Signs of damp indoors often indicate damage to your building exterior

Damp can occur in any building type and is often the result of failing to keep up with house maintenance.

What causes damp?

Causes include leaking pipes, wastes or overflows, rising damp from the ground caused by a damaged damp proof course, condensation in kitchens or bathrooms that don't have adequate extraction, or water penetrating from outside because of a missing roof tile, leaking window frame or blocked gutter.

Luckily damp is easy to identify. Start by sourcing the cause. For example, a damp patch on the wall at the top of a chimney breast suggests a leak from the chimney stack, a wet patch at the top of a wall may indicate a leaking gutter and damp near windows might mean a damaged drip groove beneath the window sill.

Find out more in our guide on identifying what kind of damp you have, and how to treat it.