What Is Water Ingress? Signs, Causes & Treatment
What is water ingress? Across the building industry, the term water ingress is often described as the water infiltration into the property. This term is used along with phrases like penetrating damp. But the meanings vary from person to person. Water ingress through brickwork is increasingly becoming a serious problem to homes.
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What is Water Ingress?
In simple words, water ingress is when water finds its way to seep into a building. Any water coming into your building is bad news. It can badly damage the structure of a building and could lead to further expensive problems. The damages include fungal decay, damage to the interior of a property, and even the negative impact on health. It’s always necessary to take the essential measures to prevent water damage or deal with water ingress’s main root cause in the property as soon as possible.
Water ingress can occur in different forms as water can enter the building in several ways. One of the most common ways for water to get in easily is via the basement. However, it can also infiltrate via the walls or roof of the building if its materials have become deteriorated or damaged. As water ingress means huge problems for both the building and its inhabitants, it’s always ideal for dealing with the problem of dampness as early as possible by contacting our damp specialists.
Contact us now on 0300 373 7251.
What is Water Ingress in a Building?
It defines as when outside water makes its way into a certain building. It can easily occur in properties in multiple ways and for multiple reasons. It also refers to penetrating damp because the water penetrates through the walls of the building.
There must be a proper way to egress water effectively. Luckily, you are here, and we are glad to announce that we can deal with multiple water ingress problems effectively to avoid water damage or safe building materials for your home. So it’s necessary to find out the root cause and fix the problem as soon as you can.
How to stop water coming through your brickwork?
Preventing water from penetrating brickwork is an essential job to stop serious damage to the internal walls of your home. Through a mix of heavy rain fall and porous unprotected brickwork your walls will quickly dampen. To adequately protect older buildings with porous brickwork against penetrating damp a waterproof coating can be applied which adds a water repellent layer to the exterior of the property. This negates any further penetrating damp issues by blocking rain penetration through the brickwork.
Common Causes of Water Ingress
It’s essential to prevent water ingress in your home by knowing about the common causes.
The most common one is the building structural fault or defect. There could be a range of building defects that allow water in the buildings, causing moisture. Below are some causes to know to prevent water ingress immediately.
- Roofs: One of the reasons could be broken tiles or slates of a roof. Most property owners neglect the defective surfaces in the buildings and lead to a faulty building. Ideally, you should always search for professionals to inspect water ingress issues in your home. Roof leaks, broken wall ties, wall cavity, or cavity walls are the main causes.
- Blocked or faulty valley gutters.
- Walls: Cracked render or bridged cavity is also one of the reasons ingress. Maybe there is missing DPC, air bricks, damaged or full broken pipework.
- Windows: One of the reasons could be faulty flashing around the window frames.
- Rising damp: Damaged or bridged waterproofing or no DPC could cause water ingress. By having the correct damp proofing in place you can adequately prevent it.
- Flooding: Living near a body of water, flooding is the most common risk.
- Faulty plumbing: Leaks can appear anywhere within your house and could simply lead to water ingress.
Ingress into the Basement: If you have a basement or a raise in the external ground level and the basement waterproofing is inadequate, you may find the water entering the building.
Signs of Ingress or Water Damage
There are multiple paces in your home where you mostly want to see water, mainly in bath tubs rather than the house walls and ceilings. Here are some signs to figure out about water ingress before it’s too late.
Normally, water ingress occurs due to some sort of defect in the property, such as cracks that allow the water to penetrate the property and unfortunately lead to a host of damp related issues if left untreated, such as:
- Dry & Wet Rot
- Musty, damp smell
- Increase in loss of heat
- Damp plasterwork
- Unsightly water damage on inside & outside property
Given the repercussions of repeated water ingress, our damp specialists at Advanced Damp would always recommend identifying the troublesome areas in your building. Then, contact our specialist damp contractors to do the professional survey and find the source of water ingress. Finally, we will evaluate the damage that has been caused and discuss the possible solutions to prevent moisture ingress and penetrating damp from causing any further damage to your property.
Common Causes of Water Ingress in a cellar or basement
Having water ingress issues in basements or cellars is a huge concern for property owners across the country. In modern buildings, steps are taken at the designing stage only to incorporate waterproofing. However, the older buildings lay lack waterproofing. Thus, others forms of retrospective waterproofing is needed.
One of the most popular waterproofing systems is Type C waterproofing, used to drain any water safely out of the building to a convenient drain. The key components of this waterproofing system include sumo dumps, perimeter drainage channels, and cavity drain membrane. Besides, another method involves tanking the cellar, which requires a waterproof slurry coating on the walls.
No waterproofing system
If the building lacks a waterproofing system or has a damaged one, the property might notice water ingress problems. With our water ingress services, you can get rid of this issue, and we can deal with your damp basement.
FAQ's - Our experts answer your water ingress questions
Once you find the source of water seepage, you can take steps to prevent the damage further. Be sure to prevent seepage by using exterior waterproofing coats that are needed for the external walls. It will help create a barrier between the rainwater and moisture and prevent the damp from getting into your walls. Besides,
- Waterproof the roof
- Use the top-quality paint
- Reduce indoor humidity
- Regularly fill the cracks
More rainfall brings more water to permeate through the brickwork. It can result in damp patches on the interior walls and increases in size during the heavy rainfall season. If you want to prevent water ingress through brickwork, it’s necessary to use a water repellent or facade cream. Such kinds of products penetrate brick and offer long-lasting water repellency.
Water egress is defined as the water coming out from the building. Typically, it refers to the drainage of water from the building. Water egress drainage the important part of a house, but defective drainage can badly destroy the property and is often the main reason behind the water damage.
Bricks and stone, concrete, and mortar are all porous material and so can be damaged easily. The water can penetrate it easily and can cause severe damage. It can cause the requirement for masonry repair.
Treat the water ingress with the following steps:
- Find the root cause and eliminate it
- Dry the affected areas thoroughly
- Carry out repairs
- Use protection treatments to eliminate water ingress in the future.
As bricks are a porous material, water can easily seep through pores and penetrate deeply into masonry. So the more it rains, the more frequently water permeates brickwork. So waterproof exterior walls to prevent damp. Besides, use a Dryseal waterproofer to keep masonry waterproof and fill the cracks and missing bricks.
Hire a water ingress specialist for Treatment
So you must be thinking of how to avoid water ingress. The first step is to locate and identify the root cause of water ingress to save your property. You can either go with DIY treatment or search for professionals for your property. To help you deal with ingress, we are here to make it easy for you.
Let our damp professionals help you in dealing with water ingress, and give you peace of mind from ongoing damp affecting your home. As one of the industry leaders, Advanced Damp have unmatched years of extensive experience and great knowledge when it comes to penetration diagnosis and damp related problems. We create effective and bespoke treatment plans to help you permanently solve your damp.
Contact us now for damp proofing services
So are you interested in our damp services? Do you want to hire professionals for your property? Give us a call now, and our damp specialists will be there to fix your problems. We offer full warranties with all our water ingress and damp treatments.
Get in touch now for more information on damp proofing and long term solutions on damp prevention for your home.
Treating water ingress correctly
There are many steps to correctly treating water ingress but they all must begin with finding the source of the issue. Without identifying the source the damp will continue to penetrate and cause damage.
How to find the damp source?
A damp survey should be carried out as soon as water penetration has been found. A damp survey will give you a complete diagnosis of the damp issue and allow you to begin preventing the issue from getting worse as quick as possible. When water ingress problems are left without treatment they will quickly worsen and potentially cause serious damage areas of the building.
What steps do I need to take after a damp survey?
Once a damp survey is complete a professional damp specialist should be contacted to correct the source of the problem. After the source has been removed the next steps would be to dry out the area of water damage and begin repairs. Repairs could range from re-plastering, brickwork repairs, waterproofing, tanking, exterior coatings, damp proofing, and more…
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Get in touch with our team for free information and advice on all your damp related problems. Whether it is damp proofing, water damage, or general property services we are here to support the local community!