Penetrating Damp Repairs in Arundel, West Sussex

It usually starts small. You might notice a faint 'tide mark' on the wallpaper or a bit of paint that’s started to bubble and peel. Sometimes it’s a musty smell that greets you when you open a room that’s been shut for a while. If you tap the wall and it sounds hollow, you might have 'blown plaster' where the moisture has forced the finish away from the brickwork. One of the trickiest parts of penetrating damp is something called 'hygroscopic salts.' These are minerals left behind in your masonry that actually suck moisture out of the air, meaning your walls can stay damp even on a sunny day. If you’ve seen white, crusty patches on your bricks or plaster, those are the salts at work, and they need professional attention to stop the cycle of damp.

How does the water get in? In Arundel, we often find it’s down to aging brickwork, cracked rendering, or 'spalling'—where the face of the brick starts to crumble away. Often, it's as simple as failed 'pointing' (the mortar between your bricks) or a blocked gutter overflowing onto the masonry. As approved PRB Systems contractors, we specialise in external solutions that breathe new life into your home’s exterior. From traditional sand and cement to modern silicone rendering, we can seal your property against the elements. If your external render has cracked or 'blown,' it’s essentially acting like a sponge, trapping water against your home. We can repair these defects or install External Wall Insulation to keep you warm and dry simultaneously.

Once we’ve stopped the leak from the outside, we turn our attention to the damage inside. This is where the 'messy work' happens, but don't worry—we’re famous for our clean and tidy workmanship. We start by 'hacking off' the contaminated, salt-ridden plaster right back to the original brickwork. This is essential because if you just plaster over damp-damaged areas, the salts will eventually bleed through your new paint. We then apply specialist damp-proof renders and a final skim coat to give you a flawlessly smooth finish. We take great care to protect your floors and furniture with heavy-duty sheeting, and we always leave your home as clean as we found it. You’ll be left with a wall that’s ready for decorating and, most importantly, completely dry.

We’re not a faceless national firm; we’re a local team that knows the specific building stock in Arundel and the surrounding 20-mile radius. We understand how the coastal weather affects our homes and what materials work best to combat it. For your peace of mind, we hold £1 million in public liability insurance and provide transparent, free quotes with no hidden surprises. We pride ourselves on being reliable—if we say we’ll be there at 8 am, we will be. Whether it's a small patch in a terrace house or a full external rendering job on a commercial building, we bring the same level of care and expertise to every project. We’ve built our reputation on word-of-mouth recommendations across Sussex, and we'd love to help you protect your home too.