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What Causes Damp in a House?
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There are three main causes of damp in a home; Excess moisture, poorly heated homes and poor ventilation.
Excess moisture and Ventilation.
General day to day activities such as cooking, showering, washing and drying clothes allows moisture into the air in our homes. For example, cooking with gas can create 4 pints of moisture and showering can generate 1.6 pints of moisture. All of which contributes to poor air quality. This can have a significant effect on one’s health.
With cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and external wall insulation, it becomes very hard for moisture to escape your home. Simple ventilation strategies such as positive input ventilation, mechanical ventilation and trickle ventilation can help mitigate these problems.
Poorly heated homes and Ventilation.
Warm air is able to hold a higher percentage of moisture than cool air, however this is not to say that warm air is bad. Homes that are under-heated can also cause condensation which will eventually lead to dampness. The problem is heightened when there is a drastic change in room temperature. Therefore, it’s important to consistently heat your home and maintain a steady temperature.
Cavity wall insulation can help maintain the heat of your home but can also contribute to condensation if the correct ventilation strategies are not in place. However, not all homes are suitable for cavity wall insulation. From a damp perspective some properties should avoid cavity wall insulation or consider cavity wall insulation removal. To maintain a constant temperature internal wall insulation or external wall insulation would be advised with a reliable ventilation strategy. This would include mechanical extraction and a positive input ventilation (PIV). The mechanical ventilation would be installed in bathrooms and kitchens to ventilate moisture, whilst the PIV system would provide high quality fresh air for all habitable rooms.
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How do I know if I have damp?
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In most cases damp is fairly easy to detect and the below list should cover most symptoms:
- Musty smell.
- Wet patches on the wall.
- Peeling wallpaper or cracks in plaster.
- Tidemarks/stanis on wall..
- Bubbling or flaking of plaster.
- Skirting boards or wooden features begin to rot.
- Black mould appears on walls.
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How do I keep my home damp free?
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Before considering ventilation, you’re probably best off questioning the state of your current insulation and whether it is suitable for your home.
If your cavity wall insulation has failed, you will most likely be able to see tidemarks on the external walls on your ground floor.
This would indicate that moisture has entered the cavity and the insulation has become wet and sunk to the bottom of the cavity over time. This would allow water to pass from your exterior wall into your home which would appear as damp.
Cavity wall insulation removal would solve this problem and would make your home damp free. However, if the cavity wall insulation has not failed then the damp problem is due to a lack of ventilation. In either case we would recommend that you reach out to a building consultant who would identify the problem and offer a solution.
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Can cavity wall cause damp?
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The purpose of a cavity wall is to stop penetrating damp. As moisture enters the cavity it can trickle down the wall and ventilate.
This stops moisture from entering your home and causing dampness. However over the years, cavity wall insulation has been incorrectly installed. Installers have used materials that contradict the purpose of having a cavity and have installed the insulation incorrectly.
As a result, the cavity wall insulation has failed and dampness has arised.
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