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Sorry yeah, I'm leaving out details just to try to avoid a full life story post. I hadn't noticed the signs of damp on multiple viewings. Our surveyor highlighted the issue and did use a damp meter. He said to me verbally that if it were his home he wouldn't bother even to do anything with it. He said he'd just live there for a few years and see if anything gets worse before making a decision if it were him.
I had a builder come round to quote on a garage wall that has subsided, and he pointed out that the mortar is crumbling externally around where 2 of the 3 damp patches are. I suspect that's part of the issue.
Is there a way to fairly easily check if the plaster is modern gypsum or period lime based plaster? I suspect you're right about it being modern stuff.
We plan to live here a long time - 20 years minimum, so if the issue is that someone in the past used modern mortar, plaster, and paints, we will want to get that addressed. However that feels expensive, so we would definitely want to save for that over the coming 5+ years, and therefore will just crack on with painting using something relatively cheap in the meantime.
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hazzelfrazzel
atk
Flaking is not necessarily damp - it could be efflorescence from the brick.
Fixing what is causing the damp is more important than paint choice though - even a clay / chalk paint is going to mitigate damp a small bit.
The fact that it's a UPVC door suggests that (if it's a solid wall construction), whoever did the last redecoration didn't care for period correct materials, and - I'm going to guess wildly - skimmed everything in gypsum plaster. In which case, paint with hammerite if you care to - the gypsum isn't breathable at all.
To the damp: there's often obvious causes: bad gutters, bad render, breached DPC (can be internal or external), missing caulking, splashback, inadequate drainage / broken drainage.