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What is Rising Damp and How Does
It Cause Mold Problems?
Rising damp is ground water wicking upward into the foundation, floors and
walls of a building, with resulting mold growth and rot in the building
cellulose-based building materials such as wood timbers. Rising damp
is not only a big mold and rot problem in Ireland (as described below) but
rising damp is also a worldwide cause of hidden mold infestations and wood
rot in homes and buildings. Read this interesting account of rising damp in
Ireland, as published in “Live and Invest Overseas” Newsletter by
Kathleen Peddicord,
editorial@liveandinvestoverseas.com, Nov. 23, 2011.
The little Irishman
pulled a screwdriver from the back pocket of his pants and began poking it
into things. He pushed it into every piece of wood he passed, starting with
the window casings, then the shutters, the skirting boards at the bases of
the walls, the frames of the French doors leading to the side patio, the
floor boards... With every poke, his look grew more grave. After he'd
finished in the living room, he continued on, poking as he went, through the
dining room, the breakfast room, the kitchen. Then back to the entry hall
and up the stairs, poking every step as he climbed. On the second floor, he
started all over again, poking his way through each of the five bedrooms,
each of the three bathrooms, and all up and down the hallways that connected
them.
Finally: "Rising damp," he declared solemnly. "All throughout."
"Rising damp? What...uh...how...what should we do?" I stammered.
"Got to treat it," he replied as he walked back down the stairs and
toward and then out the big red front door. As I watched him drive away, I
picked up my cell phone and called Noel.
Rising damp, Noel explained, is a common phenomenon throughout the
Emerald Isle, where damp from the constantly wet soil seeps into the
foundation of a house and then rises up the walls until gravity gets the
better of it. Left untreated, damp will rise, Noel told me, about six feet
before the force of gravity halts its progress. In our house, the damp
evidently had been left untreated for a very long time. Once I understood
how to recognize the signs, I could see that every wall on the ground floor
had been affected. Some were so afflicted that they bubbled with tiny white
plaster blisters.
In addition to rising damp, we had rot, both wet and dry. We had
mold and fungus, too, in every hidden and covered corner and crevice,
beneath the floor boards, under the stairs, and behind the shutters.
This realization turned our simple old home make-over into an
all-out renovation that extended over more than a year. |