Most of us have experienced that terrible feeling when you walk into your lounge after some heavy rain just to find your costly suede lounger covered in water!
As with most things in life, prevention is better than cure, therefore it is imperative that you properly damp proof your home effectively from the start. Once water or moisture manages to sneak in it is a very challenging and expensive thing to put a stop to. Never settle for a contractor without the right qualifications - you could possibly just end up with a house that is pretty much as water-resistant as a spider web!
There are 3 essential areas where you should be extra careful to correctly damp proof from the word "foundation"!
Think about the order in which a new home will be built. First of all, you will start with a floor slab which forms the cornerstone of your house. A Damp Proof Course or DPC is a plastic sheet that is placed between the floor slab and the compacted sand below and that does not allow water to pass from one point to another. If this sheet is not laid correctly you will quickly find that the bottom of your walls will become damp and this might cause structural deterioration.
After the slab is laid, it is time to build your external walls. You will now have to damp proof at the bottom of these walls level to the floor slab. This will yet again be done with a DPC sheet as explained above and to make sure that the damp proofing is effective, the two sheets should be connected to prevent any space for moisture or damp to sneak in.
The one area that many people ignore is the window sills along with the tops and sides of all windows and external door frames. The easiest way to do this is with silicon, but be warned that this is not a recommended approach as it does not last for an extended time. If an incorrect technique is used you will be the lucky winner of endless maintenance problems!
The inside of your home can also fall prey to moisture issues. Should you have wooden floors moisture or water can quite quickly lead to rotten floors. As wooden floors usually are quite expensive, this ought to be avoided as far as possible. Moisture indoors can be as a result of leak from a gutter or roof or even day-to-day plumbing problems! It's very important to damp proof your floors by installing a vapour barrier.
Also take some time to properly seal your roof tiles and fix or replace damaged tiles without delay. The longer a problem is ignored, the more severe your resulting destruction will be! While you are on the roof, check to see that the balcony has appropriate water drainage and won't be turned into a swimming pool after a little bit of heavy rain. All gutters should also be regularly inspected and cleaned.
Rather take precautionary steps and damp proof the house adequately - this will end up saving you a small fortune and headache pills!
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