This is a guest article written by the head operator of a recording studio in the UK. Unfortunately, this ground floor studio was suffering from damp related problems in the form of rising damp. It’s thick concrete floor and brick walls were great for sound insolation, but when damp started to spread from the foundation of the building, it started to prove problematic, meaning that they needed rising damp treatment. They enlisted the help of some professional property preservation experts in the UK, and we wanted to share their rather interesting story so that others could see some of the other trials and tribulations that occur in the music industry.
The Story Of the Rising Damp Treatment
Our studio is my absolute favourite place in the world to just get lost in the music and perfect my work. We are on the ground floor, which is slightly recessed below street level, so there is a great feeling of privacy. When the studio was put in, it was required for the property owners that a void was left between the studio interior and the brickwork for inspection purposes. The building was almost 300 years old, and we knew that it had previous problems with damp in the past around 50 years ago. It was really no surprise when the building surveyors told us that the damp problems were back, and we would need to have rising damp treatment quickly in order to rectify the problem.
The Joys Of Old Buildings
We have to say that we had never noticed any issues when we were in our beautiful wooden studio rooms. All we noticed is that occasionally there was a bit of a smell, but nothing to cause alarm. We must say we are glad that they caught it when they did as it may have started to compromise the interior of the studio. The building itself is structurally sound, and a beautiful old building that is a genuine pleasure to work in, so I guess that is the price you pay for working in an old building.
Ventilation Needed
The damp experts recommended that we needed to upgrade the existing ventilation system to keep air moving through the building. The old ventilation system was installed many year ago, and it was clear that it was not quite up to the job of keeping fresh air in the building. We made sure that an ultra-quiet fan was installed so that there was no noise in the studio, and that it was installed far away from the studio itself. In order to complete this work and the rising damp work, the studio was closed for 24 hours, which was really good for us as it meant that we did not lose any time. We were able to take one day of doing admin and other boring tasks that needed to be sorted, then the studio was back online the next day. Also, the smell has disappeared, so our noses are a lot happier.