01 Painting · Damp & mould treatment
Damp & mould treatment, paid on approval.
Damp is the repair people put off longest and pay for most often, because painting over it works for exactly one season and then the same patch comes back slightly larger.
02 What the job involves
What you are actually paying for
Diagnosing the moisture source, treating mould and repainting properly.
Also asked for as: mould removal · damp proofing
- Finding the moisture source before any treatment — rain penetration, rising damp or condensation
- Fixing that source, which is often outside the room the stain is in
- Treating the mould with a fungicidal wash rather than covering it
- Allowing the wall to dry properly, which takes longer than most schedules assume
- Repainting with an appropriate coating once the substrate is genuinely dry
03 What moves the price
Why two quotes differ
Quotes arrive sorted by total, which makes comparison easy and misleading in equal measure. These are the variables worth checking before you decide one is cheaper.
- 01
Whether the source is accessible — a leaking gutter is cheap, a failed damp course is not
- 02
Area affected and how far the moisture has travelled through the wall
- 03
Drying time required, which can stretch the schedule and therefore the labour
- 04
Whether plaster has blown and needs hacking off and re-rendering
04 Questions
Worth asking first
- 01
Can I just paint over the mould?
- It will come back through the new coat, usually within one wet season. Mould is a symptom of moisture, and paint does not remove moisture. Ask for the treatment and the source repair to appear as separate line items so you can see they were actually priced.
- 02
How do I know if it is rising damp or a leak?
- Position and shape are the clue. Rising damp shows as a fairly even band near the bottom of the wall; rain penetration usually appears as a patch on a weather-facing elevation at the height of the defect outside. Photograph the outside face at the same height as the patch — that is what a good tradesman will ask for.
05 Related
More painting work
Local rates
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