I think my walls are damp!

[Kaiser Soze]

I have noticed that on two interior brick walls, both the other side of the two showers, the paint has bubbled and is flaky. I suspect the shower recesses are leaking damp through the wall. Both recesses are tiled and show no sign of damage though.
I intend to renovate both bathrooms sometime.
So
When I do renovate do I need to dry the brickwork out first before I put up a complete water proof system on the bathroom side. If so is this drying out process complex?
Will the damp already causing problems be trapped in the brick wall causing more issues, or will it just dry out naturally as I have terminated the cause.

I have other questions re how best to proof the bathroom brickwork before tiling, but thats later. 1st the proofing.

Cheers

[SilentButDeadly]

What do you mean by when? I suspect you'll need to be doing it NOW. Damp walls are a fast track to many other problems particularily in the sub floor area.

You don't need to wait till it drys out because it will take months....care to not have a shower for months?

[Dirty Doogie]

Hi kaiser , yeh everything has to be bone dry. The dampness in the wall now could well take months to dry naturally.

Alternately you may have to run an industrial fanned gas heater against the bricks in the room where the trouble starts. Do this after you have found the source of the moisture and fixed it and removed paint tiles etc to expose bare brick.

Heat the bricks to just bearable touch temperature (about 50c) and let cool down - repeat the process again and again. These will work very well over a few days but will cost about 200 bucks for gas.

I would agree though that the damp is best attended to ASAP. Horrible and expensive complications can arise very fast.

[Kaiser Soze]

Good point ....so, if I seal it up on the shower side, then re-paint the Hall side where the paint is peeling, will this just trap the damp in the bricks? Or should I leave the hall side un-painted for a few months to dry out before painting?

[Kaiser Soze]

Thanks Doogie, my last post was to SilentButDeadly.

It's got to be bone dry does it! Ok. Many thanks.........

[Kaiser Soze]

I guess I better get cracking ... but what problems occur from damp to bricks (on a slab). I would have thought they were fairly robust to damp issues!

[Dirty Doogie]

Hi kaiser, the first problem that comes to mind is the mortar crumbling in the brickwork. If the moisture gets into the slab as well then it may cause the slab to begin spalling - or flaking. It sounds like a newish type house so I dont imagine that sort of damage has occurred yet.