Re: DAMP

[Anonymous]

I think you need to go on one of these wonderful courses of self-discovery yourself. Either that or you haven't met many of your cousins.

Damp can come in many forms:
External leaks, internal leaks, penetration above ground lateral penetration below ground, rising damp through hydrostatic pressure, rising damp through capillary action, internal condensation (many possible causes of this), interstitial condensation, hygroscopic salts attracting any form of moisture.

The above may not be exhaustive, but covers most forms.

Without moisture materials turn to dust (we ourselves are 80% water) and it is therefore desirable for all material to have a certain level of moisture. The problem is when moisture becomes excessive and starts causing problems.

Before tackling any damp problem one has to identify what cause or causes of damp have occurred.

The suggestion that there are only two forms of damp is a very inaccurate and unhelpful over-simplification.

The other thing to remember is that the technical methods of dealing with damp can vary. It is a bit like the difference between a plastic Mac and a woollen overcoat. One is designed to keep moisture out, the other 'manages' moisture. Buildings fall broadly into the same two general categories - those that are designed to exclude moisture and those that manage moisture.

Before tackling damp understand what it is you are dealing with and understand the technologies involved.

As for you DAMP, I suggest you go and ventilate somewhere else.

 

[Anonymous]

Steve
I suggest that you take reading lessons with Schoolmarm, as you did not read my post correctly.
I never suggested that there were only two forms of damp, but several forms using the two mentioned as examples.
Steve DAMP does not ventilate, DAMP needs ventilation just like this site needs real people who know what they are talking about and not people who surf the net to find things out, before passing the first thing they find to all on this site and misleading people into thinking they are experts on every subject.

 

[Anonymous]

Firstly, the name's Stephen.

Secondly, you are quite right, you said the two MAIN forms of damp ...
Nonetheless, I disagree. The main form of dampness that I come across is condensation. On the RICS web site member's section when there are discussions about damp it seems that the main form of damp that surveyors encounter is condensation. In fact the rarest form of damp is true rising damp. There are forms of damp that look like rising damp (condensation can in some instances, lateral penetration, leaks at low level - e.g. buried heating pipes, etc), but are best dealt with by sound building works and not any specialist treatment. In fact the truth is that most forms of damp can be dealt with quite satisfactorily by building work without the use of specialist treatments.

Finally, now that we have some indication of your qualifications tell us are you independent, or is your wage based largely/partly on commission from selling a checmical or other 'specialist' treatment? There are others who post on here and are equally or better qualified than you or I ont he matter of damp and they do not believe in 'treatments' as the first option, rather then see them as a last resort.

You are welcome to this site and to post here, but when your first post is deliberately inflammatory it does not go down well, as you have seen.