Identifying The Signs And Causes Of Rising Damp

If you own a home in London you may be aware of a very serious problem called “rising damp” that can be incredibly harmful to structures. Today we will study rising damp and learn about its causes, how damp and timber independent surveys can identify it, and what you as a property owner can be on watch for.

Let’s do a science experiment. Place a dry sponge in a shallow saucer of water, then let it sit there. A few minutes later, the formerly dry sponge will have sucked up the water and become damp. This is basically how rising damp works, a process called capillary action absorbs moisture upwards through a porous material, but in this case it’s a building’s walls.

Any independent damp surveyor can tell you that common building materials like plaster, wood, bricks, and mortar may look completely solid to the naked eye, but under a microscope, you can see they are riddled with tiny cracks that make them porous, which is why they can draw water up from the ground like a sponge. The dampness that results from this can cause major damage to a building, so it’s a problem that should be dealt with as soon as possible.

The independent damp surveyors in London look for signs like the following:

Wet Patches – Rising damp happens on a building’s ground floor, if you see wet patches forming on the walls of higher floors, it’s caused by other related issues like condensation or penetrating damp. When damp or wet patches become visible on the ground floor’s walls, it’s most likely that rising damp is the cause. The wet patches start out on the lowest parts of the wall where the capillary action draws moisture slowly up from the wet ground beneath the structure to rise as high as a metre.

Tidemarks – The presence of tidemarks on your walls is an obvious sign that you have a rising damp problem. The tide marks look like discoloured horizontal stains on your walls around a metre up above the floor. These unsightly tidemarks are formed by salts that moisture carries with it as it creeps upward from the damp ground underneath the floor. The evaporating water leaves behind a telltale sign, the ugly, brownish, powdery coating that the salts make.

Black Mould – The presence of black mould growing all over your walls is another common sign of rising damp that is not only unsightly, but presents a major risk to your health! Insidious black mould grows quickly on the wet surfaces that result from the presence of rising damp.

At London Damp Specialists, our experienced surveyors utilise cutting edge technology to diagnose damp issues, so our inspections are always performed to the highest standard. If you have a rising damp problem, just call London Damp Specialists on 020 7523 5882 and we will dispatch an independent damp surveyor near you to help ascertain your damp problem. We are here to help you deal with damp issues in your London home.