ELEVATIONS DESIGN & BUILD

The majority of people consider a basement to be a damp and cold space. But, there are excellent permanent solutions to these problems: cavity drainage or tanking.Cavity drainage allows the water to come in! Your basement room is sealed from this water by an insulating membrane. The entering water drains along channels around the wall (or drainage points) to a sump pump, which then pumps the water away so that it doesn’t accumulate.The pump has a control system and an automatic shut off mechanism should there be a system fault such as a fuse jump. We install a back-up pump including an alarm system. A back-up rechargeable battery can also be installed in order to further increase reliability. You may already be familiar with other rendering methods such as cementation, plastering and latex. The problem with these systems is that most houses in England are built on clay, which allows for house movement (or shifting) and settling over time (this can be seen in doorways). This movement is enough to allow small cracks to develop and, when combined with water pressure acting on the walls, permit water to seep into your basement. While these other rendering systems may be sold as solutions, cementation, plastering and latex will cover up the cracks, they do nothing to address the movement and therefore cracks will continue to develop and water will find a path into the room, i.e. given time, the problem will reappear.

The disadvantage of the membrane system is the pumps need yearly check up however as we install two pumps and each is set at different levels the risk of both wearing out at the same time is low. Another disadvantage if you don’t insulate then you loose some space along the walls roughly 30mm.

We use Delta Membrane System Ltd ( www.deltamembranes.com) as they are approved by the BBA and give a 30 year guaranty on there system.