Have You a Damp House?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 397, 4 July 1928, Page 7

Have You a Damp House?

(By “PENATES”)

REASONS AND REMEDIES Getting to Root of Trouble * IT is bad enough to discover signs of dampness when one is living in a tenancy property, but if it is one’s own house the problem is much more serious to the individual concerned. Some knowledge of how to deal with the problem of dampness should therefore be possessed by every householder, and in buying a property he should know what to look for to make quite sure that he does not purchase a house that has damp in it already.

The first indication of dampness often comes when linos are lifted for the spring cleaning, or by discoloured patches appearing on the walls. Any bad smell detected should be investigated at once. Rheumatic troubles, bad health generally, and danger to life itself in certain cases, are all in the unhealthy environment of dampness. The first step should be an endeavour to trace the dampness to its source. It may have entered through the top of the walls; driving rain may have penetrated through from the surface; it may have soaked up through the foundations; be due to faulty drains, gutters and downpipes; or have come from water-logged soils or movements of the ground. Any presence of vegetation on timber, or of rotting of door frames or jambs, signs of water coming into rooms, or decayed window frames, all call for steps to be taken to not only replace the defective part, but also to remove the cause. Dealing first with timber, dampness is most likely to attack the wooden floors. Dry rot may set in. This is a disease caused by the presence of a large quantity of moisture—a combination of wet and no ventilation. The timber reduces to powder, and the condition caused by the dampness and the neglect usually calls for a complete renewal.

This in a floor is often caused by the over-zealous heaping up against the walls of the building of soil by the enthusiastic gardener of the family. The removal of the soil will often be the thing that is necessary to cure the defect, or if this be not desirable, the putting in of a drain close to the house to get the water away instead of it being allowed to soak into the constructional timbers of the house. The removal of the soil (especially if it be above the damp course in the case of a brick house) will do away with capillary attraction, an insidious form of penetration which would exist under these conditions. Defective roofs and gutters play a part in allowing damp to enter, as well as the chokage of downpipes. The leaves and genera! debris from trees in the neighbourhood should be cleaned out on the approach of winter, and the roofs subjected to a general overhaul. Often it will be found that an iron roof has so many nails that have ‘sprung/’ and these require a little attention. But apart from matters like these, in a pro-perly-built house there is little difficulty experienced in the matter of the roof itself. The flashing at the sides of and behind chimneys are sometimes skimped a little by builders, as is also the sheet iron flashing that should be placed over all door and window heads. The decay of a weatherboard building may be a serious problem for the owner, whether he be the occupier or not, for it is likely to be a constant drain upon his pocket, as well as bringing in its train consequences more serious still in regard to health. In the case of a brick erection, the cost of removing the cause, especially if it be one of rising damp, is likely to be a very expensive one, for the whole of the walls may be affected. Too often the older buildings were run up without damp courses, and drawn up by the capillary attraction referred

to above, the rising dampness in time soaks the whole of the brickwork. IC it be detected in time, a damp-proof course may be inserted, but this is a tedious and worrying job, involving the taking out of the whole of the wall in sections, and proving the tar and sand or other material, and building back the brickwork again brick by brick. Modern building construction has, however, provided the solution of the cavity wall. Instead of the wall being a nine-inch solid one, it is built in two sections, each merely the width of one brick; and with a cavity of two inches between them. These two walls are bound together at intervals by wire ties. Providing that the cavity is kept free from falling mortar as the work proceeds, and that proper damp courses are put in, there is no reason why a brick building should not be entirely free from damp. On very old buildings the effect of dampness is seen in disintegration—first usually in the mortar joints, where the pointing gradually washes away, leaving the joints open and unprotected. Pieces of stone may then be split off and the last stage lias been entred upon. Defective window sills are another prolific source of dampness. The properly constructed wooden sill should have a throating underneath to allow the water to drip down upon the cement sill, and so be carried away. Cornices in high city buildings should have a drip also, the object being to protect the face of the wall from water running down the same.

For painting an exposed wall the following is recommended by the experts:—Give first two good coats of raw oil and red lead, and then two coats of paint. To paper on a damp wall it is desirable to batten the walls and cover with canvas beforehand. If it is necessary to paper direct to the damp wall, pitch or bituminous paper should be used first. To treat damp cement work, try first coat of boiled oil and terebine mixed with white and red leads, a second of white lead and linseed oil, dryers and turps, and a third coat similar to the second. The first two coats should be applied in a good body in order to fill up the pores, and the last coat should not be too thick. All cracks must, of course, be well stopped first. The various liquid coatings are, however, effective only in minor cases, and are not really permanent. Cementing is the best. Remarkable facts concerning dampness are that alternate conditions of wet and dry are the worst possible, and that iron completely submerged in water will not rust.

When you go to purchase a house, regard the appearance of lining boards (if it be a brick house) with suspicion. If it be only a dado in a living-room or kitchen, or a little panelling in a hall, it calls for questioning if the house was obviously built before such things were fashionable. Too often it has been put in to cover up signs of dampness. Lathing and plastering a wall affected with dampness is also a favourite device among people who handle property to sell. But all these methods are an ostrich-like policy, and all building owners are ill advised if they follow such courses. Better a thousand times to get to the root of the trouble and “pluck it out.”

To-day, more than ever before, home building and home equipment are occupying an important place in the minds of home owners and prospective builders. And the people who build, buy and rent homes are weighing the reputation of the building contractor by the modern equipment —the electrical servants, the modern plumbing and sanitary equipment—he installs for their comfort and convenience. Cleansing Greasy Hands. —When the hands are very dirty and greasy it is a good plan to wash them in a little paraffin before using soap and water. To Get Rid of Mice.—Mice dislike the smell of turpentine, so if rags soaked in it are placed at the entrances to their runs it will often rid a place of them.