A brief description of damp
There are many household issues that could affect your property at any given time, one of the most common is damp. Dampness is a serious problem which is often under estimated, as is the damage it can cause. When some people hear the word damp, to them it doesn’t seem harmful at all and they image it will dry out and be fine. This may be true for damp laundry, but not for damp walls, floors and ceilings in your home. Damp is caused by water ingress, and can quickly go from minor issue to major problem, such as dry-rot and structural damage.
Major Issues
One of the major issues with damp, apart from the damage it causes, is it’s a breeding ground for fungi and mould. These are things that you don’t want in your home, as they can lead to considerable decay of the structural timbers and decorations and health problems for your family. These are especially important to avoid if you have allergy sufferers in your home. By allowing damp to occur, you’re putting the people in your home at risk as well as the value of your property. There are numerous structural issues that damp can cause, all of which should be avoided. In addition to this, it’s simply not aesthetically pleasing. It can ruin your walls, ceilings, and floors, furniture and clothes, turning them an ugly black, mouldy colour.
How to Prevent Damp?
What is the best way to deal with damp? The answer is simple; prevent it from happening in the first place. Like your car, your property needs regular servicing, you should periodically check your rain water goods for leaks, sometimes this is obvious because of stains down the external walls. Check your ceilings for stains and water marks to ensure your roof or plumbing isn’t leaking. Be aware of any change in shape of your joinery timber, if there is don’t ignore it, test them with a small screwdriver to make sure they are not soft. Remember a dry house is a safe house so make the maintenance of it a priority because prevention is better than cure.
When does your property need damp proofing?
The four main causes of damp are rain penetration, high humidity (condensation), rising damp and water damage from leaking plumbing. They are all more likely to occur during bouts of wet and cold weather which we in the UK know only too well. Often problems with some forms of damp don’t become evident until we move house and it is surveyed, which can then cause problems with the sale. As tempted as you maybe to buy new furniture or a new car, the best time to have a problem with damp dealt with is immediately you know you have it. Our vast amount of experience tells us that damp issues that are ignored can turn into a very major and very expensive restoration work later.
Why use Tapco HomeDry
Tapco Homedry have been providing damp proofing solutions for all commercial and residential properties, from new build to old listed buildings, since 1971. This is specialist work and should never be compromised. A large percentage of our work is on properties that were ‘damp proofed’ previously by a third party which hasn’t been carried out correctly. We know damp proofing is expensive but doing it once, doing it right is far cheaper than doing it twice.