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Garage Brickwork Issues


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Screw some thin battens vertically to the outside and cover with treated horizontal shiplap/wany edge boards. You will waterproof the wall, provide a cavity which will give a degree of insulation from heat and cold, will make the garage more visually appealing to your neighbour and with a trellis fixed to it will allow her plants to climb to their hearts content......

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As a Architect and without seeing the garage I would suggest the brick are not as water resistant as you would hope. If I am right in what I have read then there is no plant life actually attached to the wall therefore that would suggest that there is no reason that the plants are causing a problem. I would guess that the brick have become saturated or have become pourous.

I would suggest you get a liquid damp proof course injected into the whole wall it can be done very simply. A chemical damp proof course is absorbed into the wall over a band of say 300mm, in normal conditions, making a band 300mm high waterproof and stopping rising damp and is often installed in wet conditions. In this case the whole wall needs protection from driven rain.

An alternative to this would be a Sika render internally which is a tanking render system this is expensive and can only be undertaken by an approved contractor.

The chemical dpc can be simple gravity fed into the wall pm me for more info.

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I'd check roof/facia and then follow OF's suggestion but add 70mm ish insulation inbetween to keep garage toasty. If you get trapped under a fallen offcut of heavy duty carp for a few days you want to be nice and toasty :P

Will.

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.....but add 70mm ish insulation inbetween to keep garage toasty.....

Would also deaden the noise next time HFH maims himself thus preventing his neighbour from being offended by the colourful exlamations of wonder released by the gentle caress of BFH upon flesh.....

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This is something I did for a living for 15 years and in my opinion trying to inject a chemical DPC into a 1960's 4" brick wall would be completely ineffective and likely to make it worse. Firstly with a narrow wall and cement mortar it's very difficult to get any diffusion and secondly the siliconate is designed to coat the pores of the masonry, not block them. It's designed to prevent capillary action. You may remember from school about meniscuses, the siliconate reverses it.

On one training course I went just such a scenario was discussed, where A Company had injected a whole wall to prevent penetrating damp. The boffins considered opinion was that it promoted accelerated passage of water.

If you can't remove the source and can't do work from the outside then you need an internal barrier. What sort is up to you, you could use a plastic membrane or lath, or a brush applied cement or bitumen one. As I've said cement based tanking is cheap, easy to apply and very effective, you can even get it in white to give you a brighter workshop.

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This is something I did for a living for 15 years and in my opinion trying to inject a chemical DPC into a 1960's 4" brick wall would be completely ineffective and likely to make it worse. Firstly with a narrow wall and cement mortar it's very difficult to get any diffusion and secondly the siliconate is designed to coat the pores of the masonry, not block them. It's designed to prevent capillary action. You may remember from school about meniscuses, the siliconate reverses it.

On one training course I went just such a scenario was discussed, where A Company had injected a whole wall to prevent penetrating damp. The boffins considered opinion was that it promoted accelerated passage of water.

If you can't remove the source and can't do work from the outside then you need an internal barrier. What sort is up to you, you could use a plastic membrane or lath, or a brush applied cement or bitumen one. As I've said cement based tanking is cheap, easy to apply and very effective, you can even get it in white to give you a brighter workshop.

Steve

Interesting argument about capiliary attraction and have no reason to dispute what you say.

Bitumen finish or a tanking membrane in normal circumstances relies on a brickwork backing for protection requiring another skin of brick or block. The ship lap boarding or the Sika render therefore are probably my preferred solutions. Unless the whole structure was insulated then 70mm of insulation on one wall would have little effect as the heat losses in the rest of the building would be substantial. a bit like blocking up the 25% of the holes in a sieve.

My own garage is subtrainian and unfinished at the moment requiring the tanking membrane to be finished so it is a subject that I understand and am interested in.

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Would also deaden the noise next time HFH maims himself thus preventing his neighbour from being offended by the colourful exlamations of wonder released by the gentle caress of BFH upon flesh.....

Clearly I am not the only one thinking about what injuries could be incurred in the solving of this wee problem :P

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Would also deaden the noise next time HFH maims himself thus preventing his neighbour from being offended by the colourful exlamations of wonder released by the gentle caress of BFH upon flesh.....

When I read the title. I thought HFH had pulled the gaqrage down on himself...

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hi,as a builder, ( not bob bye the way) i would say for a structure this old, there is no damp course in, and if so it's likely it's been sucking all the moisture up aswell as rain hitting it, mortar most likely perished over the years, i would wait till we have a nice hot summer and when you think the brickwork is dry enough get it repointed at least halfinch deep and then seal it otherwise you will be trapping the damp in, is the brickwork biult on a slab or is a foundation, reason for asking you say floor is soaking, if it a slab and the ground level is higher outside then water is running across the slab, dd

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Sika render therefore are probably my preferred solutions.

My own garage is subtrainian and unfinished at the moment requiring the tanking membrane to be finished so it is a subject that I understand and am interested in.

Hi Simon, I beleive the Sika solution to be the same as Vandex/Thoroseal/The cheaper Permagard product I linked to, so I think we're recommending the same solution. :)

Sika prepack all elements of a system which leaves less margin for user error or the ability to charge more, depending on how cynical you are. I think in Nigel's situation he could just leave the tanking barrier uncovered as there is no significant hydrostatic pressure.

For domestic sub terrainian situations I really like the Newton lath system, where practical. If nothing else it's relatively easy to repair.

And to the OP, there will be no significant rising damp in an exposed 4" wall whether there is a damp course or not. It will evaporate before rising significantly.

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Nige

I run a basement building company, amongst other things!

We would fix a polyethylene membrane to the outside that has a lath attached to it (as mentioned above by others). The lath is essentially a mesh scaffold that you can render, allowing the render to stick/fix.

We use this in basements where space is minimal or where a dry lining solution is not possible.

We also insist on it where lightwells are in use below ground level. The membrane is fixed to the wall at 250mm centres using special plugs that are strong enough to carry the weight of the render, usually about 12mm thick made up of cement/lime/sand on a 1/1/6 proportion, applied in two coats.

The membrane is like a heavy-duty bubble wrap, so there is an air gap between it and the wall to allow any trapped moisture to evaporate. A vent strip is fitted at the bottom and top of the membrane to allow for the convection effect, keeping the wall dry.

The alternative is the internally applied waterproof slurry as recommended by others, but the wall will still be wet and susceptible to the elements and the further degradation so caused.

Hope this helps.

John

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