the effect rain has on your walls

The damaging effects of the rain on our houses and what to do about it

It rains a lot here in the UK. Inclement wet weather can have a damaging effect on your home.

We explain what can happen and how to weather protect your house.

If your walls do not have some form of weatherproofing, then you can be sure something is going on inside your walls that you won’t like, so we’ve put together some handy info for you.

We gathered this from a variety of sources. You may be surprised at the diversity of different rainfall levels in the UK, some places being far wetter than others.

Different weather patterns in the UK and the effect on your home

Different areas of the UK experience different and quite diverse climatic conditions, and your house has to withstand that, and more.

If you live in London, for example, you could “only” (?) expect to see about 650 millimetres of rain per year. That in fact is LESS than other world cities such as New York, Rome and Sydney, Australia!

This is quite true and can be verified by the Met Office.

As a rule of thumb, the further WEST you go, and the HIGHER the ground level you are, you are going to get more rain than people in the east of the country.

This is because of the Atlantic ocean, and the mountainous areas of south west England and Wales, that break the flow of cold damp air from the Atlantic ocean.

Your house needs protection from the rain or it will start to get damp, and the inside of the home will feel cold and musty, which is not a nice environment at all.

DID YOU KNOW…..?

In some years, UK rainfall totals in the counties of Essex and Suffolk can actually be less than 450 mm,  and this is quite evident around Colchester, Ipswich and Clacton-on-Sea, where it can get less rain than Beruit and Jerusalem!

And YES, we are not making this up, check the stats!

However I am from Plymouth in Devon, and let me assure you, it rains a LOT there, and yes, several different types! (Driving rain, rain with sea salt, drizzle, rain from Dartmoor, p*****ing down rain (!), spitting rain, dirty rain, oh I could go on!)

plymouth smeatons tower rain

Any outside structure, especially if located in an exposed location (for example Plymouth Hoe, above), then it needs a special coating,  just like this famous lighthouse has, to keep it in good condition and to repel the weather.

So what does rain do to houses?

Well, we can look at a few types of rain, and only the British would have several words for rain, just like the Eskimos have around 100 different words, for different types of snow!

Also I think that Acid rain, also needs be mentioned here because this is rain with airborne pollutants in the droplets, that have been released by industry into the atmosphere, and can be quite harmful if you live near to a large factory or works.

Rain and damp walls

The acid rain can actually harm whatever is on your home exterior too, because these airborne pollutants often contain chemicals which can attack the paint on the exterior of your property.

This causes it to break down even quicker than paint usually does, but thankfully our exterior waterproof wall coatings do not become affected by Acid rain.

What does rain do to my house?

When it rains and the water goes against your walls, it is sucked into the surface by Osmosis, the “sponge” effect that walls have, and as a result, it settles inside the wall.

Rain and damp walls do not mix well!

If your home was constructed previous to 1920, it may NOT have a cavity, which means that the rain will then seep into the house, and black mould spores will appear inside, which can be very harmful to your health.

mould on a wall can be cured by never paint again

If your home is post 1920 then it probably has a cavity wall construction, but that won’t stop the harm that the rain can do to your house because if it seeps into a cavity wall, it can rust your wall ties, and more about wall ties can be found here.

If the water in the wall breaches the cavity, the same thing can happen as with solid walls, the water will come inside, ruining more than just your paintwork.

When water settles inside the walls themselves, it freezes when colder weather arrives, and then it expands and pushes the render apart, and/or expands the bricks, causing them to crack, you don’t need to be a builder to realise this is not a good sign.

Rain can cause your walls to crack, and allow damp into your house.

If it’s raining, that won’t stop us!

One thing you may be surprised about is that we can work during rainy times, although not when it is actually raining, because that would not be safe, nor practical.

Where painters and decorators have to have a full day with no rain promised, we can work in-between showers, especially as the coatings we use are water repellent so they are not effected by a damp climatic condition.

Rain can cause so much harm to your house, especially if the walls do not have a weatherproof wall coating on them, so why not get in touch with NEVER PAINT AGAIN and ask about our range of exterior coating and damp proofing solutions.

This are perfect to get rid of the damp in your house, to protect it from future attack from the weather AND to make it look amazing, and totally maintenance free!

front of house completed with wethertex-min

Our external wall coatings actually REPEL the rainwater, and this means that it does not get a chance to be absorbed into the home, and not only that, the coatings are available in some lovely colours and come with a 20 year guarantee!

You won’t need to bother with masonry paint ever again!

Contact us using this form. Thanks

telephone-us on 0800 970 4928

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