by David Sutcliffe

Created on: December 22, 2009

Damp On Walls

The wall of my home gets damp in spite of my countless efforts

Damp on walls is a process that will keep coming back if you do not deal it seriously. Dampness can continue to be a recurring and time consuming problems.  We should diagnose the main cause and accordingly plan our action.
 
Let's do the diagnosing of general problems with dampness of walls for eliminating the obvious so a damp walls treatment could be installed.

 
Q. Is the water getting to your brickwork due to your drainage filled with leaves?

A. You will find a white colored powder caked on the bricks. You'll see it inside and plaster will come out. This means the gutters need to be cleared of all debris, and checked so that no water is leaking.
 
Q. Is your external pipe work and traps clear of debris?

A. Debris from a building as well as trash even a tennis ball stuck in the outside drainage cause result in a pile up and possible trouble.  Be sure all of your outside drainage is continuously clean.

Q. Are you having issues with your toilet or your boiler overflowing and pushing excess water out so it runs down the walls and makes a mess, causing damp on walls?

A. It can be seen on properties which are not being looked after and could often be the reason of dampness on walls at high levels internally. In high rise buildings with an active overflowing pipe you can visualise the damp externally before entering the building. Stop the discharge and you could stop the problem effectively. You won't have a damp proof wall situation here more so just a cut back damage and replaster and redecorate.
 
Q. While talking about various ground levels one should make sure that there is no earth near the lower end of the wall as it may bridge the dpc damp proof course.

Remove dirt by shoveling it from out around the walls. Damp cellars can also be an issue and will make it damp on walls. If one has damp cellar then earth might not be able to be removed. You should treat it internally with a full waterproofing membrane system.

Hence I am regularly disgnosing the reasons of dampness in buildings and 99% of the time I recommend dimpled sheet damp proofing membranes. These systems can have a direct finish applied internally and externally and they permit the property of breathing and drying out. The isolation/air void created provides you the ability to put finishes onto the membrane and allow the walls to dry out. Dampness can't make it through to the front of the membrane. Externally it creates a complete layer hence no driving or penetrating rain can pass through.  Thus in many cases damp proofing membranes would be a permanent solution for damp on walls.

David Sutcliffe is an independent consultant specialising in the diagnosis of damp and rising damp treatment in all buildings across the construction spectrum from historic and listed buildings to new build, commercial and domestic structures. David has over 30 years of hands on experience in treating damp on walls as well as having years of consultancy experience.

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