Advice on crumbling wall/peeling paint

mountaincottage

Hi, we bought a small 1950s council-built cottage in 2020. The walls have some damp that we're hoping to fix as soon as we can afford it but we are having issues with peeling paint in the bedroom. The wall surface is powdery and a bit crumbly underneath and the paint is peeling away in chunks. Only happening in one room.

The previous owner painted the rooms before selling and we suspect the wall wasn't properly prepared.

Can we skim this wall and repaint it ourselves? We're on an extremely tight budget right now.

Any advice on this or product recommendations would be appreciated.

C. Eastwood

mountaincottage

The paint is being pushed off the wall by Efflorescent Salts which is caused by dampness.

The dampness could be caused by either or both Rising Dampness or Ingress of Rainwater. (or leaking underground pipes).

Do not plaster or skim these walls, until the dampness problem is solved.

It must be solved.

Brush off the salts and provide ventilation.

The same thing will reoccur

Is this an external wall. If it is an internal then it’s cause by Rising Dampness. Is it in this location only.

Is there ingress of Rainwater

Is it rising dampness

photos of outside please.

mountaincottage

Hi C. Eastwood, thanks for your post.

It is an external wall, outside looks normal but I know there is rising damp in parts from other work we had carried out in another part of the house (drilling into them near ground level for a cable). This is the only room with the peeling though.

Unfortunately the cottage has no vents, we're planning to put those in when we get external insulation (walls are solid stone, around 1.5 feet thick). Currently looking at grants.

We are looking into getting damp course injection done (looking at pricing, single storey rectangular cottage of 81sqm so hopefully won't be too costly).

If we get this done will this stop the current issue you think?

Thanks

C. Eastwood

mountaincottage

It is many years since I supervised damp proofing problems in a stone wall.

So I imagine that there is more modern systems now.

I did use electro-osmotic damp-proofing on 2 houses and it worked perfectly.

Stone walls are very different depending on the locality and the local Stone Masons. Different size stones and some joints in the wall not filled with Lime Mortar.

Research and contact Companies who do electro-osmotic damp-proofing. Get a few of them to call and survey the house and give you advice and a quotation. Get them to confirm in writing that their electro-osmotic damp-proofing, will cure and prevent Rising Dampness in all the walls.

Remember these people are Salespersons, and only want to get a sale.

I would also try to have the external ground level at least approx 225 mm below the floor level.

Ensure that the gutters and down pipes are not contributing to the Water in the ground around the house.

In some situations, a 1000mm concrete footpath (poured tight against the external wall) and sloping out - may help to prevent SOME rainwaters getting in to the ground near the wall.

You cannot stop the soil near the external wall from getting wet.

A lot depends on the soakage in the ground near the house.

You must install a DPC in the wall to stop the rising damp.

You may also have ingress of rainwater through the wall. Seal All cracks.

mountaincottage

Brilliant! Thank you so much for the advice.

I will look in our region for electro-osmotic damp coursing. Thank you for that tip especially.