But first, let me tell you a little “how not to treat damp” story…..
Too late……
A few years ago I issued a £5100 invoice to a client of mine for a leaking gutter. Shocking huh! £5,000 and before you rush off and tell everyone I must be one of those cowboy builders you hear about, let me explain how ignoring damp cost him so dearly.
My client had lived in his lovely old period cottage for many years but slowly the ingress of water turned his “shabby chic” cottage into, well, just shabby really!
And all because of a leaking gutter. In fact the gutter wasn’t even leaking really, but rather it was so poorly positioned by some long dead builder, that it was not catching the water from the roof at all.
Instead, all that water was pouring down the brickwork, around a wooden window and for the grand finale into the wall and around the ends of the first floor joists. Of course over decades the window and the joist ends turned to a mushy, soggy mess. Replacing joist ends is not a five-minute job. Hence the huge bill. All this could have been avoided as the ill fitting gutter could have been fixed for under £100, or 10 bob if it had been done decades ago instead of being ignored.
Although great for us, water is the greatest enemy of your old house. It is desperately trying to get in absolutely everywhere, through the roof, through the walls and even up out of the ground. It pours out of your appliances and even your lifestyle. And guess where a lot of it goes? Yup, right into the very fabric of your house.
So what can you do to stop all this damp getting into your home?
My advice, it is two-fold….
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Ventilation works…
First
Ensure that the house can breathe. That means a little ventilation in each room using trickle vents in windows or air bricks in the walls.
Resist the temptation to paint sealers on the brickwork which often just moves the problem somewhere else.
Make sure water doesn’t pool against the wall and better still remove paving and replace with decorative stone next to the wall to reduce splashback and allow water to evaporate. Make sure the level is at least 6″ or 150mm below the damp proof course (or more if you can). The wider the better really, with say 12″ or 30cm as a minimum. Build steps up to the door rather than lifting up the paving level around your home.
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Go get your rain gear…
Second
Next time it’s pouring down with rain, don your raincoat and your sou’wester and go outside (ignore the looks from the neighbours) and slowly walk around your property.
Have a good look at where all that rain is going. Look for water going where it is not supposed to, running down walls, soaking through cappings or copings etc., drips and spills etc. from pipes or gutterings. Water on the wall in shiny sheets is a tell tale (wind driven rain being the exception here) that too much water is getting onto the brickwork from somewhere.
You might think this is daft but you might be amazed at what you’ll notice and you just might just save yourself a bundle by spotting a water related problem well before it starts to cause damp related damage inside or outside your home.
If you want to learn more about treating damp in your house I can recommend Jonathan Hetreed’s book, Damp House; A Guide to the Causes and Treatment of Dampness. (or here if you are in the states). Jonathan is an architect, learning his trade at Cambridge and his book will give you a good understanding of what type of damp problem you have and some of the potential cures available to you.
If you are still asking yourself “how do I treat damp”? With respect, is the answer! Damp has the potential to make you very unhappy indeed, not to mention ill and poorer 😉
Feel free to leave a comment about your own damp story’s or problem or if you need some advice about your own home.
Stay well
Ian
