How to treat damp in Listed Buildings?

At Danford Brewer & Ives we specialise in treating damp problems in buildings, usually old buildings and sometimes listed buildings.  The oldest and listed properties often provide the most interesting work for us.

Our usual jobs are often in Victorian, brick or stone terraced houses located across Yorkshire & Teesside.  Older properties in general often haven’t been well maintained or have been regularly ‘renovated’ and ‘improved’ on tight budgets. Damp and condensation are recurring problems.  We also see a lot of mid-twentieth century traditional family houses, often brick, semi-detached.  Some of these are now having problems with the failure or breaking down of original, often bitumen, damp proof courses.  Many have been altered, extended and have had walls removed.  We see a lot of damaged and bridged original damp proof courses.

Most older houses would originally have been draughty, poorly insulated places, possibly with outside toilets and certainly no fitted bathrooms & showers.  Heating would have been solid fuel open fires which draw air for combustion and provided good ventilation. We now close up these same structures, double glaze & seal the windows, block up air vents, turn up the central heating and use gas fires.  Showers, baths, cooking and breathing produce lots of moisture into the atmosphere of a home and some older properties don’t cope well with this high humidity and poor ventilation.

Traditional lime-based construction mortars and plasters need a property to ‘breathe’, modern cement and gypsum don’t react in the same way.  We see lots of old houses with solid external walls that have had plasterboard bonded with porous adhesives and now show patches of damp, condensation and mould.  Some modern methods are not compatible with older properties.

Danford Brewer & Ives have many years’ experience of working with a wide range of buildings and many different types of construction.  To be able to diagnose and treat damp problems in older houses you need to understand how the building was put together.  We have worked on thousands of properties. We carry out initial damp surveys with the homeowners and builders to discuss and investigate areas of concern.  We consider the type of construction and the condition of the structure.  We also take moisture readings and sometimes temperature & humidity readings, to help diagnose the causes of damp.

Usually, we can then provide a solution or choices of solutions to deal with the problems and quote for all the necessary works.  Most of our specialist works would carry long term, independent insurance-backed guarantees giving you total peace of mind that the damp problems have been solved.  We are a small company that can offer a personal and professional service and these guarantees mean that we can offer the security provided by some of the larger firms within our industry.
We have a range of solutions to damp and timber problems, some are modern chemicals and plasters which may not be suitable in all instances and may not be right or allowed in some listed buildings.  Sometimes we suggest silicon injection damp proof courses, sometimes electro-osmotic provides a much better answer and we have liquid tanking coating, cavity drainage & lining membranes.  We are also happy to work with conservation officers, listen to any concerns and try to find solutions.  The solutions may sometimes be maintenance, ventilation or undoing earlier ‘improvements’ or a combination of new and old techniques.

More and more of our structural work is carried out below ground level with basement waterproofing, converting cellars to dry, usable spaces sometimes for dry storage or sometimes to extend habitable areas, create a gym or a cinema, a kitchen extending into the garden or a self-contained flat.  This type of work is possible in some listed buildings with the correct planning and conservation consents.  We are happy to look at any of this type of project.

Danford Brewer and Ives are damp proofing and timber treatment specialists.  Based from our Head Office in Ripon, North Yorkshire, we provide a first class service which our customers appreciate.

“Thank you for the quality of the work and all your support with the project…incredibly helpful and accommodating….no hesitation in recommending” Mr & Mrs Griffiths North Yorkshire

If you own an older property and need some professional advice from the county’s leading Damp Proof & timber treatment company, then please contact one of our team who will be only too happy to help.

We’d love to hear from you. To speak to one of our team please contact our Head Office on 01765 804050 or submit your enquiry online.