Freedom from damp walls and leakages

The most cherished dream of millions of Indians is to buy a new home for themselves. We too were no exceptions. When we moved to Bangalore about four years back, we stayed in a rented flat but come weekends and we used to go house hunting. After what seemed as if an eternity, we got to finalize on a flat in South Bangalore in a very premium complex by a very well-known builder.

We were literally over the moon and to top it all, the flat which we had liked after taking into various considerations like the layout, direction, ventilation, space, privacy factor, vastu etc, was the sample flat. We were of the opinion that this particular flat would therefore be ideal and extra care would have gone into its making!

Initially itself we did see a black spot on one of the walls in the guest bedroom. But with all the excitement around, that was not really taken very seriously. The minute spots were in the topmost corner of one of the walls. Gradually as all the paper work was taken up and after possession of the flat we started with the interior work. Luckily for us, wardrobes were not planned on that wall .You will soon realize what major trouble we got into because of those tiny black spots that literally gave us a nightmare after few months of staying in our home. We moved into our sweet home in February. By June as it started raining, those tiny black spots slowly tuned bigger with each passing day. We could not gather how the dampness was forming on the wall .It was not an external wall too! The spots turned into a noticeable patch and to top it all our guest bedroom is used as an office room by my hubby and his workstation faces that very wall! So it was now not only aesthetically disturbing but also posed a health risk.

Health implication: Monsoons are associated with dull and gloomy weather and what with work pressures mounting, the dampness made it further worse. We contacted the owners of the flat above us and realized that they have a bathroom right above the damp wall and they had changed the floor and wall tiling in the bathroom. So atleast now we could make out the exact reasoning for the dampness.

Dampness is a serious issue as it promotes microbial activity over a period of time and can result in allergic reaction to its occupants. In Bangalore weather it only aggravates if the person has sinus tendencies.

What followed was a constant struggle with the owners and their plumber. (They resided out of Bangalore!)Waterproofing perhaps was not taken up properly and as the tiling in the bathrooms were exposed to water, slowly it started showing on our walls.

Condition of the wall: Two years on and off with the dampness, the black spots turned ugly and flakes and peeled paint had started showing up! The owners were very co-operative as we realized the problem and the solution attached. The stress that we went through was enormous.

Solution: Waterproofing was initiated and carried out successfully. I became actively involved in the repair stage because enough was enough and I needed to assure myself that things were carried out efficiently. Dr Fixit the expert in bathroom waterproofing came to our rescue. So now there is no dampness in the wall but the wall bears a permanent mark which can now be rectified only when it gets a fresh coat of paint. I guess we should have immediately taken up waterproofing but as time passed it only worsened the situation in hand!

Through this post I wanted to stress on the importance of waterproofing the right way! If only we had paid heed to the tiny marks on the onset it would not have extended so far. Somewhere the happiness of buying, moving and settling down in our new abode was a little dampened because of the dampness in the wall and the constant following up.

Learn a lesson from our experience and whether a new or a re- sale flat ensure that waterproofing is done properly and get freedom from damp walls and leakages. 

This independence day am really happy and I can very proudly state that not only my country is into its 70^th year of Independence day celebration but as a home owner I have got freedom from dampness as well!

Watch this very informative video on waterproofing by Dr. Fixit here. You will enjoy the educative and humorous story conveyed by our legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan.

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