Print this pageFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If you’re confronted with dampness and timber problems for the first time, remember that many other home owners will probably have had to deal with them as well, so here’s how you can benefit from their experience – by browsing through the questions we are most frequently asked.
If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, then go to our ‘Ask the Experts’ page and let us help you on a one-to-one basis.
If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, then go to our ‘Ask the Experts’ page and let us help you on a one-to-one basis.
Will concreting over a small front garden help damp in the cellar directly below?
Yes, to some extent˙if water is penetrating˙the cellar from above.
BUT˙the predominant cause of dampness in a cellar is˙lateral water pressure from the surrounding ground and without the installation of a waterproof system to the floors and walls, this will continue unabated.
If anything, concreting over the garden will increase the risk of water penetration because˙it will mean the faster run-off of surface water˙which currently˙tends to be absorbed by the garden and so released more slowly. (You may have read press commentary˙on this point in discussions about the increased incidence˙of flooding in built up areas).
