Posts Tagged ‘damp’
Building lime knowledge
Lime, in the form of mortars, renders, plasters and paints, is a key component of old buildings and essential to their repair – or at least it should be. Today lime-based materials are also emerging into the mainstream and being used within low carbon construction systems, employed in everything from homes to superstores. All this…
Read MoreDrain problems
A blocked drain is not a pleasant thing to wake up to. What’s worse is the realisation that it’s something that can generally be avoided by doing what I’m always talking about: maintenance. The drainage system is easily forgotten because much of it is hidden away underground but, as with any element of a building, it…
Read MoreInsurance and flooding
Flooding is something I’ve already written about but it seemed important to think about the insurance implications relating to old buildings. In this Q & A I’ve asked Amanda Harman, who works as senior client manager of High Value Households at Aon Private Clients, for her views: What are the particular insurance issues relating to…
Read MoreDrying flooded old buildings
Flooding may not be making the headlines anymore but there are still plenty of people with homes that have suffered damage. What worries me is that I’m hearing about insurance companies, loss adjusters, landlords and contractors who are pushing ahead with inappropriate and rushed work to older buildings without thinking about the long term consequences.…
Read MoreCavity wall insulation
A question about cavity wall insulation may not be one that you’d expect to be asked when talking about old buildings. Generally, cavity walls are regarded as a modern form of construction but the subject has cropped up a couple of times in the Q&A sessions at the SPAB Old House Eco Courses that I…
Read MoreSustainable drainage
With the emphasis currently on dealing with the aftermath of flooding, it’s easy to forget that we should be looking at the causes and solutions. Flooding is nothing new, it’s happened throughout history, but things have been made worse because of the way we’ve interfered with natural landscapes. We’ve constructed vast areas of impermeable surfaces…
Read MoreBreathability, airtightness, ventilation
When it comes to old buildings and making them energy efficient there’s one very important point to understand: old buildings work in a different way to modern buildings. Old solid wall buildings – whether medieval timber-framed houses or Edwardian terraces – are designed to allow a degree of moisture penetration into their structure. But, and…
Read MoreDon’t neglect your home!
Maybe it’s because you’re busy or perhaps you’ve just lived in your home for so long that you no longer notice the crack in the wall or the damp in the spare room, but more and more UK homes are falling into disrepair because of neglect. In fact, around 11 per cent are now in…
Read MoreOld House Eco Handbook
Each time I write a book I say to myself “never again”. This is all very well but when a good idea comes along it’s hard to resist. Towards the end of 2010 I watched as the ink dried on my signature at the bottom of a contract for “a book provisionally entitled ‘The Old…
Read MoreDealing with damp
I talk a lot about dealing with damp so I’ve been practising what I preach at the 1900 house we’re renovating in America. Virtually everyone with an old house will experience some sort of damp problem. The most important rule is to diagnose the actual cause and tackle the problem at source, rather than simply…
Read MoreInsulation worries
Four days of speaking and answering questions at the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show in Birmingham has only strengthened my concerns about the issues relating to the insulation of walls in old buildings. Twelve months ago the subject was barely on most people’s radar but, this year, the volume of questions relating to the topic…
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