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Prevention is better than cure
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Before buying a flat or a house make sure it is water-proof.
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Next time when you purchase a flat, make sure that your house is effectively waterproof. Reason: 90 per cent of house owners face the problem of rising dampness of walls owing to substandard construction methods adopted by builders.
Rising dampness or salt damp found in brick walls and masonry besides seepages in bathrooms are turning out to be a perennial problem for many house owners within six months after purchasing their house. The problem is even worse during monsoon . Experts attribute this to low quality construction methods evolved by builders for early completion of the work.
Nine-inch walls have to be constructed for every flat, but a majority of them are found to be ignoring this factor and are constructing only four-inch walls.
In some instances, double plastering with cement is not done after constructing walls resulting in dampness and other leakages in houses.
“If gaps between walls and beam connected to the slab are not properly filled with the mixture of cement and sand, then water will rise in the wall causing dampness” said B. Ramchandranath of Chandra Water Proofing Company in Tarnaka.
Another factor that residents are hassled with was lack of knowledge on waterproofing. Even after noticing the problem in their homes, house owners still prefer to follow an integral waterproof compound method in which chemicals are mixed with cement and later coating is done. But, this method is used to prevent cracks on walls.
So Polymer coating is advisable to overcome the dampness problem.
Waterproofing prior to construction or renovation of a bathroom is of vital importance.
However, in older homes not all areas were successfully waterproofed and problems were still continuing.
Cost efficiency and extent of the problem will probably be the major forces in choosing the way to go, but the decision should not be made lightly.
Low-roof is also one of the main reasons for leakages in bathrooms. Plumbers ignore some precautionary measures while connecting pipelines from bathrooms to main sewerage lines.
M.SRINIVAS, HYDERABAD
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Property Plus
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