The Challenges of Insulating Old BuildingsThe energy efficiency of old buildings is a hot topic nowadays. Unlike new buildings which are designed and built with adequate insulation in mind, the retrofit insulation of old and listed buildings – especially the…
The Importance of Salts The importance of salts in rising damp can not be overstated. Salts are an extremely important but often much neglected aspect of rising damp. The rising water flow draws up diluted salts from the ground, depositing…
The primary concern in replastering and repointing old walls is the presence of salts. In old buildings, due to their age, salts become an integral part of the building fabric. Getting rid of them is really not an option, which…
Due to their importance, salts have already been mentioned several times in previous sections. We mentioned them when we looked at the key differences between sweet and saline water wetting. We discussed the role of salts as a moisture barrier…
Older walls in need for replastering need special handling in any of the following cases:Building age: for walls older than a 100 yearsRising damp: the building has/had rising damp, there are signs (at the bottom of the walls the paint…