Home Renovations: Rising Damp

Home Renovations: Rising Damp

Home Renovations: Rising Damp

How to cure rising damp

Rising damp is caused when moisture from the ground on which your home stands is soaked up into its masonry walls. The dampness can rise to a height of 900mm or so above skirting board level, causing unsightly staining of the plaster along with the decorations and also a horrible smell inside the affected rooms. It may also trigger rot in floor timbers, door frames and skirting boards

Widespread causes of rising damp include: fractures in old damp courses, paths and actions built against the wall above (or close to) the level of the damp course, adjoining garden or outbuilding walls built against the house wall without a vertical damp course, rendering covering the damp course, or garden soil built up against the home wall above the damp course.

The dampness can be caused by a failure inside the damp-proof course which is built into the walls - a particularly prevalent fault in older properties where slates or engineering bricks have been utilized to form the damp course. It can also result from the damp course being bridged in some way - by an adjoining wall, by garden soil being banked up against the wall, or by actions, paths or other outdoor features being built alongside the wall. The latter should not be above the damp course level to prevent rising damp - heavy rain can splash back off these surfaces to soak the wall above. Even a coat of rendering on the exterior wall can pull dampness up above the damp course if it extends down over it.

Resolving rising damp

When you have rising damp, check whether or not any of the above mentioned problems are present. Remove any you uncover and see whether the wall shows signs of drying out. Only if the trouble persists will you need to call in a professional firm of damp proofing specialists for their advice on the very best solution to the problem.

Rogue Traders

Beware of specialist damp prevention providers selling high-priced cures for rising damp - often in the form of a series of injections of resin into your exterior walls, these businesses sometimes misdiagnose penetrating damp as rising damp. In these instances you will waste your dollars.

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