The Times - 14th May 1997

Couple go Dutch to rid their home of dampness

Valerie and Richard Little have become the first people in Britain to go Dutch to cure the bane of their lives. The home they bought six years ago was dripping with condensation. Paint flaked off window frames almost as soon as it was applied. Upstairs rooms had an unnatural chill. Even their metal curtain rings turned green.

They bought a dehumidifier, but even that was defeated by the chronic damp at the family’s home in Sanderstead, near Croydon, South London. It collected five litres of water in just two days.
Now the Little’s detached home has become the first in the United Kingdom to be fitted with a Dutch damp-control system which has won awards in its wet and be-dyked home country.

The system was devised more than 20 years ago by Dutchman Henk Schrijver, who specialized in fireplaces and chimneys. He noticed that chimney walls were often drier than the rest of a house, even if the home was plagued by damp. Since 1976 Mr. Schrijver’s device has been installed in tens of thousands of homes in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain.

The Schrijver Systeem is designed to draw damp air out of a house through a series of tubes cut into outside walls which act like mini-chimneys. Dry air is drawn into the tubes and over a bell-shaped clay element, where a draught is created causing a cold spot. Damp from inside the house is sucked into the system where it condenses in the cold spot and is carried outside by the constant airflow.

Now Mr. Schrijver’s son, Frank,………has come to Britain to try to interest owners of damp homes in their product. The Little family became their first customers last month.

"The wall in one bedroom was very wet," says Mrs. Little. "Windows would run with water and pools formed in windowsills."

"I don’t think we will really know if it works until the autumn, but my husband and I were very impressed by the way the system was explained and how they worked when they installed it. They took a day-and-a-half and were so keen on cleaning up afterwards that in the end I had to push them to go."

"It looks very neat and friends who have called since it was installed did not even notice. I am very impressed," says Mrs. Little.

Damp caused by condensation has become a problem in many modern homes where double glazing, draught excluders and damp courses can over-insulate rooms. David Tuffin, a chartered buildings surveyor and spokesman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says: "We used to rely on natural draughts. By sticking in all these modern materials with impermeable finishes we are destroying the natural balance."

Mr. Tuffin had not seen the Schrijver method, but said: "It may be a new product but the principle is not new in this country and devices that enhanced the natural draughts were used long before damp courses were thought of. They worked."

Other damp proofing specialists, who were also unaware of the Schrijver device, were less flattering. Mike Bromley, of the British Wood Preserving and Damp Proofing Association, said he could not see how it would work better than existing damp treatments, and Peter Trottman, of the Building Research Establishment, said: "I would think there would be a danger of salt contamination. I am highly sceptical."

Nonetheless, the Schrijver Systeem has won first prize in a national Dutch competition for new inventions and says it received its patent 1988 only after tests on hundreds of houses in the Netherlands were carried out. It can be used in single brick and cavity walls, insulated and non-insulated homes, the Schrijver Company says.

Professor Ingo Oldenkamp, of the Department of Design Engineering at Delft University in the Netherlands, has investigated the method and says: "It definitely works. At first I was sceptical when I heard about it, but when I visited some houses treated with the system in a very damp area I was surprised. The people who had damp houses before are now very happy and I am impressed by how efficient it is."

The Evening Standard: 6TH MAY 1998

Taking a new course in damp

Damp is the scourge of many London homes, and curing it can be a nightmare. Some mortgage companies won’t lend money on properties unless they have had damp-proofing courses installed, cowboy damp-proofing companies are rife, and the latest research indicates that most chemical injection courses simply don’t work. Consumers are confused.

Just launched in this country is the Schrijver System, which claims not only to "...banish rising damp, condensation and mould from a broad range of properties" but also to create a healthier living environment by reducing the relative humidity in the air, reducing the quantity of dust mites, offering a permanent solution with no chemicals.

The system, which is Dutch, won a national Invention of the Year Award and is installed in more than 25,000 homes.

Rectangular holes are drilled out of the exterior wall 14ins above ground level at approximately 14in intervals, into which hollow ceramic bricks are cemented. The cold spots created by air being forced into the hollows attract damp, which condenses and evaporates. The stronger the wind blowing out-side, the more effectively it works. It can be used in ordinary or cavity walls… a full refund is guaranteed if the customer isn’t satisfied within a year of installation.

The basement of Robin Harwood’s Victorian Barnes home was so riddled with damp when he first brought it 15 months ago that using it as an office was impossible. "I was never comfortable with the idea of using a suppressing system with chemicals," he says, so he tried the Schrijver System. Six months on, "parts of the wall certainly look much drier and I don’t experience the same dampness."

Peter White, a self-employed travel consultant, turned to the system after a previous damp course in his West London home failed, leaving the walls dripping, and remains hopeful. "It seems OK, although it’s early days."

The GUARDIAN - 3rd December 2007

Dutch System defeats Damp

An award- winning invention from the Netherlands, which guarantees to banish rising damp, condensation and mould from a broad range of properties, is now available in the UK… Mr Maloney from Rhayader, Wales said: “We had our system installed in August. We live in a split –level bungalow and noticed that our garden room which we decided to convert into a utility room had a great deal of damp. We bought a de-humidifier then a heater and neither worked. We did consider other products and then we heard about the Schrijver systeem. Within the three months since the product has been installed the inner wall has completely dried up and the musty smells have gone. I am delighted with my decision.”

Mr Harwood from Barnes, south west London said: “Since the product has been installed I’m left with the sense that money has been well spent – the all-round service gives you total customer satisfaction.”