Underfloor moisture barrier (plastic ground cover)
Filed under Damp and Mould, Ventilation and Air Quality, Ground Moisture, Subsidies and Financial Assistance.
August 9th, 2009
is this covered by EECA
3 Comments
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Kent Inglis, April 28th, 2012 on 9:37 am
Hi. I have laid polythene on the ground under my house, but have been warned by a friend that if I wrap it around my piles (our foundations are wooden poles with a concrete foot as we are on a steep sloping section) that if the concrete foot cant ‘breath’ it will deteriorate over time. Do I need to cut the polythene away from around the piles to allow moisture to escape from the concrete foot of each pile?
Half of the ground floor is on a concrete pad (the high side), so my polythene barrier is only on the downhill side only. I’ve extended the polythene up the side of the of the concrete pad as well, should I have left it just flat against the ground to let the pad breath as well?
I’m going to cut a deep trench along the hgh side of the house and get some proper drainage in there, as I think the water table is too high and leeching water into the concrete pad from the high side. how deep should I make this trench?
Any advice warmly received!
cheers-
Editor, April 30th, 2012 on 9:36 am
Hi Kent, unfortunately we’re not able to provide advice online through this forum at present. However, if you take a look at our Find an Advisor linke http://www.communityenergy.org.nz/energy-advice/find-an-advisor/ and contact the nearest advice service they should be able to help you.
Thanks.
Ed
editor, August 9th, 2009 on 11:19 pm
Yes, this should be covered as part of the 60% grant for CSC households or the 33% discount (capped at $1300) for non CSC households, if the organisation that does your insulation assessment considers that you need it. Some copmpanies may recommend it more routinely than others. We would suggest that you ask for a quote which includes installing a polythene moisture barrier if you have damp soft ground around your section in winter, or have a lot of condensation which is not explained by other things (not using extractor fans, not opening windows, using unflued gas appliances, drying clothes indoors, etc).
Regards,
Sarah Free (energy advisor, Wellington HEAC)