Rising Damp

[TS]

I have just had a damp survey carried out as there were signs of rising damp on the walls. The surveyor reported that there was evidence of rising damp in a number of places and that the whole house needs silicone injecting. This is fine and as I expected. The cose he quoted was £2200 plus vat. This would be to strip the plaster to 4 feet, inject the silicone and replaster and replace new skirtings. This is small house - 22 feet by 15 feet with small internal walls. How does this cost sound? Is stripping plaster back bt 4 feet absolutely necessary?

What I did not expect was for him to tell me that the his advice would\be to get the floors all replaced also at a cost of £1800 plus vat. The reasonong being that some of the floors (bathroom, kitchen and cloakroom under the stairs) were solid floors with no damp proof membrane and that they willk soak the water and possibly rot the timber in the suspended floor in the living room. He was not able to inspect this floor as there is a laminate sloor covering on top. This does sound plausible, but am not sure wherther to go ahras with a further cost of over £2 grand.

Any advice appreciated.

[kev208]

This is really bizarre. I can't offer a great deal of advice but the exact same thing has just happened to us last night.

The survey on our house showed damp to the chminey breasts and damp to a partition wall. We knew the problems and went ahead with the purchase. I've sorted out the damp in the chimney as it was not ventialted properly and this seems to be on the mend. we thought we better get the professionals in so we had someone in last night.

He was actually baffled and is getting his boss to come and have a look. in several walls he was getting high readings right next to low readings and he also spotted some damp in places we had never even noticed and I'm sure were not there.

i have a theory but its probably rubbish. its a end of terrace at the bottom of a hill, its got stone floors in the hall and back room and suspneded timber in the front room - the most damp is in the partition wall between these two areas. could it be possible that a lot of this is condensation casued by the recent hot weather combined with the contact with the stone floors?? another theory is that we are decorating the room above and have been using a steamer and a great deal of water.

he's said =A32000 worst case scenario and this is for hacking off plaster from the 4 walls, reinjecting and plastering so your quote sounds about right if it's for a whole new damp course.

[Andrew Gabriel]

He wasn't a "surveyor".

You _probably_ don't have rising damp at all -- most people who receive the advice you received don't, and many of them go on to waste their money on the treatment.

What are the symptoms? What is the wall construction and age of the house?

[Owain]

If he is quoting for doing the work he is not a surveyor, he is a salesman.

Damp proofing salesmen often do.

Do you actually have damp? What is causing it? If it *is* rising damp it will have groundwater salts dissolved in it, which can be demonstrated by chemical analysis.

Owain

[EricP]

What did this bod use to measure this damp? Was it a thing like a torch with two probes on the front, that he pressed against the wall?

[Alan]

In message , TS wrote

25 years ago the rising damp in my house front wall was cured by replacing the rotten window.

The 'damp proof company surveyor' also diagnosed rising damp to the back of the property but failed to notice the true cause of the problem. A hole in the outhouse roof had been letting in water for the previous couple of years prior to me purchasing the property.

I suspect you have been quoted £4K for totally unnecessary work by a salesman without any 'surveying' qualifications.

How old is your property? What type of property? Was it unoccupied recently (especially during the colder or wetter months? Are your air-bricks clear? Has anyone constructed a flower bed against the walls? Has anyone laid something like concrete paving slabs that have raised the outside level above the damp proof coarse? Do you have leaking windows or gutters?

[hzatph]

Based on what was said I share the sceptical views. Is there any damage to the decorations? Are the underfloor void spaces ventilated? Can you decorate/carpet in a way that allows the fabric to breathe rather than trap any moisture? What are the underlying source of moisture?

You need to make your own assessment based on the evidence presented by the "surveyor" and the evidence that he uses to form his judgement of the risks wiht the floor and base all this gainst the peace of mind arising from treatment.

[Peter Parry]

You didn't, you had a sales pitch from an unqualified droid who makes his money from selling unnecessary and ineffective treatments on commission.

There were signs of damp - not the same thing at all. Bet he went around with his little meter with prongs making sucking sounds through his teeth.

Amazingly, this seems to be the case in almost every house they visit.

He obviously took your ready agreement to the first part of the scam as indicating you were likely to swallow an even more unlikely (extra commission earning) story.

Go around the outside of the house and clear all the rubbish and plants back from the wall. That cures many "rising damp" cases (and is the main reason injection treatments seem to work as this is done to gain access to the walls). "Damp meter" readings are completely meaningless and can be manipulated by the operator to produce anything they wish. It's only a resistance meter - it doesn't measure damp at all.

If you really must have the place surveyed find a real surveyor experienced in this field (not a "free" one linked to a dampfraud company) and _pay_ them to carry out an independent survey. It will save you a lot of money.

Competent surveyors are unfortunately few and far between but have a look at

Doyle has been known to post here and could well be a wise first port of call if you want competent advice.

seem to know what they are doing.

[meow2222]

its irrelevant to curing the problem. Treatment companies often dont cure it, they put fresh plaster up to cover it over.

risible

In at least half of cases condensation or penetrating damp (which is what 99% of damp cases are) can be cured with a budget of a tenner.

The causes of damp are almost always simple and straightforward. Learn them, identify them, fix them. Or pay someone that actually does know how to identify and solve damp. Injection and waterproof plaster wont be any part of it.

NT

[Huge]

I fixed the damp in my last house by removing the path down the side of the house and relaying it *below* the DPM.

I fixed the damp in this house by cleaning out all the guttering.

[robgraham]

My parents bought an old house that had a tunnel along the front - why ? because it had been built with an open area in front to prevent dampness in the 'ground floor' - there would originally have been a bridge across this area to the front door. At some point an owner had bridged over the whole area and laid slabs - much nicer looking. All the water said was whoopee now we can make the whole house wet, and it did ! As kids the tunnel was a great adventure and it had stalactites from the lime mortar used. A big land drain was put in - and there was no more dampness ( or stalactites)

Rob .