Rising Damp

[Leeds60]

I live in an old house (built about 1700).There are no foundations or damp proof course.How can I cure rising damp on an internal wall.Its a patch about 3 feet long and 3 feet high.Its not mouldy or anything but wallpaper is damp.I dont really want to pay a professional damp proofer for this little bit.Are there any products on the market I can use?

[Buenchico]

This well-written article won't provide you with any magical solutions but it will hopefully indicate some of the options available (and warn you of the pitfalls of some of them):
http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/risingdamp/risingdamp.htm

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Brilliant link Chris

[The Builder]

For a house of that vintage, current thinking is to avoid barriers/tanking etc.

Remove the plaster from that wall. Re-plaster with lime putty & sand. Skim with fine lime putty.

It's the way it was always done in the past. Whilst I'm a big fan of new products and systems, properly "breatheable" lime plaster is a perfect solution. Any moisture in the wall will "wick" out into the room. I've done this many times. Often after others have applied various tanking systems which only lock moisture into the wall. It's better if it can escape.

Very important to use old-fashioned type non-vinyl paint afterwards. There's a good choice around these days.