DIY SOLUTION: RISING DAMP

You've noticed the unsightly bubbling, flaking and peeling of your house walls. You've painted, repainted and painted some more - but it just keeps on coming back! What could the problem be? You, happy DIYer, are a victim of rising damp.

What is rising damp, and what causes it?
Rising damp is a form of damp that affects the walls of a building when moisture from the ground (or a leaky pipe) travels up through the wall. In a nutshell, your home's walls basically suck up water like a thirsty builder on a summer's day.

What causes it?
The main cause of rising damp is a faulty Damp Proof Course (DPC), which allows moisture to penetrate your home's walls.

Other causes include:

• Inadequate sub-floor ventilation: This causes a buildup of humidity and means that only the minimal evaporation from the soil and base walls occurs.
• Sub-floor obstructions: Any debris in the sub-floor that obstructs the flow of ventilation and may help contribute to dampness by bridging the DPC.
• Poor drainage and/or damaged guttering and pipes: Water may be directed underneath your house if you have poor drainage.

What are the signs of rising damp?
Commonly the first thing you'd find is a patch of wall with a band of dampness starting from the floor upwards - this often causes the paint to flake or the wallpaper to peel. Other unsightly and smelly signs include: 

• Damp smells and a musty odour
• A reduced temperature at lower portions of your wall
• Rotting of embedded floor timbers
• Crumbling / blistered plaster due to salt crystallisation

Getting down to fixing it
Each case of rising damp varies from another, it's best to visit your nearest hardware store with photos of your problem so our consultants can help you with the perfect solution. To give you an idea how to fix the simplest case - bubbling paint without needing to chisel any plaster away.