Damp Proofing in Eastbourne | Damp Specialists East Sussex

The three kinds of damp, and telling them apart

Nearly all damp in a building is one of three things. Penetrating damp is water coming in from outside through a defect: a blocked gutter, cracked render, failed pointing, a leaking roof or a bridged cavity. Rising damp is groundwater drawn up through a wall where there is no working damp proof course. Condensation is moisture produced inside the building settling on cold surfaces, and it is by far the most common of the three.

They look similar on a wall and they need completely different work, which is why the first thing we do is work out which one you have. Injecting a damp course into a wall that is wet because of a blocked gutter achieves nothing except a bill.

We investigate and treat damp in houses, flats and commercial buildings across East Sussex, and because we also cover roofing, guttering, pointing, rendering and plastering, we can fix the cause and put the wall back afterwards.

We are not a damp proofing company that only sells one product. That matters, because if the only tool you sell is injection, every wall looks like it needs injecting.

How to tell what you are looking at

Condensation shows as water on cold surfaces and black spotted mould, worst in winter, in corners, behind furniture on outside walls, around windows and in bathrooms and kitchens. It is usually seasonal and improves with ventilation.

Penetrating damp appears as patches that get worse after rain, often high up or in one specific place, and it lines up with something outside: a gutter joint, a cracked sill, a chimney, a section of failed render.

Rising damp is confined to the bottom of a wall, generally no more than about a metre up, with a tide mark and often salts crystallising on the surface. It is real, but it is diagnosed far more often than it occurs.

If a survey has told you that you have rising damp throughout, on an upper floor, or on an internal wall, it is worth a second opinion. Rising damp does not work like that.

How we investigate

We look outside first. Most damp we are called to is penetrating damp with an obvious external cause, and half an hour spent looking at gutters, pointing, render, sills and ground levels answers the question more reliably than any meter.

We use moisture readings as one piece of evidence rather than the whole diagnosis, because a meter on a salt contaminated wall will read wet whether or not water is still coming in. We look at the pattern, the height, the season and what is on the other side of the wall.

Then we tell you what we think it is, what is causing it, and what it needs. If that is better ventilation and a gutter repair rather than a damp proof course, that is what we will tell you.

We would rather do the cheap honest job and keep you as a customer than sell you an expensive unnecessary one and have you find out in two years.

Investigation and diagnosis

Working out which type of damp you have and what is causing it before any treatment is priced, including a look at the outside of the building and at what is on the other side of the wall.

Penetrating damp

Repairing the actual defect: guttering, roof repairs, repointing, render repairs, sills, flashings and chimney work, which is what stops water getting in rather than hiding it.

Rising damp

Chemical damp proof course injection where a wall actually needs it, plus lowering bridged external ground levels, clearing bridged cavities and dealing with raised patios and flowerbeds against the wall.

Condensation and mould

Extraction and ventilation sized for the room, treating affected surfaces, and advice on insulation and cold bridging, which is what actually fixes the most common form of damp in East Sussex housing.

Replastering and timber

Salt resistant and breathable replastering after treatment, using lime where the building needs it, plus treating and replacing skirting, joist ends and window timber that damp has already rotted.

Basements and making good

Tanking and drainage where a cellar or below ground room needs to stay dry, and full decoration afterwards so the room is finished rather than just treated.

Dealing with condensation, the most common cause

Most of the damp we are called to in East Sussex is condensation rather than anything coming through the wall, and a lot of it can be improved without any building work at all. This is what actually helps.

Extract at the source. A working extractor fan in the bathroom and kitchen, ducted outside, run during and for a while after showering and cooking.
Give it somewhere to go. Trickle vents open, and a window cracked in bedrooms overnight. Sealed rooms and drying washing indoors are the two biggest contributors.
Keep it evenly warm. Short bursts of high heat in one room and cold elsewhere produce more condensation than steady background warmth throughout.
Move furniture off cold walls. A few centimetres of airflow behind a wardrobe on an external wall stops mould forming behind it.
Deal with cold bridges. Window reveals, lintels and solid wall corners stay colder than the rest of the wall and are where mould appears first.

If you have done all that and it is still wet, it is probably not condensation, and that is worth knowing before anyone quotes for treatment.

Damp in solid walled coastal housing

A great deal of the housing between Eastbourne and Hastings is solid walled, with no cavity, built in soft brick or flint with lime mortar. Those walls always carry some moisture and are designed to let it evaporate away again. They are not faulty for doing so.

Problems start when something stops them drying: cement render or modern gypsum plaster over the top, plastic paint on the outside face, or raised patios and flowerbeds piling soil above the damp course. Trapped moisture then moves inwards, and the answer is usually to remove what is trapping it rather than to inject anything.

Coastal exposure adds driven rain and salt. Salt in old masonry is hygroscopic, meaning it pulls moisture out of the air, so a wall can read damp and feel damp long after the leak that contaminated it has been fixed. That is one reason a meter reading on its own does not tell you very much, and why replastering with a salt resistant system matters.

The other local factor is the number of converted flats. Where a house has been split, you often find a ground floor flat with a bridged damp course, no subfloor ventilation because airbricks were covered, and a bathroom added without extraction. Those three together produce damp that gets blamed on the wall.

Questions we get asked

Do I need a damp proof course?

Possibly not. Rising damp is diagnosed far more often than it actually occurs, and most of the damp we are called to is penetrating damp or condensation, which a damp proof course will not fix. We investigate before recommending treatment, and if the answer is a gutter repair and better ventilation we will tell you that even though it is a smaller job.

How can I tell condensation from rising damp?

Condensation shows as black spotted mould and surface moisture on cold surfaces, worst in winter, in corners, behind furniture and around windows, and it affects upstairs rooms as well. Rising damp is confined to the bottom of a wall, rarely above about a metre, with a tide mark and salting, and it does not come and go with the seasons.

Is black mould dangerous?

It should be dealt with rather than ignored, particularly where anyone in the house has asthma or another respiratory condition. Cleaning it off treats the symptom, so it returns unless the moisture and the cold surface causing it are addressed, usually through ventilation, extraction and sometimes insulation.

Will you replaster after treating the damp?

Yes. Treated walls need replastering with a suitable salt resistant or breathable system, and on solid walled period property that usually means lime rather than gypsum so the wall can still dry out. We can then redecorate so the room is finished rather than left as bare plaster.

Why does my damp keep coming back after being treated?

Nearly always because the cause was never dealt with, only the symptom. Replastering and repainting a wall that is still being wetted by a leaking gutter, failed render or a bridged damp course will fail again within a year or two. That is why we spend the time working out where the water is coming from.

Can you help with a damp report for a sale or a mortgage?

Yes. Where a survey has flagged damp we can inspect, tell you what is actually happening and quote for the work needed, which is often less alarming than the survey wording suggests. We can put that in writing for a buyer, a seller or a lender.

My patio is higher than the damp course. Does that matter?

Yes, and it is one of the most common causes we find. Where paving, soil or a flowerbed sits above the damp proof course, water bridges straight into the brickwork above it. Paving should ideally sit at least 150 millimetres below the damp course, and where levels make that impossible a drainage channel along the wall is the answer.

Do you charge for a damp inspection?

No. Coming to look and giving you our view in writing is free and carries no obligation, the same as any other job we quote. We would rather look thoroughly and tell you it is a gutter than charge you for a survey that concludes you need the product we sell.

Where we work

We are based on Hyde Gardens in Eastbourne, so the town and the villages around it are home ground for us. We are out working here most days and we know the housing well, including the older seafront terraces, the Victorian and Edwardian houses in Upperton and Meads, and the newer estates and blocks of flats nearer the edge of town.

From Eastbourne we cover the whole of East Sussex. Along the coast that takes in Bexhill, Hastings, Seaford, Newhaven, Brighton, where salt air and driving rain are hard on any building. Inland we work regularly in Polegate, Hailsham, Pevensey, Willingdon, Lewes, Uckfield, Heathfield, Crowborough, Battle and the smaller villages between them, where period cottages and country properties often need a gentler approach and older materials matched carefully.

Being local matters for damp investigation and treatment. We can get to you quickly to take a look, we know the buildings and the ground conditions, and we are never far away if you need us again. If your village is not on the list there is a good chance we still reach you, so give us a call on 01323 671001 and we will tell you either way.

Backed by recognised standards

We are Gas Safe registered and members of the Federation of Master Builders, NAPIT and the FSB. Those memberships mean our gas, electrical and building work is measured against recognised standards, and that an outside body has looked at how we work rather than us simply saying we are good at it. For a family business our reputation matters more than anything, and we have built it one customer at a time.

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