Damp in old farm house

[renewablejohn]

Ours is an old stone cottage, 4' walls, no damp course, no foundations, stone flags laid straight on the soil. We run a multi fuel stove and in the really cold weather we light the open fire in the bedroom. We keep the vents open on the windows, have natural underlay and carpets to help with the damp in the floors. We run a huge dehumidifier as well. We also lowered the ground level around the cottage. We try to work with the age of the house, use it the way it was built! Apart from having double glazing everything else is as it was built. That way we've managed to get rid of a pond in the middle of the sitting room, mushrooms under the beds and no longer have the wallpaper hung by staples! It's a waste of time trying to fight it and make it modern!

You can still use traditional methods to turn a draughty fridge into a comfortable home.

 

[Sir loin]

Wow thanks for all your replies a lot of food for thought there will now have to rethink how to move forward.

 

[phillipe]

Come to our house and I will show you the difference between lime mortar and cement mortar. The Barn next door was only renovated about 25 years ago with cement mortar and already the sandstone is shattering very badly and we have not had any really hard frosts recently. Upto the renovation the sandstone was in good condition.
As for drafts where trying to seal up as much as possible with 3G windows, Swedish doors, external fire vents but compensated by a MVHR system (with pollen filter)

Do the job properly ,you will find the barn conversion next door the cement is quite strong and pulling the face off yhe stone ,also a lot of people cannot afford the many very expensive systems that you seem to have ,which is fine but you seem to have spent many thosands on very expesive systems for your house ,which is your prerogative

 

[phillipe]

Come to our house and I will show you the difference between lime mortar and cement mortar. The Barn next door was only renovated about 25 years ago with cement mortar and already the sandstone is shattering very badly and we have not had any really hard frosts recently. Upto the renovation the sandstone was in good condition.
As for drafts where trying to seal up as much as possible with 3G windows, Swedish doors, external fire vents but compensated by a MVHR system (with pollen filter)

I can also show you many houses that have been pointed with sand and cement and are still good after many years

 

[Bruce Almighty]

My house used to be cold & damp. Wall paper falling off in front room, plaster falling off in office. Wife constantly moaning
I asked all sorts of questions about rising damp etc in my attempt to solve the problems.

Then in 2013 we fitted a biomass boiler & district heating system - no damp & hot house. Wife complains it's too hot !
The damp was simply condensation from cold rooms - nothing to do with water through the walls etc

 

[bobk]

Best solution with an old cold damp farmhouse is to sell to it to some overpaid knob in the city ........... we did

 

[bobk]

I can also show you many houses that have been pointed with sand and cement and are still good after many years

Indeed , we did 6 conversions and the key is the mortar has to be weaker than the brick

 

[renewablejohn]

Do the job properly ,you will find the barn conversion next door the cement is quite strong and pulling the face off yhe stone ,also a lot of people cannot afford the many very expensive systems that you seem to have ,which is fine but you seem to have spent many thosands on very expesive systems for your house ,which is your prerogative

If only that where true. I am actually quite a skinflint. By putting the 3G windows direct into the stone mullions I saved so much that it paid for the MVHR units and the higher spec Swedish doors. As for Lime Mortar and Lime Plaster its no more expensive then cement and thistle plasters and once you get used to it I find Lime far easier to work with as its more forgiving.
As for the stone the cement is creating pools at the base of the stone which freezes and then shatters. The more it shatters the bigger the pool and the process continues. Thankfully its not my house.

 

[renewablejohn]

Indeed , we did 6 conversions and the key is the mortar has to be weaker than the brick

Brick is not sandstone.

 

[bobk]

Brick is not sandstone.

Our bricks are very soft . sandstone based .

 

[Chasingmytail]

run some French drains around the perimeter to take away run off. Check that no natural springs are close by. We did have water springing up in the centre of the house. Also agree check chimney pointing. Our walls in the farmhouse under renovation are 1m thick.