Rising Damp
No, not the television series. Rising damp is a problem that a lot of customers come across. You haven’t done anything wrong if you come across damp in your home. It is very common in London. A lot of houses and properties are over 100 years old, and ventilation was not the number one concern when being built.
It is an annoyance to say the least, but easily fixable in most cases. A few things you can look out for are, flaking paint on the walls, walls feeling cold, almost moist, and a smell of mustiness. You can always call up if you are unsure, and we can come and have a look and give you a quotation on any work that might need to be done. The sooner it is fixed the better, after all nobody likes the plaster falling off the walls.
In simple terms, what would be done in sever cases is, the plaster would be cut back off the walls to reveal the brick work underneath, about a meter high off the ground. Then a standard damp treatment would be applied to the brickwork. This involves holes being drilled into the bricks a few inches apart along the extent of the revealed brickwork. These holes are then filled with a damp treatment that will expand to permeate the whole wall. This dries out the bricks, and also seals them, so water can no longer rise, or permeate. New ventilation chambers are normally put on the exterior wall, to allow water out and air in.
When this has all dried, the re-beautification process begins. This may be a good time for you to re-think your living room colour scheme. The walls are re-plastered, I’d advise you to get a professional in, as it takes a lot of skill to hide the line that has been cut out of your walls. Once the plaster has dried and been primed it is time to re-decorate.
If done well, only a trained eye will notice that you have had a damp treatment done on your property. Our painters, plasterers and decorators can do the job well, and to a standard that you would be happy with.
It is definitely an annoyance having a damp treatment done. But, in the end, you do get a newly decorated room, which always makes a home look nice.
