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October 31, 2005
Mystery of the Wet Wall
We have a problem that no one has been able to solve in the 5 years we've owned our 3 story brickface. We have a one story structure one one side and an identical 3 story on the other. The wall that has two stories exposed has been wet after every rain storm. It usually dries up after a couple of days. We've had at least 20 roofers tell us that the roof looks fine and has several years left. Everyone seems to think its the wall. So we've had it chipped-out thorocoated, thoro-sealed, and thoro-lastic on 3 different occassions and it still leaks. We've had the flashing replaced where our building meets the one story. And most recently had two thick layers of concrete put on the wall and than thoro-coated. That did't work either. We have a chcken wire skylight as well but everyone says the seal is fine too. We had another roofer suggest we spray the entire exterior wall with silicone. We are incredibly frustrated by the "weeping wall." and throwing our money away. Any suggestions?
Comments
check your windows if there are any on that side. or if your downspout goes inside your house (roof), that's probably leaking.
Posted by: Anonymous at October 31, 2005 9:42 AM
Check the coping stones on your wall.
Clean the gutter and down spout.
Make sure the roof next door doesn't make a pond next to your wall.
Apply a nice stucco if needed and spray silicone over it.
Posted by: Anonymous at October 31, 2005 5:13 PM
More on the weeping wall. Thanks for your comments so far. Just to add on, we've had the original clay coping stones removed thinking they were the problem and had them replaced TWICE with metal coping. ALso there are no windows on that side, no inside downspout and the one story roof does not puddle next to our wall. He had his roof re-done because we thought perhaps that was the problem. The mystery continues...
Posted by: Anonymous at November 1, 2005 7:22 AM
Could the water be seeping up the wall and not down -- wicking water from below? I know that sounds crazy, but maybe a drainage pipe below is broken or water is somehow accumulating below the wall and coming up. This happened in my neighbor's basement whenever there was a good rain.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 1, 2005 7:49 AM
I don't know if its crazy. Is it possible for water to travel up 3 stories?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 1, 2005 8:09 AM
DO YOU HAVE ANY PLUMBING WASTE LINES FROM THE ROOF?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 1, 2005 6:44 PM
maybe if you have steam raditors/boilers, it's coming from the pipes of that?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 2, 2005 1:27 PM
We discovered an old gutter pipe in an exterior wall when we gutted our bathroom, could this be the case here?
Posted by: clinton hillbilly at November 2, 2005 1:39 PM
I don't suppose you have any chimneys on that wall?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 2, 2005 8:29 PM
If you were dealing with rising damp you would notice a water line where the water dries up. and it definately would not creep up three stories.
When you say wet, do you mean that it is slightly damp to the touch or that it is visually glimmering with water?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 2, 2005 8:34 PM
If the water is traveling up from the basement etc., how do you go about finding out where that break may be???
Posted by: TT Bean at November 3, 2005 9:04 AM
When brick soaks up water and then dries out it will leave behind whitish salt and mineral deposits on the outer surface. You should be able to notice a line where these mineral deposits stop. If you google "rising damp" you can learn all you want to know.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 3, 2005 3:42 PM
Its a brick wall thats sheetrocked and painted so all we see is bubbling paint. Not able to see "white salt" marks. Anyone know a good waterproofer that may be able to solve this problem?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 4, 2005 6:23 AM
I have the exact same problem in my brownstone. The paint is peeling and gets wet to the touch when it rains. No visible damage outside and no pipes nearby. What to do?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 5, 2005 4:59 PM
Sounds like we could commiserate. Is that wall exposed or does it have another house adjoined?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 5, 2005 5:32 PM
It has another house adjoined -- at their entry vestibule so there isn't a radiator or any other water source in there. There is a fireplace on the wet wall but it's 10' away and seems not to be the source either.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 15, 2005 5:22 PM
WHY DON'T YOU OPEN UP THE WALL AND CHECK TO SEE WHATS WHAT. IT IS SHEETROCK?
Posted by: Anonymous at November 19, 2005 1:13 AM
could be condensation caused by lack of air movement behind the brick. Shoild be air gap between brick and sheathing of framing.
Posted by: anonymous at March 1, 2006 5:31 PM
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