5 Year Penetrating Damp Treatment Guarantee
I read this on a national damp proofing company’s website, let’s call them Stichardson and Rarling to maintain their anonymity. The page was about treating ‘penetrating damp’.
Their solution?
Tank the inside of the property with a thick plastic membrane and replaster.
Dry rot returns despite damp treatment
You don’t need to be well-versed in construction to realise that the solution they offer isn’t actually dealing with the myriad defects that could be causing the dampness, penetrating or otherwise. Their ‘ 5 Year Penetrating Damp Treatment Guarantee’ is their estimation of the time it takes for the continuing penetrating damp (which is only getting worse in the meantime) to fully saturate the property and appear internally.
Think about the possible problems that not repairing the defects will cause. What will happen to the wet timber joists below this wet wall? They will rot. The risk is that it will create dry rot, which is insidious, or wet rot, both requiring additional disruption and cost.
Loss of lime mortar
Reading the small print, you must employ a surveyor or tradesman who can identify and rectify the real causes of penetrating damp for the treatment guarantee to remain valid over the 5 year period.
If that is not a money making scam, I don’t know what is.
Please repair the causes, don’t cover the symptoms.
