Damp Proofing and Tanking carried out in North London

Tapco HomeDry have just completed another of many, successful damp proofing and structural waterproofing contracts in North London, much to the delight of our very happy client. Unfortunately, carrying out damp proofing work properly, is disruptive and sometimes dusty, however, our technicians are fully aware of this and make sure that all necessary measures are taken to keep this to a minimum and disrupt our clients as little as possible.

The major problem at this property was, some of the external walls are earth retaining so damp was not only rising, but also being forced through the wall laterally, by hydrostatic pressure. Carry out conventional damp proofing alone won’t prevent this and other meaures are required. At this property, we recommended structural water proofing, commonly known as ‘tanking’ although a Silane/Siloxane, dispersable injection cream was also injected, directly above the ground level, to prevent rising damp.

Our experience technicians are fully aware of the process for treating damp walls and carefully carried out the following work, in accrdance with our technical surveyors’ recommendations:

After providing adequate protection to the property, all the damp wall plaster was removed and carefully disposed of. A small channel was created between the edge of the floor and the wall and a waterproof floor/wall joint was created. The walls were then prepared, prior to applying a gauged scratch coat of waterproof render. When this had sufficiently dried, two slurry coats of a cementitious structural waterproofing system were applied, allowing the first one to cure before applying the second coat. Following this, a second render coat was applied and once this had dried, the wall was plaster set to a smooth finish. Once sufficiently dry the sound skirting boards were treated with a preservative and stuck back in position.

In addition to the above, there was also concern regarding external building defects, because it was obvious that some of the guttering and downpipes were old and leaking and allowing rain to discharge down the walls. All of leaking rain water goods were changed, using new UPVC type, which is now preventing rain penetration.

Although ’tanking’ (structural waterproofing) is time consuming, our technicians completed the process on time and it will soon be dry enough for our happy client to decorate. This work is covered by our established 10-year guarantee which is protected by GPI (Guarantee Protection Insurance).