The Hidden Costs of Damp: What Every Homeowner Should Know
As a household problem, damp is all too easy to underestimate. We can only detect the surface level symptoms, like a musty smell or stains on the wall, but these tell us little about the damage that damp could be doing to our homes behind the scenes. This article provides a primer on the true costs of damp and explains why you should never underestimate it if you find it in your home.
Health Impacts
When we think about the cost of a problem in our homes, we often consider the financial side. How much will it cost to repair? How much to make sure it cannot happen again? We will get onto the financial costs of damp later, but first, there is something more important to consider: the health costs. Damp gives rise to mould, mildew, and dust mites, all of which can have a negative impact on health.
Damp can aggravate skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, and it has been linked to mental health conditions like depression. Meanwhile, mould can aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma, especially in vulnerable groups like the elderly, children, and those with weakened immune systems. It may even cause asthma in children. This means that covering up the cosmetic defects damp causes in your home is not enough. It is essential to invest in long-term damp proof solutions to protect your family’s health.
Repair Costs
Many damp solutions, like interior basement sealing, are not particularly expensive on their own. However, the costs can really pile up when damp repair services are required, and damp will just keep doing more damage until it is treated. This leads to more extensive and disruptive remedial work, as well as higher costs, which is why you should never ignore signs of damp. It can progress much quicker than you think.
Decreased Home Value
Damp can also have an indirect financial impact by decreasing the market value of your home. Even minor damp issues can deter potential buyers, who generally prefer places that do not require a lot of repair work. Visible signs of damp or evidence of damp being found by a surveyor could lead to lower offers or failure to complete the transaction.
Lower Energy Efficiency
Damp can directly impact your home’s insulation, making it wet and ineffective, and moist walls draw heat out of your home more easily than dry walls. This leads to colder indoor temperatures, which are not just uncomfortable, but which require more energy to heat. Your energy bills will therefore be higher and add even more avoidable costs to this deleterious issue.
It is easy to see that the true cost of damp is higher than just the cost of the repairs, and it keeps increasing the longer the issue goes untreated. It’s important to get a specialist to inspect any persistent damp symptoms as soon as possible, but it’s even better to protect your home against any problems in the first place. To make sure your home is well-defended against damp, call London Damp Proofing Ltd on 0208 226 6330.