help appreciated.

you have no ventilation in walls/ windows

Metric Tensor

Ventilation, as mentioned above, is probably the primary item.

As a matter of interest have you any pictures of the house from yesteryear? A lot of "stone" houses like that one were actually rendered with a lime render in their youth and untold damage is being caused to houses up and down the country by people exposing the stone for aesthetics.

I'm not saying yours was because I don't know enough about it - just commenting generally.

P.S. Have you opened up to see what's going on behind the dry-lining. Stone walls need to be treated carefully - you can't just whack a dry lining board on the with carefully considering the ventilation and dew point aspects.

pavb2

Thanks all

We always have windows open for ventilation even in winter.

Even though I don't have pictures I don't think the stone was ever rendered it has always been exposed.

The musty smell was there before we did the dry lining, the builder if I remember correctly used a foil backed type of insulation in the cavity.

From the comments is it more likely to be the walls rather than the floor?

BryanF

pavb2 wrote: »

From the comments is it more likely to be the walls rather than the floor?

typically the rising walls & floor are both the cause

If you search 'old stone walls' or damp old house' (or similar phrases) in the boards search tab you'll see posts about rising damp and French drains, breathable wall construction, remedial damp proof courses etc.

This is not something you'll solve by looking at the floors in isolation - but start by getting a damp meter ~€50 and figure out what's damp - this will help detect where the smell is coming from.

Calahonda52

Whats the rest of the old wall construction? they look pretty thick.

When the new work was done what was seen when merging with existing floor?

How exposed is the site to driving rain?

My guess is the D/L project compounded the problem so you might consider some form of DVC or similar to have a content replenishment of free air with, perhaps some form of heat recovery, plenty on this site about this.
Do you have extractor fans in bathrooms and extractor hood over stove/cooker?
Do you dry clothes internally in the house?
etc

see here as example
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057606931
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057621132