What Does Rising Damp Look Like?

Rising damp in your household can cause structural damage and decrease air quality in your home. It’s something we all dread finding in our homes and can be difficult to get rid of once it takes hold. Rising damp is normally an excess of moisture in or underneath your flooring that is unable to escape and so builds up and rises from the ground up to your (until now) dry skirting and walls.

But what does rising damp look like, how do you know you have it, and what can be done to prevent it happening in your property? Let's find out...

Tell-tale Signs Of Rising Damp Problem

Rising damp is normally spotted as wet patches along your flooring or carpets along your walls. Wet stains along your walls inside, or ‘tide marks’ of dark or green damp outside on brickwork can both be symptoms of rising damp.

If you have wallpaper in your home, you may notice it start to peel away even if not looking obviously wet, and you may notice decay or deterioration within your skirting boards.

You may also notice fluffy-looking white build ups of salt within the plaster on your walls or tell-tale ‘black mould’ along the joins between your floor and wall space.

If there’s no visible signs of rising damp right away, instead try running your hand along the wall, low down. Wallpaper may make a crackling or crunching sound here as your hands touch salts that have risen from the ground.

The most common reason that houses absorb moisture is because of their under-floor insulation. This is, traditionally, layers of fibreglass insulation panels laid in underground crawl space. The nature of the fibreglass panels means that over time, they can absorb damp and begin to disintegrate

False Signs Of Rising Damp In A Property

There are, however, some misconceptions around rising damp in households. Tide marks outside can be caused by leaky or faulty drainage, and so it’s worth checking that your outside guttering is all still in good condition.

It’s not a clean job but easy to check – so make sure you do so before you self-diagnose your property with rising damp.

How To Stop Rising Damp Before It Starts

Rising damp begins when excess moisture and water builds up within your property and can’t sufficiently escape or evaporate. To stop this, you need to efficiently and completely seal your property from absorbing moisture from the ground.

The most common reason that houses absorb moisture is because of their under-floor insulation. This is, traditionally, layers of fibreglass insulation panels laid in underground crawl space. The nature of the fibreglass panels means that over time, they can absorb damp and begin to disintegrate.

Furthermore, the panels turn mouldy and start releasing allergen spores into the air that rise through your floor into your house!

As there’s usually space between the fibreglass insulation panels (however small),that allows water, insects and pests to pass through.

Home Logic (Icynene) Spray Foam is the answer. A spray foam insulation, it expands to up to one hundred times its original size to fill any space, no matter the size or shape. It forms an effective barrier between your home and the ground, allowing nothing through.

Watch the video to see how underfloor Home Logic Foam Insulation is applied...