Column and beam dampness in rain
When only the columns go wet and the walls between them stay dry, the building is telling you exactly where the water is getting in. Concrete and brickwork move differently, and the line where a column meets a wall opens up. In a storm that line is a slot straight into the building.
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You probably need this if…
- A dark wet band down the face of a column after rain, drying out in a day or two
- A straight vertical crack exactly where the column meets the wall
- Plaster on the column sounding hollow or blown
- A rust stain, or a piece of cover concrete fallen off with steel showing
What causes it
The same wet patch can come from different places, and each one needs a different fix. This is what we look for on site.
- 01
The masonry-to-concrete line
Brick and RCC expand at different rates in the same sun. The junction between them opens a hairline that widens every year, and it is always in the same place.
- 02
Too little cover over the steel
Where the reinforcement sits close to the surface it starts to rust, and rust takes up more space than steel. The cover is pushed off from inside.
- 03
Water running down from above
A beam, a sunshade or a chajja above the column concentrates run-off onto one line, and that line is the column face.
- 04
Corner columns take rain from two sides
A column at the corner of a building is exposed on two faces at once and gets far more driven rain than anything in the middle of a wall.
- 05
Plaster keyed poorly to a smooth face
Concrete comes out of shuttering smooth. Plaster put on it without a proper key or bonding coat lets go in sheets, and water sits behind what is left.
Our column wetting process
Step by step, in this order. Nothing is skipped to finish a day early.
- 01
Tap the face
The whole column is tapped and the hollow plaster is marked, because coating over a hollow patch just seals the water inside it.
- 02
Open the junction
The crack at the column-to-wall line is cut into a groove for the full depth of the plaster, along its whole height, not only where it is visible.
- 03
Treat exposed steel
Where a bar is showing, the cover is chipped back to sound concrete, the rust is removed, the bar is coated, and the cover is rebuilt with repair mortar.
- 04
Mesh the junction
A fibreglass mesh strip is bedded in polymer mortar across the junction, so the next season of movement is spread along the strip instead of splitting one line.
- 05
Replaster and cove
The face is brought back flush, and coved where the column meets a ledge or a chajja so water is not left standing in the corner.
- 06
Flexible top coat
An elastomeric coat goes over the column face and carries about 150 mm onto the wall on each side, so the treated line has no hard edge for water to find.
What is included
- Tapping survey of every affected column, marked out before we quote
- Grooving and mesh treatment along the full height of each junction
- Rust treatment and cover rebuilding wherever steel is exposed
- Replastering, coving and an elastomeric coat carried onto the adjoining wall
- Access arrangements for upper-floor columns agreed before the work starts
Free site visit. You get the measured area and a written scope before any work starts.
+91 73823 58857Frequently asked
Request a site visit
Tell us what you are seeing and where. We will come and check, measure the area and give you a clear scope — the same day wherever we can.
- We work in
- Vijayawada
- Guntur
- Amaravati
- Mangalagiri
- Tenali
- Eluru
- Gannavaram
- Machilipatnam
- Bhimavaram
- Rajahmundry
- Kakinada
- Visakhapatnam
Based in Vijayawada, so we are quickest in and around the city — and we take up work across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Tell us where it leaks.
We will come and check before the next rain, measure the area and give you a clear scope in writing.