How to restore a damp wall ?

While damp on a wall is initially an aesthetic inconvenience, in the long term it can cause structural damage to the house and can lead to unhealthy conditions with repercussions for the health of the occupants. A damp wall can be identified by black or white marks, halos, blisters or efflorescence (and/or saltpetre). Whatever the cause, it’s essential to treat walls where damp has appeared . An overview ofthe different treatments available to remediate damp walls.

When should a damp wall be treated?

It’s important to remediate a damp wall as soon as you notice any of the signs mentioned in the introduction.

The first thing to do is to identify the cause of the damp.

A damp wall can have several causes:

• One or more infiltrations through façades or roofs,
• Condensation due to poor ventilation in the home,
• Rising damp or capillary rise.

What can be done to eliminate damp in a wall?

Once the cause has been identified, it is essential to involve the most appropriate professionals.

• If seepage is the primary cause, a carpenter or roofer should be called in to repair the areas causing the seepage (holes, gutters, etc.)
• If the damp is caused by condensation, it’s important to air the room, install a CMV (controlled mechanical ventilation) and/or change the joinery, which may be ageing.
• In the case of rising damp, the treatment is more delicate. In fact, all the walls are affected by damp, and over time this has become localised at the heart of the wall.

Calling in a professional to treat a damp wall

Contacting a professional as soon as the first signs appear will save time in diagnosing the problem and ensuring that the right treatment is in place before it’s too late.

Groupe Berkem’s technical advisors are there to help at every stage:

• Diagnosis
• Identifying causes and effective solutions
• Checking dryness before, during and after treatment
• Recommendations before restoration

Long-term injection treatment with XILIX® BLOCKAQUA – XILIX® BLOCKAQUA C, XILIX® BLOCKAQUA CREAM may be recommended in the case of capillary rise. It creates a continuous barrier over the entire wall, even if the wall is waterlogged, and on one side only. XILIX® BLOCKAQUA is a silane/siloxane resin-based product for professionals, which reacts chemically with the silicate matrix and the building material. The hydrophobic particles of the silane/siloxane then orient themselves inside the capillary network of the wall, creating a hydrophobic action that will drive the water out of the capillaries once and for all.

The treatment spreads evenly, whatever the humidity level. A single application is needed to be effective over the entire life of the materials.