Wet weather affecting house?

We are having cracks appearing that have never been before due to the fact that the house has been added to over the years and has differing depths of foundations so different parts are reacting to and moving to the underlying sandstone differently.

Oh dear - we also have cracks appearing and like Brendawymms, our house is one that has been added to over the years.
I brought my summer clothes down from the attic yesterday. They were in those plastic storage bags that squish down in size. I've had to wash everything, as it all smelled damp. The roof lining felt damp, as did the wooden beams. Mr I says it's because we had it insulated a couple of years ago, but it feels more than condensation. It is raining here again today, the ground is sodden and it seems we'll have to get someone to have a look in the attic. More expense!

My friend has had water rising up through her floors, the ground by her is clay and just sodden. Her foundations have just acted like a reservoir.

That's interesting Janerowena it's clay soil where we are too.

I live in an Edwardian house and the rain has soaked through the brickwork in places in the attic and through one of the upstairs chimney breasts. My husband has just painted one of the bedrooms and it's already become stained, so will need to be done again.

Apparently if this is rising damp caused by the wettest winter in record the the insurance won't pay. Their get out clause ?? Naturally hidden at the back of the policy book ....wait for it.....' a gradually operating cause '

This from "Britain's most popular home insurance provider" offering 'quality cover'. I don't think so.

Have you got a damp course aka ?

Thanks for that cheerful note Aka about insurance and rising damp.
We also have heavy clay soil. It took about 10 years to improve the soil in the flower borders - we never thought about the foundations

Yes I have a damp course Jess but not on internal wall of course. I'm waiting for my builder (ha!) but in the meantime have ordered a damp meter.

Just when I was thinking it was an advantage to have solid concrete foundations!
I dislike them as they act like a cold block in the winter so our floors are always cold then.
The concrete rests on clay

Iam64 we have that problem too and the OG says it is because we are so well insulated.... this I find difficult to believe..... we didn't have the problem in Herts so I think it may be to do with being in the wetter west and thye way our roof is constructed (if the sparrows can get in, then the damp can!!!!)

having a gap is better really in terms of moisture ogm - suspect that is why floors with gaps underneath were invented. These days they put big polystyrene blocks under the floor to insulate as well.
How can insulation cause rising damp...?

I asked my friend, she says that the old house has been built on land that was level, but over the years it has sunk slightly down deeper into the ground, and they do have a stream running close to the house. So as the house has sunk slightly lower than its clay surround it has formed a slight hollow which gathers up all the excess water running off the land around it, and the stream probably doesn't help there... As she encouraged its route she is keeping a bit quiet on that issue! They are going to have to have a tile-lined French-style storm-drain trench dug all around the outside walls so that the water will drain off into the back garden, not all soak into the ground.

Well it will, but into a bigger soakaway further away.

DD's cloakroom has a floor lower than the suspended floor of the rest of the house and damp was a problem. She dug a French drain around it last summer and filled it with gravel and despite this winters excessive rains her cloakroom has stayed completely dry this winter.

Our problem is that our overhead electricity supply cable is 45 metres long and attached to the chimney of our house (not permitted these days). This winter the gales blowing the cable up and down has affected the stability of the chimney. We have damp in the bedrooms each side of the stack and are worried about ceilings (and chimney) collapsing. The only solution is laying an underground cable from the pole to the house. This requires an 45cm deep trench all the way down the garden, to the house, including taking up part of the patio and back filling after the new cable is laid.

We have had all the quotes in from our contractor and the electricity company and it is going cost us about £5,000. None of which is claimable on insurance because it is considered 'betterment' and the chimney repairs, normal maintenance.

Flickerty when your daughter dig the French drain, what did she tie the pipe into?

Her waste pipe from the loo rests on the gravel she filled the trench with. She made sure it was packed firmly under it so that it was well supported. You could also put a couple of bricks under it.

One of her other problems, arising from turning a coal hole into a cloakroom, which was done initially by a previous owner, is that the soil pipe is at quite a shallow depth and has a very flat run to the drains, which causes other problems. She is a dab hand at rodding drains.

Is she for hire?

I have first refusal!

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