[drjet]

Thank You for your responses.  The rising damp is in the original Patio area.  The architect contends that the floor of the covered patio … quote…
… waterproofing treatment for “patios” or “terraces” is completely different to waterproofing treatment for ground floor enclosed living areas.

With patios, you often find there is plastic sheeting applied a few centimetres under the screed (flat soil-based surface) upon which the tiles are laid.  Any surface rainwater can seep down through the grouting between the tiles and eventually find its way into the soil below. Conversely, where construction is for human living and sleeping, procedures for waterproofing are totally different
… end quote

Given the time that has past we have no way of determining whether a properly waterproof slab was laid in this area before it was enclosed.  We have assumed that it was because none of the other units have this issue. However the architect contends that this is not the case and that the area was enclosed without addressing the potential consequences.  

He also contends that because this was not part of the original structure and was not approved by the local council it is not a BC responsibility.  The townhouse owners contend that the patio was enclosed at the time that the complex was strata'd in 1976 and that the survey completed for the stata application shows this as enclosed/living space and the survey should be the defining document.

We have found and fixed  a number of blocked downpipes and  broken pipes, pipes that go nowhere in the vicinity of Block C of the complex.  The rising damp is most likely a result of some of these problems.

[Author]

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