With no sign of the pigeon scaring tape today I turned my attention to the other issue which is currently irritating us, or more precisely irritating SWMBO. For the last couple of years she has been getting a damp patch appear on her bedroom wall on cold wet days. So far she has paid out a lot of money having the dormer flat roof above her bedroom completely stripped and relayed - no change, then she paid out to have the outside pointing redone - no change and finally we had the front plastic cladding joints resealed - no change!! This is the area in question in the red circle:
- MTM Original
I decided it was time to cut a hole in the wall and examine it from the inside to see if I could find a damp trail, so I cut an inspection hole into the plasterboard:
- MTM Original
Once cut through the apparently damp board I was surprised to find no damp at all through the board or on the back! Hmmm
Looking into the void the insulation is all dry and I could not see or smell any signs of damp!
- MTM Original
However there was a constant cool breeze coming out of the void, convincing me that air was definitely coming into the void from outside. You can see the gap circled in the picture above which is a clear opening into next door's void. I could feel air coming into my face as I put it close to the hole, but I felt it coming from the right as well. I went out into the garden and examined all the joints between the dormer, the wall, the soffit and the window frame and there are cracks here and there. So I have formulated a plan for tomorrow:
I have three rolls of spare loft insulation left over from the re-insulation of the loft (we now have 18" throughout!) and about 5 cartridges of external sealant and two cartridges of No More Nails in stock as well as various timbers. I honestly believe that the drywall being exactly that, then the damp issue may well have been condensation all the time. My theory is that the draught in cold weather was making that particular piece of uninsulated plasterboard a cold spot within the wall and hence causing overnight breathing to condense there being much colder than the rest of the wall which runs behind the radiator.
My plan is to do my best to eliminate the draught by sealing the outside cracks around the soffits, blocking the gap to next door with a waterproof membrane covered timber and then once satisfied that the draught is gone I will stuff as much of the void as I can reach with the loft insulation before installing a new piece of plasterboard, patching the woodchip and painting. Fortunately the entire repair will end up behind the bedside cabinet when completed so a perfect matched finish isn't essential!!
I will complete the story in due course, no doubt the tape will arrive tomorrow and give me a dilemma!!
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, and oh boy, do they fly off quick. 
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