A stitch in time for rain damage

Jagvir Goyal

April is about to end. Monsoons are just a couple of months away. Though always welcomed by us, these may also be a cause of worry if dampness or leakage appears in the walls or ceiling of one’s house. It is, therefore, always better to prepare oneself to welcome rains without fear. Here are a few steps that one must take well in time to avoid ill-effect of rains:

The roof area

Examine the roof area minutely and find the spots that may allow ingress of water. Get these repaired and sealed well. The flush pointing done over the tile terraces may have come off or the joints of the stone or tiles fixed on the terrace may have lost their grout. Examine the joints of the parapet with the ceiling. These often demand repair of the ‘gola’ laid along. Any portion of the terrace shouldn’t have settled a bit due to consolidation of sub-base to build a pool of water in it. Wherever required, the repair work should be got done well in time and more important is to apply water to it for few days for gaining strength if cement has been used in repairs.

Examine the walls

Damp patches often appear inside some walls and the house owners are often at a loss to understand where the moisture came from. It may be due to capilliary action from the foundations if damp proof course is not proper or cracked somewhere or due to some crack in a rain water pipe or water supply pipe or drain pipe or due to use of porous material in the construction of the walls. Repair of damp-proof course can be got done through grouting and cracks in pipes can be got repaired by calling a plumber. 

Most of the walls are built of bricks which are porous material and absorb moisture if not plastered well with cement mortar. Sometimes, we leave some brickwork without plaster to provide face work or for some other reason. Such brickwork is more prone to ingress of moisture. Buy a few litres of ready-to-use Repellin WR and apply it with a paint brush on the outer surface of the brick faced wall. Not only brick walls but any other walls susceptible to moisture can be painted with this water repellent material. It is a clear transparent material that doesn’t spoil the beauty of the face work but prevents entry of moisture to the inner faces of walls.  

Get anti-termite treatment

As the winter season ends, termites get active. If you have used wood in door and window frames and wooden products like ply boards in cupboards, bathroom vanities, kitchen cabinets etc, it’s time to call the anti-termite treatment people and get the treatment done. These agencies come at a short notice and generally charge on basis of per square feet built up area of the house. Normally, the rate varies from Rs 4 to Rs 5 per sq ft area. So for a 2000 sq ft area, they’ll charge Rs 8000 to Rs 10000. They sign an agreement with you, provide a warranty of two to three years and come to inspect the houses every six months or so. The job is completed within a day or so depending upon the area to be treated. Drilling of holes in the skirting area and applying injections to wooden items is part of their treatment system. Watch for use of good anti-termite material by them despite their providing warranty for the work done by them.

Check fixed glass window panels

These days, windows in the houses are large sized with more of their area having fixed glass and less area having openable window shutters. Examine the bottom joint of fixed-glass window portion. The silicon filling done there at the time of fixing fixed window panes shouldn't have come off. If it has happened, you’ll often note water entering the rooms from window joints during monsoons. Wooden flooring in the bedrooms may get damaged with this. Bring a silicone sealant cartridge along with its nozzle and a metal gun for the use of silicon cartridge, fit the cartridge in it and fill all the joints well.

Clean the rain water pipes

See that none of the rain water pipes are choked. Often it happens that wind sweeps the dust, bird feathers and droppings gathered on the roof to the mouth of rain water pipes leading to blocakages. While getting the gratings fixed over rain water pipes cleaned of all the dirt, be sure that the dirt is not pushed into the rain water pipes but is gathered and thrown. These days, the rain water pipes don’t discharge the rain water in the courtyard but are led underground to the rain water harvesting tank by fixing an elbow at the bottom of the pipes. Dust and rubbish if pushed inside the pipes may block the elbow fixed at their bottom.