Possible rising damp query

[patmoore]

Hi all.

I'll skip the long story re: surveyors and buying a house but I have recently found out by means of damp meter readings, that there is damp in my living room.

The walls had been plastered by old owners quite a few years ago, now I know these damp meters would have only poked the plaster but 3 out of 4 walls had an issue.

The damp specialists I invited to do these tests said we had rising damp and we should get a DPC in asap. Now that's all good and well but I thought it is possible that we don't have damp and the plaster is damp? Is that at all possible? There are a few spots visible (see pics) but how can we check properly that the brickwork is suffering without tearing things down? Or am I just missing the point totally?

The rear wall faces outside, could that be solved by treating the outside (i'll add a pic when it's light tomorrow)?

[ultimatehandyman]

That looks like it could be caused by penetrating damp.

In picture "rear wall, facing outside." the damp is as high as the window cill, which means water could be getting in there, or the cavity could be badly blocked and the damp is rising.

In picture "Right wall first third" you can see the pattern of the damp rising up from around the backbox. I know a guy at work and he had a TV socket and the water was travelling through the coax cable and was wetting the back of his TV.

The first thing to do is check the outside of the property for any signs of penetrating damp, such as holes in brickwork etc.

It's virtually impossible for the plaster to be damp and the wall behind to be dry.