Contents
5 reasons why corners and walls in an apartment are raw
And how to deal with this scourge.
Dampness is a quiet enemy that invisibly harms your home, manifesting itself in unexpected mildew spots and unpleasant odors. Dealing with dampness in an apartment is difficult, because the source is not always obvious. Therefore, before taking action, together with the Leroy Merlin Repair School, we will understand the causes of dampness.
1. Home must breathe
One of the most common causes of dampness is poor facade ventilation. The building needs to breathe, that is, there should be a slight but constant exchange of air between the room and the street. Houses breathe through the pores in the materials used to build walls and floors. If there is no such “breathing”, the evaporation of moisture from the apartment goes badly and dampness occurs. Therefore, if the facade is covered with layers of airtight material such as plaster, paint, waterproof coating or cladding, the risk of dampness in the apartment is growing.
It is quite difficult for residents to determine this reason on their own. Therefore, if dampness appears in the apartment after a major overhaul, it is worth discussing this issue with the management company and conducting an independent examination.
2. You can not insulate the walls from the inside
Sometimes we create ideal conditions for dampness ourselves during repairs, insulating the walls from the inside. In an effort not to lose expensive heat, people sometimes turn apartments into hermetically sealed boxes with little or no ventilation.
When walls are insulated from the inside, especially with such material as expanded polystyrene, the so-called dew point shifts.
In construction, this term is called the place in the thickness of the wall, where condensation falls out of the apartment when warm air comes into contact with the cold street air. The safe location of the dew point is specified by the engineers during the construction of the house, and the internal insulation leads to the fact that it moves unpredictably. Okay, even if it is somewhere inside a concrete wall, but often after insulation from the inside, it ends up where the insulation borders on the wall.
Condensation occurs in this place and high humidity occurs. Turns out that mold and mildew appear right behind the layer of insulation and concrete or brick collapses… In addition, internal insulation prevents the couple from leaving the room, which exacerbates the situation. Therefore, if for some reason internal insulation cannot be avoided, it is necessary to install a ventilation system in the apartment in order to regulate the humidity.
3. The humidity in the bathroom affects the climate in the entire apartment.
The reason for the increase in humidity and the appearance of condensation on the walls can be a violation of ventilation in the bathroom. It is quite simple to determine this: negative consequences develop most rapidly in the bathroom, that is, mold occurs.
As a rule, it is not possible to correct the operation of the entire ventilation system by the efforts of the tenants of one apartment. A network of canals for each entrance is made during the construction of a house, and there is no effective way to assess its condition. In some cases, for example, when the ventilation outlets on the roof are destroyed, the problem can be dealt with by the management company. However, residents have the opportunity to improve the situation. installation of an exhaust fan.
4. Ground floor – a zone of special risk
In apartments on the first floors, humidity is often higher than in the whole house. The main reason is the penetration of moisture from the basement. When building a house, the overlap between the basement and the first floor is insulated with a layer of moisture-proof material. However, due to aging, and often violations during construction, over time, moisture begins to penetrate into the apartment on the ground floor more strongly.
It is quite possible to cope with this problem by the efforts of the tenants of one apartment during the renovation. It is necessary to spend in the apartment complex waterproofingto prevent humidity from rising above a certain level.
Complex waterproofing is done in various ways:
Method coating waterproofing involves the application of bitumen-containing mastic to the floor and the lower part of the walls in several layers.
RџSЂRё plaster waterproofing instead of mastic, a cement-polymer composition is used that prevents moisture penetration.
RџSЂRё backfill waterproofing a network of cavities is created on the floor, into which a material is poured that forms a moisture-proof gel upon contact with water.
RџSЂRё gluing waterproofing the floor is covered with a layer of polymer-bitumen material, which can be purchased at the construction hypermarket. This method is simple, and even an amateur can carry out insulation with roll materials.
5. Water leaks at home and at neighbors
Water leaks from heating and plumbing systems on the upper floors and in your own apartment are probably one of the most common causes of dampness in an apartment. Often, leaks occur at the places where washing machines are connected, under sinks, next to sewer pipes, under showers. Even the smallest leak brings big problems over time.
The only way to spot a leak in time is to be vigilant. Wet spots on ceilings, drops and puddles where they should not be – all this should immediately alert you. If you find one of these symptoms, immediately call an employee of the service organization and ask them to find the cause – in yourself or your neighbors.