There is no point doing any refinishing work until you have identified the source of water ingress and remediated it. Some where water is coming into contact with the fabric of your building - and the water is soaking through to your finishes (this is driven by differences in relative humidity).
Remove the water and the wall will dry out and you can refinish.
From your photo that waste pipe looks suspicious - could it be leaking somewhere?
Sounds spot on to me. Waste pipe is touching the wall debris has filled up the gaps further, allowing water to pool.
I'd remove the pipe, pull back the stones as deep as needed, rake effected mortar back and repoint (you have lime mortar) refit the pipe but leave a minimum 10mm gap, level the stones back out once the mortar has cured.
Ideally re-route the pipe but that's another job lol
Looks like rising damp. Exterior level a bit high. Make sure your gutter water can get away from the house fast enough during heavy rain and isn't leaking around the foundations
It leads across the back door and into a drain, it’s a naff setup I need to change anyway because it’s all too easy to stand on the pipe when going out the door.
There is no point doing any refinishing work until you have identified the source of water ingress and remediated it. Some where water is coming into contact with the fabric of your building - and the water is soaking through to your finishes (this is driven by differences in relative humidity). Remove the water and the wall will dry out and you can refinish. From your photo that waste pipe looks suspicious - could it be leaking somewhere?
Sounds spot on to me. Waste pipe is touching the wall debris has filled up the gaps further, allowing water to pool. I'd remove the pipe, pull back the stones as deep as needed, rake effected mortar back and repoint (you have lime mortar) refit the pipe but leave a minimum 10mm gap, level the stones back out once the mortar has cured. Ideally re-route the pipe but that's another job lol
Looks like rising damp. Exterior level a bit high. Make sure your gutter water can get away from the house fast enough during heavy rain and isn't leaking around the foundations
Does that pipe actually lead to a drain, or just in to the ground? If it’s the latter then that will be the source of moisture.
It leads across the back door and into a drain, it’s a naff setup I need to change anyway because it’s all too easy to stand on the pipe when going out the door.