Home Improvement DIY

Water damage can be a real pain to deal with because it can be caused by so many things such as underground water, rain water and leaking pipes. One of the ways you can prevent damage from occurring is by applying waterproof paint.

You may not fully realize it, but our homes are full of water and we all use water on a daily basis. Each member of your family will take a daily shower or bath, boil up a kettle, wash dishes, wash clothes use a steam iron etc. Although individually not much water vapour is created however the cumulative effects can take their toll on your home. And that’s just the moisture you create from within your house, there are outside factors such as rain and snow. When you combine all of these things together you can end up with a home which is subjected to considerable amount of moisture and can easily over time cause damage to the structure of your home. Dampness can cause metal to rust, building materials to decay, your paint can blister and peel and surfaces can grow harmful mold and mildew.

Although reading this might make you feel worried about all the moisture you create in your home, you shouldn’t be too worried. There are a number of things you can do to solve your damp problems or prevent them in the first place. In order to do this, it’s important to understand how moisture damage can happen and how you can prevent it.

Before you even contemplate repairing any damage in your home caused by damp, you need to make sure that your home is wind and water tight. This is a mistake that many people make; they re-plaster, get new carpets and re-paint only to have the problem reoccur due to the fact that their roof is leaking buckets or water is getting in under the window sill. Have a look in the area which is damp and/or moldy and try to work out the cause. Are there any cracks, gaps or leaking water pipes? If so you need to attend these problems. Basements particularly have a problem with damp so it’s certainly one area which you should check out as damp in your basement can cause problems with the rest of your home.

Other things to be aware of before applying waterproof paint is to make sure there is enough ventilation. So many homes are built nowadays to be energy efficient and prevent heat loss but the downside can potentially be insufficient ventilation. Without ventilation all that moisture you are creating from having a shower or boiling a kettle won’t be able to escape. The moisture should be vented from window vents and other such places which are intended for this purpose.

When it comes to re-painting you need to make sure that you have prepared the area first. You need to give the existing paint a really good sand down to make sure that you have removed all or most of the damaged paint. For wood which has really been badly affected you should try to get sand down to the wood as much as possible.

Once the surface has been prepared, sanded and cleaned you can then apply a water repellent and then an oil-based primer. When this has dried you should then apply a couple of coats of waterproof/weatherproof paint. There are some paints which work well as a vapour barrier and can help prevent dampness from seeping into walls and ceilings.

Most people use the term “vapour barrier” however it seems that this is now officially considered to be a bad description. It should now be called vapor diffusion retarder (VDR) because they only reduce the rate at which moisture travels through a material. The success of such a product is measured in “perms” or permeability. It is a measurement which indicates how many grains of water can pass through a square foot of material per hour at a temperature of 23°C. A product which has a perm rating of less than one can be called a vapour retarder.

You can use a vapour retarder for many applications including:-

• Basements
• Ceilings
• Floors
• Walls
• Crawl spaces

There are many ways in which you can retard vapour and paint is just one of the methods. However if you do have a big problem with damp, you should also strongly consider using other techniques as well as waterproof paint.

Although damp should be a major concern because it can cause all sorts of difficulties in the structure of your home and also you health, it can be solved by locating the source of the damp, making sure your home is water tight and then using the different techniques to combat the problem

 

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