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Preventing Damp in Flats/Apartments

It can’t be denied that finding damp issues in your flat is stressful, especially in a rented apartment in which you’ll have to pay the landlord for the damage. What a lot of homeowners and renters don’t know is that there are actually various types of damp, each of which is a result of different causes. After 20 years of service in the industry, there are very few property types that we haven’t encountered here at Garratts Damp & Timber Ltd. Therefore, we’re well equipped in informing clients about where a damp problem in a flat begins, how to prevent it, and how to repair it.

Penetrating Damp

The first of the two types of damp types you may encounter is penetrating damp. This term refers to damp that is coming in from the outside of the property and may present itself in the form of a wet patch on the wall.

What to Do About Penetrating Damp

Identifying, preventing, and fixing a penetrating damp problem is much more difficult if your flat is situated anywhere above the ground floor. This is because you’ll need to take a look at the exterior render and brickwork, guttering, and the roof. In order to prevent penetrating damp issues, you should ensure that the pointing of your apartment building isn’t deteriorating, the gutters aren’t damaged or blocked, and the roof is secure. Despite this, as a resident of a building, you’re not permitted to make these amends should you identify any problems. Therefore, if you recognise any exterior issues, you should promptly inform your landlord or the property manager.

Any property manager or landlord knows how detrimental damp can be to a property, meaning that they’re likely to act fast when it comes to potential causes of penetrating damp. Similarly, if penetrating damp actually presents itself, they won’t hesitate to get a team in, such as us, to amend the damp issues and repair the damage.

Rising Damp

The other type of damp is rising damp, which will only ever present itself as an issue for ground floor flats. As the name suggests, rising damp comes from ground level and will only impact the bottom 1.2 metres of a wall. Rising damp presents itself in the form of peeling paint and mould on the bottom of a wall with the skirting board coming away. For lower ground floor flats the dampness may be present to higher reaches of the wall dependent on external ground levels.

What to Do About Rising Damp

All communal buildings, such as apartment blocks, should have a proper Damp Proof Course (DPC) installed to prevent rising damp from becoming an issue. Despite this, some things may bridge the DPC, such as soil piling up against the building. Therefore, you can ensure that nothing is leaning against the building, which could potentially bridge the DPC.

With this being said, you may also find that there is nothing that should be causing problems for the DPC, which indicates an internal issue. In order to prevent these problems from occurring, the DPC will need to be regularly updated by the landlord or property manager. Although, if you have signs of rising damp in your flat, your property manager or landlord will need to be notified. They can then bring in a company like Garratts Damp & Timber Ltd to diagnose a problem and offer a course of treatment to amend these issues.

Extra Tips Regarding Damp in Flats

Whether you’re a tenant, landlord, or homeowner, damp has a tendency to be recognised as a very expensive problem. It’s for this reason that you should implement the above measures to avoid the hefty costs of damp repair; however, damp issues are sometimes inevitable. Although the cost of damp flat solutions may intimidate you, it’s important not to ignore them and act straight away.

If you leave damp problems to fester, they will only worsen and incur greater costs when it comes to repairs. In fact, untreated damp problems can threaten the structural integrity of your home, which is even more detrimental to a large-scale building such as a block of flats. Therefore, a suitable DPC should always be in place, and any signs of damp problems should be addressed and amended as a matter of urgency.

Prevent Damp in Flats/Apartments with Garratts Damp & Timber Ltd

Here at Garratts Damp & Timber Ltd, we provide damp proofing services so that you can ensure your property doesn’t fall victim to damp problems. Similarly, we’re able to investigate and fix existing damp issues if your DPC has ultimately failed.

Regardless of your damp requirements, we can help, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Our team is comprised of qualified professionals who are more than capable of executing all manner of damp proofing services. We look forward to hearing from you and doing what we can to restore your property to the best possible standard.

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