I've arranged for a couple of firms to quote for damp work mentioned in
I wouldn't if I were you. Employ local plasterers or bricklayers to repair the damage. No point handing money to middle men
If this is for a ground floor problem on an 1885 house, newton membranes are the wrong approach entirely. There are a lot of people claiming to be damp experts, the level of knowledge of many of whom is pitiful. I'd recommend learning more about how these properties handle damp, and what methods will help.
NT
This is after paying for an *independent* damp survey
Dower Tekron is a referral from a friend, and I'm not entirely sure they understand what I'm asking for. Protectahome are the recommendation from Newton Membranes themselves.
Essentially, I'd just like *any* feedbackf from someone who's had direct dealings with either.
Ta
Sean
So if I knock up a website, tell you I'm an expert and accept your money you'll believe anything I say? Good luck.
NT
Far from it. How, exactly, do you draw that conclusion?
As far as possible, I've attempted to find someone suitably qualified and disinterested and engaged their services to perform a survey. Now the links on the site and qualifications listed *could* be bogus or irrelevant; there's a limit to how deeply I'm prepared to research the matter, but this is a problem using any service where you aren't a domain expert.
So I've relied on the qualifications listed, spending an afternoon following the process in my own house, and having the methodolgy, results, and conclusion explained to me face-to-face, followed by a written report.
If you gave any specific experience of this particular site or surveyor you'd like to share, I'd be interested to hear it, but the moment, it just looks like you're engaging in a bit of "poisoning the well", for reasons which escape me.
Oh, I thought you had, but we'd all dismissed you as a harmless nutcase.
;-)
Don't waste your breath. Drivel on Combis, Meow on old buildings - its the same story - a few half truths cobbled together and presented as expert advice.
Ther are two ays to go with old buildings. One, which may be mandated by Lsiting, is to use the trad stuff the way they did and accept that the standards of 200 years ago are barely acceptable today, in terms of damp and condensation.
The other is to go whole hog and try and tuyrn teh central heating and waterproofed exteriors.
Half measures don't work though. Shoving CH in an old damp building simply drives the moisture to condense on yet colder and more inaccesible parts, unless you couple it with a very high degree of ventilation.
Likewise waterproofing exterior walls that are subject to rising damp, not penetrating, makes em worse.
If your damp experts are worth their salt, they will have worked out what's what and found a sensible solution.
For most subjects this is an excellent approach, but when it comes to damp it isnt. As you dont intend to read into it more I shall leave you to the resident wallies.
NT
I'd be interested to know what issues you have with the info at
I ought to at least correct that: the regulars who think things are bound to be as simple as they first seem.
NT
Looks good, did he do a salt test(s) or just moisture tests?
cheers, Pete.
"Protectahome are the recommendation from Newton Membranes themselves."
Ask for references from previous customers, and then take the time to make enquiries with more then one of them. Preferably both recent and old.
As for as
NT
in early cavity wall houses and after 100 years its common that the cavity fills with "crap" at the bottom, bridging the DPC both on the inside and through to the outside. You effectively then have no DPC, and no amount of silly cone injection will help. I would have expected a surveyor and anyone who knows anything about older houses and damp to have been aware of this.
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injected dpcs are not often useful anyway. But what does this have to do with the page you linked to? Are you sure thats the right link?
NT
He tooks dozens of readings with a meter at various points on the internal walls, crawled into as many spaces as possible with a high powered torch and checked the exterior guttering and drainage amongst other things.
ISTR that he offered a salt the test at an additional cost (pretty modest), and that I could send a few samples when I started knocking the place about for it's rewire. This is starting this Thursday, so I'll be sending a representative sample off.
When I say "there's a limit", I refer to the work I'll do before choosing my expert. I don't mind more reading by any means.
Also I'm grateful for any well meaning advice, but you'll appreciate that I have to weight it accordingly.
You haven't really given me any reason to prefer the opinion you've given me (purely on the strength of my sketchy description of the requirements - and that's my limitation of course) over the opinion of someone who spent several hours investigating the problem in the flesh, and who seems experience and well qualified for the job.
I like his theory on rising damp, namely that, if there's no such thing, why do we have damp courses at all
I understand. I offered a link, but its not an article, its a site that will take some time to gather all the info, and I doubt you'll take the time. You could always start some leads by telling them the situation and asking for input.
NT
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