The damn damp wall

In a previous post in March, I documented the reparations of a leaking pipe which left one of my house's walls damped.

Unfortunately, my problems did not end after that post. After repairing the leaking pipe and putting back together the wall, it continued to be damp. To make things worse, not long after the repairs were completed, our country went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the contractors were not able to come and check what is wrong.

So for almost 2 months the water stained continued to spread and damaged the paint.

Finally, with the partial release of the lockdown on the 4th of May, the contractors were allowed to return to check on the problem yesterday. According to them, the pipe was not leaking, and that the culprit was the moisture that were trapped inside the bricks and mortars seeping out. Incidentally, the stain was actually starting to dry the few days before the contractors returned.

Having identified the problem (or non-problem), they went on to scrap off the damaged paint and re-surfaced the wall.

As an additional protective measure before re-painting the wall, they also applied a layer of water-proofing chemicals, something they omitted previously.

The chemicals was as shiny as it was smelly. It looks wet from the picture above but it has actually already dried.

Tomorrow they will return to continue with the paint job.

The stain has bothered me fo months. Fingers crossed this will be the last I'll hear of it.