Damp Proofing

Damp proofing render has cracked extensively

Anonymous user 01/03/2024 - 2.53 PM

I live in a basement flat and when we moved in 4/5 months ago we had the living room/kitchen (one room) and bathroom treated for damp (the entire height of the wall was injected and re-rendered.) After a month cracks began to form which sound common in new plaster, but after 3-4 months they had covered the place - on one wall there is little more than 8 inches before a new crack appears, like a spiders web. Most of the wall & cracks don't sound hollow, but on one wall a small section has blown. We scraped away a bit of the top layer of plaster, and its clear the cracks originate in the render. We had a specialist damp company do the work who have agreed to replace the patch of render which has blown, but they have not agreed to re-do the rest of the walls which are extensively cracked but don't sound hollow (yet!) - they keep saying that I can patch up those cracks myself with polyfila. I'm worried that if one patch has blown already, is the rest of the wall is likely to? Has the render mix been badly mixed perhaps? Would I be justified in pushing for the damp company to re-render the entire wall? And do large cracks in 'damp-proof' render mean there is no longer a sealed layer against potentially damp bricks? Half the cost of the work was in having a builder remove and replace radiators, skirting boards and the kitchen units so that the damp company could access the wall. There's no way I can pay for the builder to do so again, so at best I can probably only try and get the damp company to patch up the render around those fittings. There's no reason to think any of the walls have moved - in the bedroom and hallway which were not treated there are no cracks in any of the plaster. Would really appreciate any advice - not sure how serious internal render cracking is. Terrified about being left with the cost of redoing it all in a couple of years if it all blows! Thank you!

Anonymous user

The render shouldn't crack if done correctly, I'd say too strong a mix was used, eg if the scratch coat is 3:1, the next should be 4:1 whoever rendered it is responsible, be it during mixing or preparation of the walls, to cut corners and their costs. If they're reputable you'll have a guarantee on works and they'll have to remedy the issues

Answered6 February 2016

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Jag Interiors Services Ltd

Rating: 5 out of 5

5/555 reviews

Golders Green, London

They probably done a quick job which means two layers of render in the same day (possible thin layers) it should be given at least one day for the second coat to be laid on to receive 12-15mm thickness.Would suggest to leave for a while as it is, if damp comes back...they must come back and rectify it.

Answered31 October 2017

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