References
◊"Anglo Dutch Award" ◊What Customers Say ◊The Times ◊The Evening Standard ◊65 houses saved
The Schrijver systeem® has been successfully installed in old and new buildings, blocks of flats/high rise buildings and historic buildings, churches, offices, schools and more. The Schrijver systeem® has been installed in more than 25.000 buildings in the Benelux with full customer satisfaction. Our customers are private homeowners, building societies, government institutions, companies and monument owners.
The Schrijver systeem® is recommended by many consultancy firms. This is both due to their own excellent experience with the Schrijver systeem® and the positive references the system has received in the media. Both television (Nationale Ideeënbus, Eigen Huis & Tuin RTL4 en Onderdak BRT 1,2) and many daily newspapers have covered the Schrijver systeem®. This reference material can be sent to you at request.
The Veronica certificate
The official patent document
The TNO scientific research report (Dutch only)
Schrijver systeem® awarded in England
The yearly "Anglo-Dutch Award for Enterprise" - award has been handed out to a company from the Antwerpse Kempen. The heavy silver exchange trophy can be admired for one year at Schrijver systeem® Vochtbestrijding NV (Ravels). The company is not only active on the Dutch and British market, but is also rapidly expanding onto the German, Danish and Swedish market.
Schrijver systeem® was founded in 1983 by Dutchman Henk Schrijver who initially designed and built fireplaces.
In the seventies he often came into contact with people experiencing damp problems in their homes. Because he was often
confronted with these problems he started to think about a solution. He designed a special cement made element together
with a ceramic tube and a plastic divider. These elements are being placed into the outside wall of the damp effected building,
about 20-30 centimeters above the ground. The perfect height will be determined by the local situation and might vary. Per meter
2.2 of these elements will be installed, around the whole of the building. The cement elements are damp regulating stones with
two air chambers separated by a plastic divider. On the outside there are two openings divided by a trapezium shaped tail.
This creates a cold bridge.Air streams
"We use the always available air streams", explains Henk Schrijver. "The element draws the air through one opening. The cooler outside air draws the moist from the walls and/or floors towards the element. The air makes it evaporate and the temperature difference moves the air out. "The cold bridges do not increase fuel consumption, because dry walls have a higher
insulation value compared to damp walls." according to Schrijver. "Measurements have shown a temperature difference between cold
and warm to be one degree. This is enough to let the system work". Schrijver received in 1988 a Benelux patent and in 2001 an
European one. In 1988 the system was awarded "Best Invention of the Year". Two years later it was runner-up in Britain.
In the Netherlands the Schrijver company has 20 employees and in Great Britain 15. The Belgium market is currently being served
from the Netherlands but this will be done from Belgium soon with a team of 15 employees. The installation of the system is always
done by the Schrijver company, their own personnel and equipment. The system has been installed into 7000 homes, all of them
existing buildings. "In the Netherlands the system is being installed into new to build homes on a small scale. We don't only
install it into cavity walls, but also single brick walls. In cavity walls the element is pushed against the inner wall and with
single brick walls the two thirds of the stone is removed.Castle
One element can process one quarter liter of water in 24 hours. The systems performance is at best with higher wind speeds and a lower outside temperature
compared to the inside. But even with no wind the system will still function. "We install the system in homes, mills, city halls and castles. In Flanders we've installed the system into the "Broqueville in Mol-Postel" castle. "The name 'Schrijver systeem' was not coined by me, it was used on medical congresses where the positive effect of the system towards asthma and rheuma patients was discussed". Schrijver systeem crossed the border to Belgium in 1995. "In the beginning it was very difficult for us. From the thousands of flyers we only received two installations. The Belgium people didn't trust the Dutch. A large leap forward was made when we installed the system in Arnhem for a bus and trailer manufacturer, Herman van Hool. His villa in Lier also received the system and with his name on our reference list our position became a lot stronger on the Belgium market."Koen Mortelmans
Bouwbedrijf - Nummer 23 - Periode 19/12/2002 - 15/01/2003
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"Everything you said you would, you did and on time..." Brian Sandifer, Langport, Somerset, July 2003 |
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"Humidity readings on our property have fallen by 45% since installation..." Mrs Emma A, Redhill, Surrey, August 2003 |
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"It is so nice to see a good idea work and work naturally without chemicals." Ms. R Brown & Gerry Bell, Wimbledon, August 2002 |
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"Since your installation we have painted the upper part of the house and it looks like a new property. We would have no hesitation in telling anyone about the service that you provided." Kathleen LW, Lancaster, September 2003 |
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"Since having your damp proofing system installed in our 100 Year old stone building, we no longer suffer damp walls and black mould." G. Wilkinson, Coleford, May 2004 |
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"Our investment has proved to be a real success. We are happy to be a positive reference to any future clients and we give you our thanks." Douglas Price, Littleborough, Lancs, June 2002 |
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"My husband and I have been completely satisfied with your installation, the standard of workmanship and the "no clearing up the mess" for us to do. It is already possible to see the brickwork is drying out, even in a week of torrential rain, truly amazing! You deserve to go from strength to strength, I will tell everybody I know or meet who might have a damp problem about you!" Caroline O, London, 2000 |
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"I think the first difference I noticed after having the system installed was the nasty smell has disappeared within a few weeks. I would gladly recommend your system." Andrew Rickard, Croydon, March 1999 |
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"We felt we must write to you to let you know how pleased we are with your system. We have had it for a year now and our condensation and damp have disappeared. Also the musty smell in the bedroom. Thank you again for an environmentally friendly, neat & working system." Valerie L, Sanderstead, Surrey, May 1998 |
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"The product is so good people should really get to know about it as there are loads in this area alone, being next to the marshes of the Wash that could really benefit. Another aspect that is special about your product is that it lasts the life of the building." Ms Kay D, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, July 2003 |
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The Times - 14th May 1997 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 liters 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. The 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 ceramic 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 Schrijver a director of the Dutch company, have 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." continue ... |
The system, which carries a money-back guarantee, costs £87 a running meter to install - about £1,500 for the average
British semi, the Schrijver company says. "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. |
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The Evening Standard - 6th May 1998 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 systeem®, 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 a t 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 typical three-bedroom semiwill cost about £1,500 - £2,000, and a full refund is guaranteed if the
customer isn't satisfied within a year if 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." |
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65 terraced houses saved by Schrijver systeem® Delft - Netherlands, 18th July 2006 A new future for dr. Schaepmanstraat Woonbron Building Society has informed the residents of dr. Schaepmanstraat this week by letter that their 65 single family terraced houses will not be demolished after all. The residents were naturally very happy with this decision. The decision to demolish the 
65 houses was made in May 2003 as the only available solution to the increasing damp problems in the houses and the negative
influence the damp was having on the residents. The cost of maintaining these houses had been extremely high and there were still
serious long-term health risks for the residents.The 65 single family terraced houses are located on dr. Schaepmanstraat, Odulphusstraat, Cornelis Musiusstraat and Vondelstraat in Delft. They were built in 1921 and had years of persistent damp problems, mainly caused by rising damp through the foundation (the façade and outside wall). A very intense renovation in the early eighties had not resolved the damp problems. After extensive research in 2003, the Woonbron building society decided to give notice to the tenants so that the last tenants would move in 2009, where after the houses would be demolished and replaced by a new housing estate. Surveys showed that it would not be justified to invest more capital in another extensive renovation programme, as the same investment could be used to build new houses. During the past few years Woonbron tried various measures in the houses to tackle the damp problems. The floors have been replaced and the Schrijver system was also installed in all 65 houses. Recently new measurements were taken and much to Woonbron's surprise, showed that damp levels had decreased so much that the houses now have a very acceptable indoor living environment. Based on these new measurements and the realisation that the housing estate has an immense value to its current residents and to the housing market in Delft - this housing estate is one of the few in Delft with affordable single family houses for smaller families - Woonbron have not only cancelled their decision to demolish the houses but also find it unnecessary to implement further damp treatment. source: Woonbron housing society (dutch language) |