Waterproof or let's call it plastic masonry paint made with silicone or acrylic sounds like a fantastic idea to keep that pesky rain away from the wall. Unfortunately it can easily cause the opposite in terms of moisture management and inflict devastating damage to old solid walls which were originally made with a breathable building envelope. This article serves as a discussion to highlight some of the unexpected problems which show up in the real world verses the limited testing of the BBA certificates and I welcome discussion from anyone interested in this subject. For a good 'primer' on the problems associated with plastic paint in solid walls, Peter Ward from Heritage House has a number of videos of detailing the sacrilege caused by often well meaning tradesmen applying these aggressively marketed products. I recommend watching all his videos especially if you are having any sort of damp problems so that you can avoid the multimillion pound interventions sold by ...

I've been making a strong case for the last 8 months that the Cavity Wall Insulation should never have gone into my home due to all the reasons mentioned in my blog which is backed up with evidence and references to guidelines / industry standards. Last week I received a letter from Nigel Donohue CEO of CIGA which aside from the usual cloddish mistakes I've come to expect e.g wrong CIGA case number, MP name spelt incorrectly, wrong dates etc it also contained the following: This is not what's on my guarantee but phrasing it in this way is convenient for CIGA as it supports the standard CIGA straw man argument of 'lack of maintenance' rather than my primary complaint that this was an inappropriate and botched install in terms of materials and workmanship. Here is the relevant section of our actual guarantee: It doesn't state that there has to be damage. If we prove that there are defects in materials and workmanship then this should most certainly b...