Damp course for a stone wall

[Andrew Norris]

Dear All,
In the internal wall of the basement of our old stone house one can see a diagonal line that corresponds with the slope of the ground on the external side. We are digging out the soil against the wall on the outside in order to put some form of damp proofing down.
[b]Problem[/b]: The stone wall as reveled on the outside is very uneven with stones jutting out.
[b]Our suggestion:[/b] Clear away the earth, plaster render to make the external wall as smooth as possible. Then a liquid bitumen followed by rolled sheets.
[b]Question? [/b]How does this sound? And, should we put back the soil or aggregate or even some of the stones I am digging out.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Andrew[/u]

[thedoctor]

Preventing water ingress from the outside of a cellar very rarely works as you cannot, without very complicated construction methods, prevent the ground water being sucked up by the wall from below which allows it to get between the wall and your new render etc which, whenit freezes, as it surely will, will blow the render and covering stright off the wall. See our project on underground waterproofing and make enquiries about internal tanking which form a seal all round the inside of the room making it completely impervious to water.