Treating damp.

[BBing]

A friend is looking at buying a semi-detached property and a survey has identified damp in the wall of the gable end.

On the basis that this may see timbers from the building frame needing replaced and/or treated, and the DPC repaired, can anyone shed some lighton the worst case scenario in terms of how much this may cost to put right using a contractor?

Just looking for indicative figures for the minute - any help appreciated.

[Andrew Gabriel]

The first thing is to get a proper damp survey done to identify the cause of the damp, and that needs to be a paid-for survey, not a freebie done by a damp treatment company, which are usually completely wrong in their diagnosis. This should also identify any timber which needs replacing, and make some possible cost estimate. No one can possibly give you any advice without seeing the extent of the problem. On one hand, there might be nothing wrong at all, and on the other hand, all the wall plates and joist ends might have dry-rot.

[BBing]

THanks - just want to know what it could run into - are we talking hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands?

[ken]

What a great reply from Andrew. He is spot on. All damp treatment companies will find damp, that's how they make their living. I have been in the building trade for 40 odd years and can only count on one hand the actual rising damp caused by the actual dampcourse failing or non existent.

ken

[bs]

I agree.................another great reply.

I have to say what a great newsgroup this is ........so amazingly useful. Ask a question, simple or a complicated one and an hour or so later......solid advice. So a big THANKYOU to all those who regularly reply to mine and other folks questions ...your knowledge is appreciated

We all know who these regular fonts of wisdom are..........thanks guys !

Barry

[Andrew Gabriel]

The main newsgroup for this area is uk.d-i-y

The free.* newsgroups don't propagate very well and aren't included in all newsservers.