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General: Damp coming through brick wall

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    I've got damp coming through on my garage wall (showing up as efflorescence and stain on whitewash). The garage has been connected to the house so I'm more careful about air quality than I would be otherwise. The problem is, I can't figure out the cause! It's just over the area of a few bricks towards ground level - photos here: https://postimg.cc/gallery/ppG4jq2

    The floor is concrete, tanking slurry, SLC and vinyl. The tanking slurry runs up one course of bricks on this wall, so my best guess is the damp is soaking up from below. The external wall is covered in cladding, the photo with the yellow circle shows where the issue is on the outside, so no obvious cause of ingress from there.

    I'd appreciate thoughts on my guess. And if that is correct, any thoughts on how to keep the infill below the garage (it's built up a few metres at the deepest point as we're on a hill) more dry - some way to fit a drain?
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      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2025
     
    I take it there's no DPC in the wall? If it's possible to take off some of the cladding to look at the wall underneath, that might be helpful. I can't think of any other explanation for the damp patch; maybe somebody else can? What are the gas/water pipes nearby?

    It looks like it would be possible to lift some slabs near the wall, put a land drain in the bottom and backfill with gravel to form a French drain. I suppose another possibility would be to drill a load of holes into the brickwork and inject a DPC?
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2025
     
    Is it a cavity wall?
  4.  
    There's no DPC in the wall - it's double skinned brick with no cavity. There aren't any pipes there either (I had to redo that bit of floor so I dug down a fair way). If it is soaking up, I guess the question is where water is trapped, i.e. will it do to put a drain at the bottom of the infill area that the garage is built on, or would a French drain running off the garage do the job (I think the French drain would take more work)?
  5.  
    Was the damp there before you dug down to redo the floor ??
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2025
     
    Looking at the pics there appears to be some slight brown staining to the right side of the window at the junction of the cladding almost directly above where you've marked. Could driving rain, or water from above be seeping down the frame and between the cladding and the brickwork? Perhaps even pooling at the soil level.
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      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2025
     
    Posted By: DannySheffieldwill it do to put a drain at the bottom of the infill area that the garage is built on
    I'm sorry but I don't understand where the infill area is and where the natural slope of the hill is?
    • CommentAuthorGreenPaddy
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2025
     
    It's only happening in this one very localised place?
    The garage slab is well above the adjacent ground at this point, and filled below with rubble etc, so unlikely to be holding water.
    Owlman's mention of the window might be along the right lines, with rain getting in at the head or the cill on the RHS corner, tracking down the wall.
    I'd have thought the cross-tie (bonding) bricks a couple of courses up would be more likely to show damp.
    Maybe as simple as this happens to be a very absorbant brick.

    No magic bullet answer :sad:
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2025
     
    I think the single absorbent brick could be a possibility too. It's quite common to see odd, rogue, maybe under-fired, bricks.
  10.  
    Posted By: djh
    Posted By: DannySheffieldwill it do to put a drain at the bottom of the infill area that the garage is built on
    I'm sorry but I don't understand where the infill area is and where the natural slope of the hill is?


    I've just edited the photo - the floor is around the top side of the blue triangle, below is infill https://postimg.cc/vDWFtp4r
  11.  
    Posted By: GreenPaddyIt's only happening in this one very localised place?
    The garage slab is well above the adjacent ground at this point, and filled below with rubble etc, so unlikely to be holding water.
    Owlman's mention of the window might be along the right lines, with rain getting in at the head or the cill on the RHS corner, tracking down the wall.
    I'd have thought the cross-tie (bonding) bricks a couple of courses up would be more likely to show damp.
    Maybe as simple as this happens to be a very absorbant brick.

    No magic bullet answerhttp:///newforum/extensions/Vanillacons/smilies/standard/sad.gif" alt=":sad:" title=":sad:" >


    Thanks for the suggestions, it is only in that specific place, the rest of the room is fine. It does seem like a good direction of travel to look for potential leaks around the window (thanks owlman). I'll start there. I'm trying to avoid taking the cladding off as I don't really know what I'm doing (it's tongue and groove so I guess I need to snap some off and then just glue and screw it back in afterwards).

    If it is a single absorbent brick, is your thought that the water is more likely to be dripping down from the window, or soaking up through the floor?
  12.  
    Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryWas the damp there before you dug down to redo the floor ??


    Good question - the room was generally a bit damp before I did quite a lot of work on it (including removing a leaking sink, tanking and digging out behind the garage where there was damp soil and rubble sat against the wall), so I wouldn't have noticed that spot against others. But it didn't show up i the first year after completing my work.
    • CommentAuthorGreenPaddy
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2025
     
    Don't really see it travelling up several feet of less absorbant bricks, though it could be.

    Window is still worth checking, but if there was much water coming in, I think you'd see more damage internally.

    Is the room heated? Assuming it's just a cold garage, it may just be natural condensation from the air. The garage and bricks get very cold over a couple of days, then sudden ext air temp increase (as is very common), and so air is warm and damp, but brick is still cold - condensation. All the bricks see the same condensation, but this one absorbs it, later emitting with resulting damage.
    Not giving you any guarantees with the above hypothesis!!

    You could just cut that brick out, and replace it. A bit of stitch drilling at the corners, and a cutting disc to remove mortar. A lot easier than de-cladding, and no big deal if it doesn't work.
  14.  
    Posted By: GreenPaddyDon't really see it travelling up several feet of less absorbant bricks, though it could be.

    Window is still worth checking, but if there was much water coming in, I think you'd see more damage internally.

    Is the room heated? Assuming it's just a cold garage, it may just be natural condensation from the air. The garage and bricks get very cold over a couple of days, then sudden ext air temp increase (as is very common), and so air is warm and damp, but brick is still cold - condensation. All the bricks see the same condensation, but this one absorbs it, later emitting with resulting damage.
    Not giving you any guarantees with the above hypothesis!!

    You could just cut that brick out, and replace it. A bit of stitch drilling at the corners, and a cutting disc to remove mortar. A lot easier than de-cladding, and no big deal if it doesn't work.


    Thanks. The room is heated - it's been connected into the rest of the house through a conservatory so it has a radiator in and is kept at 16C. Replacing that brick seems a good place to start.

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