Initially, Mr Markland contacted our team via email due to having damp issues with the property upstairs and downstairs inside his home. Issues ranged from bubbling and wet plaster falling off internal walls to black Mold spores growing and salt escaping, visible on multiple walls inside the home. The same day we were contacted by Mr Markland, we were able to arrange a time and date for one of our damp surveyors to attend the property to conduct an assessment.

Upon first inspection, our surveyor identified that the property was suffering from penetrating damp to upper walls inside the home due to blown and cracked render to the front 1st floor level of the property, also discovering rising damp to the ground floor walls. Pointing out the age of the property (1908), it was never built with a damp course.

Once our surveyor had identified the cause of the damp issues, he was then able to advise solutions to Mr Markland. Solutions were advised as follows: strip off external render back to brickwork to the front and rear of the building where render had blown and was causing issues; once brickwork was exposed, a salt neutraliser was applied to all brickwork and mortar and the red render grip to all exposed surfaces.

Once render grip had dried, render beads were then applied. We were then able to apply a base coat k rend (scratch coat). Once that dried, we then applied the topcoat of K-Rend, which Mr Markland chose in white, which looks fantastic! K-Rend is a breathable render type that has a waterproof element of silicone to help prevent penetrating moisture as well as being breathable; it is the perfect protective external masonry layer for a building of this age.

While working on the render outside, we also had the extended plastering team working hard inside the property, firstly removing all affected plaster internally, which was in the kitchen area to the rear of the property and the upstairs front bedroom, where water had been coming through the blown render.

Internally, once plaster had been removed, we then applied SBR waterproofing to the exposed walls, which helps to seal the brickwork and a base coat of lime plaster is applied to help the moisture being held within the internal walls; lime plaster has air pockets to do so.

To tackle rising damp inside the property, all downstairs walls were injected with our silicone damp course solution, injecting into the mortar line every 150mm, which then filters through the mortar, creating a DPC barrier along the mortar line to prevent moisture rising through the mortar and brick, affecting plaster in the future.