Best Damp Proofing Treatments

I think it’s fair to admit that a lot of us will ignore damp if it starts emerging within our household, but doing this can actually damage the structure of your home.

Damp is created due to moisture or water building up over multiple years or in severe cases, just a few weeks.

Whilst damp can sometimes affect the infrastructure of you home it’s also very unappealing to look at, so you’ll definitely want to tackle this issue as soon as possible.

Not everyone is a home interior expert, so always request a damp and timber report if you’re unsure on how to best treat your damp.

However, the following proofing treatments are what I’d recommend when trying to eliminate damp.

Tanking

If you’re experiencing rising damp in your home, it may be worth trying a tanking method.

Essentially, this involves creating a cement-based coating which is used to seal off areas from any more moisture.

This technique is usually used on areas that are already experiencing damp, as opposed to places that you want to protect from damp, and your walls will be coated in asphalt or a membrane.

Once the tanking process is complete and the coating has completely dried, the finished product should be vapor permeable and water tight, preventing any more damp from affecting the area.

It can be applied both internally and externally, however it’s important to consider that this solution costs more money than most treatments, so you should definitely conduct some research beforehand to find the cheapest but highest quality deal.

Membrane Systems

Finding the best membrane system can be challenging considering there are so many available on the market, each used for waterproofing floors and walls.

During the process, the membrane will be fixed to the wall, or surface that is suffering from damp, using plugs with a water tight seal, restricting any more damp from affecting the area.

Using a membrane system is an ideal solution as it’s extremely durable, so it’s unlikely that you’ll need to invest in the treatment more than once.

However, selecting a membrane system completely depends on the severity of water ingress within your home, so you’ll need to choose the membrane carefully.

A Traditional Damp Proof Course (DPC)

A lot of damp issues originate from the general poor structure of a home, whether that is the structure of the walls themselves or how high damp-resistant walls are above ground floor level.

A traditional DPC is a chemical damp proof course, which is widely used in walls above ground floor level. Once again, there are many different DPC systems on the market, and they all tailor to each specific need of your damp issue.

A DPC simply works by controlling the effects of rising damp. Providing that you select a trusted damp-proofing provider, you should be able to install a high quality DPC course into your home, preventing the need to ever invest in another one years down the line.

This damp-proof treatment is very popular due to the low odour, non-flammable and non-caustic qualities that it possesses.

Dig Away the Soil to Match the Level of Your DPC

In some instances, you might have a perfect DPC but find you’re still receiving damp problems in your home.

So, what’s the solution?

It might simply be a case of digging away soil to ensure that it’s level with the DPC.

If the level isn’t balanced, the ground level outside may be built too near the top of the DPC, when it should be 15cm above ground level in order to prevent damp from forming.

Therefore, all you need to do is dig away any soil on the exterior side of the damp wall until it’s below the level of the DPC.

Since this is such a simple solution, you could opt to do it yourself, however a professional will provide you with extra peace of mind.