Damp proof course laid unbroken at plinth level
Why — act while you have leverage
The DPC is the layer that stops ground water climbing your walls. Broken at one doorway, it lets damp into the whole run — and the stain appears on a painted wall a year after you moved in.
What to look at
- One unbroken run, walked end to end before walls go up
- Continuity across every door opening
- Laps at corners and junctions, not butt joints
How to check it yourself
The damp proof course sits at plinth (the base the walls start from) level and must be CONTINUOUS — including across door openings, where crews commonly stop it because a threshold is going there. It laps up at junctions rather than butting. Inspect the full run before the wall above closes over it, and photograph it.
Where this comes from: IS 3067:1988 — General design details and preparatory work for damp-proofing and water-proofing of buildings (indian standard or building code)
More foundation checks
- Photograph before this is covered
- Cover blocks in place — 50 mm to footing reinforcement
- Steel matches the grade and diameter on the drawing
- Concrete cured for at least seven days
- Rubble foundation: through bond stones at every course band
- Rubble foundation: hearting solid, chips under a fifth of the volume
- RCC footing: size and depth as designed, on the correct stratum
- Raft foundation: reinforcement laid in the order the drawing gives and not walked flat
- Pile foundation: pile records kept for every pile, not a sample
- Under-reamed piles: bulb formed at the designed depth
- Plinth beam continuous and tied into the foundation
- Column starter bars plumb, with 40 mm cover and correct laps
- Backfill compacted in layers, not tipped in