Tanking??

[king.module]

i was going through some old paperwork yesterday and came across a quote we received about our 'damp' problem "take down plaster, apply tanking and re-plaster wall...."

what is this tanking stuff and how well does it work??

<additional info - wall in question is an outside wall which is about 1 to 1.5 meters under ground level - (the house is built on quite a steep slope so one end is under-ground and the other is @ ground level>

cheers

 

[oilman]

You could ask on the forum here as well. It looks to me like your quote was for inside work, but you need to deal with the problem outside. Further than that, I'll leave it to the others as they're better than me.

 

[king.module]

yeah the quote was for inside work, and yes it needs to be sorted from the outside..... but at present we just can't afford that so we're looking at a temporary solution.... i was just wondering what this 'tanking membrane' was and whether it's worth doing for the short term.


cheers

 

[keen-an]

We had a similar problem with our cellar (underground obviously!) We tanked it using special cellar paint which is often used in pub cellars. We painted on and it compleatly stopped the damp getting through. It is now totaly dry. I don't know what the tanking membrane is. Hope this helps

 

[king.module]

hey keen-an - that's just the sort of thing i'm after - can you remember what it was called?? and where you got it from??


taverymuchly

 

[masona]

Is this any good ?

 

[oilman]

Your present situation is that moisture is able to evaporate from the inside of your wall and so limit the water content of the wall. If you put a waterproof coating on the inside, this limiting is removed and the moisture in the wall will increase. You need specialist advice from someone like GwaiLo or renovator before proceeding.

Where have you gone GwaiLo?

 

[king.module]

thanks masona - just the kind of thing i was looking for :O)


oilman - yeah i was aware that the moisture would be trapped so i'm not entirely sure how to go about removing some of this damp problem - obviously the proper way to go about this would be get it sorted at source (i.e. outside) but we just can't afford it at the moment ( as i've already said the house is built into quite a steep hill - what i forgot to mention is that the problem area extends under part of an extension (porch 4meter x 2meter) which totally hikes up the price )

still on a lighter note for the first time ever i tried turning my hand to plumbing last night - i plumbed a hot water feed into the cellar (going to have the washing machine down there....... one day!!!!) - in the process i managed to to put my foot through two floor boards (dreaded wood worm - new floor in the next few years i reckon ), shorted out the cooker and almost flooded the house - still got it all cleaned up and fixed just before the mrs came home - she's none the wiser - well apart from the cooker no-longer working - LOL


cheers all

 

[keen-an]

Hi
sorry for not getting back sooner - I've been away. The Drylok stuff Masona mentioned was the stuff we used. We got it from a local builders, its not cheap but its good stuff.

 

[oilman]

Doing the outside may be cheaper than you think. Do some research on French drains. There's some posts on these forums.

 

[king.module]

thanks for your replies all.

oilman - i've had a look at 'french drains' very good idea indeed - gonna give that a go once the weather improves a bit

keen-an - have decided to hold off on the dry-lock stuff (but i'm def. going to hold it in mind.)

i'm starting to think that maybe the damp problem in the cellar is mainly stemming from the sandstone floor - it rained this weekend - the floor was 60% dry (well it looked dry) a few hours after the rain had stopped all the floor was damp.

i've decided to take out the sandstone slabs (they'll make a nice patio area - well why waste stuff?) and get someone in to lay a concrete floor (or is it easy to do??). and re-evaluate the need for dry-lock once that's done.