Bermuda Project Managers says they have the answer to the problem of rising damp that plagues so many Bermuda homeowners.

The firm discovered they could control the effect of dampness by using electro-osmosis as part of a renovation project on a 150-year-old Bermuda stone home.

In a company statement, Bermuda Project Managers explained that the way electro-osmosis works is that a channel is cut horizontally along the wall, with deeper holes also drilled at intervals. A metal wire is set into the channel and mortar placed over it. This is then connected to an earth rod at one end and an electrical transformer at the other. A small constant electrical charge is sent through the line forming an invisible field which repels rising water by charging the wall to the polar opposite of the charge in the ground.

The best news may be that the running cost of the electricity for electro-osmosis is less than a dollar per year as the electrical charge is so small.

Bermuda stone is porous and will absorb water; the walls of homes built with Bermuda stone are not solid but contain very small holes called pores or capillaries into which water can pass.

Older buildings tend to have a problem with rising damp and the nature of the stone can make this difficult to solve. It can bubble up and peel the paint off walls, destroy plasterwork, rot timber doors and wooden floors, push tiles off the walls and encourage fungus to grow.