Do you have damp in your property?

Posted: 11th June,2021

Damp is a result of excess moisture. It happens mostly in bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens, but can occur in other places of your house too. 

When warm air meets cold surfaces, it causes water. In a result of this, the water then moves into your home and sit on the surfaces. 

Another cause of damp in your home can be down to poor ventilation. If you have inadequate airflow around your home, it will not allow warm moisture-laden air to exit the property. 

Some say the cause of damp is down to ‘rising damp’, but this does not exist.

What are the signs of damp?

Internally:

• Damaged wallpaper
• Discolouration on matches of walls throughout the home
• A musty smell 
• Lifting or peeling of paint

Externally:

• Damaged brickwork
• Moss on one area (or most) of the brickwork

 

Prevention and Cure?

There are a few steps you could put in place to prevent damp in your property: If you wanted to try and help the situation yourself there are a few things you can do. One of them would be allowing ventilation into your home; this can be done by simply opening windows. Wiping moisture off your windows each day if there is a build-up… don’t forget the windowsills!

 

If the damp has already developed in your home, the best thing for this would be to have a damp survey carried out. Here at Alpine Damp, we offer in depth and specialised surveys. We would start the survey by assessing the exterior of the house, starting from the roof and making our way down to the bottom. We would look for deterioration, defects or incorrect materials. This is done so we can gain a full understanding of the outside of the property.

Once the exterior has been assessed we would venture inside the property and carry out moisture mapping tests on the walls and floors using specialised equipment. This would tell us whether there is damp in the property.

Thermal Imaging is carried out on all damp surveys to give us a good understanding and a true cause of the damp. 

A detailed report is written up once the survey has been completed. The report will have an external assessment, internal assessment, recommendations and pictures of our findings.

 

If you would like to know more about our damp surveys, visit www.alpinedamp.co.uk