Are electrokinetic methods suitable for the treatment of rising damp?

The treatment of rising damp is an important issue when dealing with the conservation and restoration of historic buildings. The most effective solutions for the problem of rising damp are usually very ‘invasive’: depending on the method, there might be a substantial loss of authentic materials, the intervention may have a significant impact on the stability of the construction, there could be a mild to very important visual impact, and the intervention might be irreversible. An efficient treatment for rising damp, without these disadvantages, would therefore be more then welcome. Several companies offer nowadays such a solution, in the form of so-called ‘electrokinetic’ methods. Within the research project EMERISDA (www.emerisda.eu) (Effectiveness of Methods against Rising Damp), on-site measurements have been carried out on more sites, in order to evaluate their effectiveness. On one of the sites, the effectiveness of such an electrokinetic method has been compared to more conventional injections of water repellent agents.