Freezteq-brought to you by Forest Dampbusters
Rising damp and how to cure it.
In most external walls the foundations are well below ground level and
the lowest part of the wall will often be in hydraulic contact with
ground having a high water content and the wall materials will usually
be finer-pored than the soils and will draw water from the soil to
attain relatively high water contents.
Water rises up the wall by capillary action and as there is virtually no
evaporation below ground level then the water content of the wall at
just below ground level can be close to saturation and if there is no
damp-proof course( or the existing d.p.c. is defective ) then water will
rise up the brickwork by capillary action.
This damp can rise to height of around one metre but it can vary due to
evaporation from the wall (inside and outside) and the rate of water
uptake from the ground.
There are various ways to control rising damp but one of the most
popular methods, especially in the Forest of Dean, is to inject a
chemical damp-proof course through pre-drilled holes into the walls and
this is intended to form a water-proof barrier to water rising from the
ground. However this injected damp-proofing system rarely works properly
on stone built walls in the Forest as the fluid will often run away in
the voids and rubble in-fill of stone walls. Even in brick walls
pressure injected damp-proofing systems also have a poor track record as
they do not form an impermeable damp-proof course because of a process
known as ‘viscous fingering’ where the injected fluid fingers through
the brickwork to find the path of least resistance and this leaves
sections of brickwork which are left unprotected and therefore still
subject to water rising from the ground.
To saturate a brick and form an effective damp-proof course the
injection process would have to be continued for a long enough time to
saturate the brickwork across the wall cross-section and in a typical
clay brick the optimum injection time to saturate a brick is between 5
and 20 minutes. On a typical 30 metre run of external brickwork this
would take around two days to install an effective damp-proof course and
most firms in the Forest of Dean complete their damp-proofing works on
most properties in less than half a day so it is reasonable to assume
that the walls are not being effectively treated and these firms rely on
the waterproof rendering system to hold back any dampness from the
walls.
However there is an effective system of controlling rising damp in stone
or brick built houses and cottages in the Forest of Dean. Freezteq is a
frozen damp-proofing system where ice sticks of damp-proofing fluid are
inserted directly into mortar joints. These then gradually melt and
saturate the wall with the slow diffusion process ensuring that all the
pores and fissures within the wall are lined with the damp-proofing
solution. This slower, gravity fed method allows the damp-proofing fluid
to penetrate fully into the pore structure of mortar, stone and bricks
and is a more appropriate and highly effective method of damp-proofing
for walls constructed of hard stones and set in lime mortar such as
stone built Forest of Dean houses and cottages.
Rising damp is caused by capillary action where water is drawn up the
pores in the brickwork due to the surface tension of the walling
material. The hydrophobic siliconates in the Freezteq ice-sticks are
pore-lining water repellents, preventing water from being drawn into the
pores, which reduces the surface tension of the brickwork so the
meniscus normally found in normal capillary action is inverted and damp
is therefore prevented from rising.
The slow diffusion process of the Freezteq damp-proofing ice sticks
ensures that there is no viscous fingering and that the active
damp-proofing fluids are deposited across the entire cross-section of
wall ensuring that there is an effective barrier against rising damp
from the ground.
The new damp-proof course is guaranteed for up to 30 years.
Forest Dampbusters can either install the Freezteq damp-proofing system
for you and provide you with an insured guarantee or alternatively we
are also distributors for Freezteq and can supply packs of the Freezteq
frozen damp-proofing system already frozen and ready for use.
The installation of Freezteq frozen d.p.c. sticks is simple for builders
or diy houseowners.All you need is a hammer drill ( Kango or Hilti )
which will take an 22mm drill bit. Installation of the Freezteq
damp-proof course is simple and just involves drilling holes at the base
of the damp walls and the insertion the damp-proofing ice sticks, once
these have melted you then have to repeat the process up to 3 times to
ensure that the damp-proofing fluid is absorbed effectively into the
wall and this will form an effective damp-proof course which will stop
rising damp.
You don’t need any pumps that are used to pump in an injected damp-proof
course or mastic-type guns to pump in damp-proofing creams or gels, just
a drill bit. There is no mess or waste and it is a targeted
damp-proofing treatment which is guaranteed to be much more effective
than any other damp-proofing system available in the Forest of Dean.
Freezteq Prices for builders and DIY
One box of Freezteq containing 250 damp-proofing units will treat 7
metres of 230mm thick wall (9inches).
The cost of a box of Freezteq-250 (250 d.p.c.units) is £90.00 and we
also do smaller boxes of 100 and 50 and the cost of these is £38.40 and
£20.40 respectively.
Example: If you were to treat a typical Forest stone built cottage with
wall approximately 460mm (18 inches) thick and the total length of wall
being around 35 metres then you would need the following:-
35 metre run divided by 7 gives 5 length units
Multiply this by thickness unit of 2 (wall thickness is twice gauging
rate) so 10 boxes of 250 damp-proofing ice sticks are required.
The total cost to you would be £900.00 which includes a 30 year
guarantee against the recurrence of rising damp.
Forest Dampbusters believe that the combination of the lowest prices for
damp-proofing systems in the Forest of Dean and Gloucestershire, expert
advice from experienced contractors and surveyors and a 30 year
guarantee against the re-occurrence of rising damp is an ideal solution
for DIY/builders who want to carry out their own damp-proofing works.
To save you more money and avoid hire charges for drills and drill bits
we now provide a free drill loan service on purchase of 5 boxes ( 250
units each ) of Freezteq damp-proofing ice sticks
For more details about the advantages of the Freezteq frozen
damp-proofing system please call us on 01594 837300 or email us at
enquiries@forest-dampbusters.co.uk