New DPC *only is some areas*

EkPosh

Hi All,

We have bought a house, and the survey has advised that there are few areas where the existing DPC has failed.

Essentially, these are the right hand of a bay window (maybe a total of 5ft) and the back wall in lounge (probably another 5ft of wall).

I have been quoted 750 pounds for the repairs inc adding two air bricks to the sub floor timbers for ventilation. Quote as below:

Air bricks 80
Damproof Course 240
Skirting Boards 50
Plaster Work 290
Remove Rubbish 65

Considering it is only a small area, it seems steep (well at least the plastering and air brick bit). What does everyone think?

Do you think I could get it cheaper if I get the plastering separate... For an area which in total 5ft x 3ft twice (plaster stripped to 1m) seems like a lot?

Thanks for taking the time to read,

EKPosh

andy69_2

I personally think that is high, I had a quote for a full DPC for 1390 about 2 months ago, i ended up doing it myself tho with help from my builder friend!

David_Aldred

Hi,
The following may be helpful and please look on here regarding other posts by dampdaveski and myself.

1. It is highly unlikely that failure of the existing dpc has either occurred and even less likely since it requires laboratory analysis of wall samples to prove, that the surveyor and dpc contractor have actually proved dpc failure but more they have simply taken a guess at this being the cause. The former by misdiagnosis recommending you go straight into the arms of a contractor who sells damp proof courses for a living so no surprise he concurs the misdiagnosis.

2. Electrical damp meters cannot prove rising damp / failure of a damp proof course - that is not an opinion that is a fact. All they do is highlight areas of concern requiring further investigation.

3. Any damp proof course installed you need to insist fully complies with BS6576 ad if such work is to or adjacent to a party wall it needs to comply with the party wall act 1996.

4. Why are they putting air bricks in? Does this relate to dampness under the floor requiring further investigation and which may be contributory / causing the dampness?

5. There is no mention of clearing cavities within walls as required by BS6576 to below the level of the original damp proof course. Is this a cavity wall or a solid wall?

6. There should be a sketch of proposed works and a specification for the works including a detailed specification for re-plastering. If there is a problem later you need all of these documents including an insurance backed guarantee.

7. Avoid splitting liability by one person doing the dpc and another doing the plastering. If there is a problem at a later date the dpc contractor will simply say it is your plastering that is at fault.

8. If the true reason for the dampness is not identified then resolved, the re-plastering will hold the issue back for a period of time then begin to fail. You will then recall the dpc contractor (they will charge a fee to come back out) if still in business and they will deny it is anything to do with the dpc which is correct because it is highly unlikley it was anything to do with the dpc in the first place.

9. You may come to sell the house in the future. The new surveyor will use an electrical damp meter and say 'ah rising damp' and throw the purchaser into the hands of another dpc contractor who says yes dpc failure of both original dpc and the chemical dpc.

You then recall the contractor who did the chemical dpc and they ignore the high electrical damp meter readings that in other houses they would wrongly rely on to justify a new dpc and pull out a carbide meter which is different altogether from an electrical meter and using the carbide meter again state categorily it is not dpc failure.

The purchaser disagrees and chips the price down and then gets a new dpc contractor to put in another dpc (so now there are three damp proof courses) and the whole sorry saga repeats itself until somebody - god willing - takes a good look at what is really giong on and resolves the true causes of the problem by simple traditional building techniques that any competant builder should be able to do.

Hope this helps, kindest regards David Aldred Independent damp and timber surveyor

punknzippy

david thats a great guide ,
on my old victorian terrace i sold a few years ago i had 3 surveys done (due to having sold it 3 times due to crappy buyers ) 1 said damp in the front room by the ally way , 2 didnt !!!!!
1 asked why i didnt have any air bricks in the front and why had i put plastic ones in the side ally way wall ....... i had removed previous persons bodge of a front square bay window and just put it as a flat front house , meaning first floor joist was against front wall meaning no airflow for airbrick ... 1 surveyor still wanted an air brick in it ??????
asked why and he just said cos its supposed to be their !!!
i since then dont really trust what these mortgage surveyors say 1 bit ,
i carnt diagnose your damp fault from my computer but hows your guttering around the bay ?? is their driving rain hitting your bay brickwork ??
are your bay windows in good condition and with plenty of overhang from the sills ??
how high up is the ground in relation to the blue bricks that are the damp course in victorian terms ??

i recently did a small repointing job mainly due to damp (customers theory) at the rear of an old terrace , turns out some previous owner had laid a slab path on top of old path ..... in turn covering up the air brick and then when it rained it ran into air brick and caused big damp patch

Eric_Pisch

punknzippy wrote: »

i recently did a small repointing job mainly due to damp (customers theory) at the rear of an old terrace , turns out some previous owner had laid a slab path on top of old path ..... in turn covering up the air brick and then when it rained it ran into air brick and caused big damp patch

A while back the RICS surveyed 1000 houses that had chemical DPC's and in every one they found an underlying issue that was causing the damp that could be rectified, such as leaking gutters, leaking pipes in the ground, changes as you have described.

punknzippy

its easy to poke a little prong in a wall though , looking for the obvious just isnt technical enough to some

Wickedkitten

Thats a hell of a lot for everything. We didn't even pay 50 quid for skirting boards when we had to do an entire wall all the way along the stairs and back through to the bedroom in our old terrace and air bricks were about 1.50 each from screwfix.

We were actually really cheeky though by getting in a damp proof salesman to do the quote so we could renegotiate, and then we ended up dealing with the issue ourselves after we moved in.