Damp - Conflicting info & quotes

*EvilMissKitty*

Hello everyone! :hello:

This is my first post on the forum!

We have recently started to decorate our living/dining rooms, two weeks ago we had a heavy downpour and we had damp patches appear on the lower walls of the front and the rear of the house.

I have no experience in damp proofing as this is the oldest house we have bought (1900) but I am confused to the work that needs doing.

I have so far had 2 quotes for doing the following work

removing the plaster from the front & back walls of our terraced house
damp proof course
re-plastering

at a cost of between £ 680 to £ 700.

I have a concern because not one of these professionals would tell me where the damp/leak/whatever came from! Is this normal?:huh: I would imagine that this would be the first priority.

I would really appreciate any advise.

Sorry, its turned into a mini rant!

I really think this site is great :T

weekendwarrior

A damp proof course only stops rising damp, that rises from the floor. To stop rising damp from rising you install either a Chemical damp proof course or an Electro osmosis damp proof course

If your damp only appeared after the rain then you may be getting penetrative damp, this can be caused by missing pointing/ damaged render or a blocked cavity wall, or damaged guttering etc.

Before you go splashing out any money you need to determine if it is rising or penetrative. Fixing the plaster on the inside is useless until you have fixed the cause of the problem!

Debt_Free_Chick

*EvilMissKitty* wrote:

I have so far had 2 quotes for doing the following work

Sounds like you have asked two firms selling DPC to give you a quote. And they have quoted to give you a DPC.

As WeekendWarrior says, you don't know that you actually need a DPC, as you don't know if you have a rising damp problem. It seems odd that the damp only appeared after a downpour. The point about rising damp is that it's pretty much permanent - as the damp is being drawn up from the ground. Rising Damp may ease off in very, very dry periods, if the water table around the property falls - other than that, the existence of rising damp tends to be obvious for just about all of the year.

Does the gutter leak above the areas where the damp was seen? That's a common "damp" problem and does not require you to install a DPC - you simply fix the guttering and the damp problem goes away.

Many period properties do not need modern, chemically injected DPCs. Rising damp existed when the property was built and Victorian builders knew how to deal with it. Of course, the DPC originally installed may fail in time, but it's less common than is made out.

If you are concerned about the damp problem, you should get a specialist surveyor in. Sure, it might cost you a few hundred quid, but at least you would get an accurate diagnosis of the problem and clear advice as to how to remedy it. The surveyor won't be trying to sell you a DPC

*EvilMissKitty*

weekendwarrior wrote:

A damp proof course only stops rising damp, that rises from the floor. To stop rising damp from rising you install either a Chemical damp proof course or an Electro osmosis damp proof course

Thank you for these links. I shall take a look as soon as I have replied here. Thank you for your reply

weekendwarrior wrote:

If your damp only appeared after the rain then you may be getting penetrative damp, this can be caused by missing pointing/ damaged render or a blocked cavity wall, or damaged guttering etc.



Before you go splashing out any money you need to determine if it is rising or penetrative. Fixing the plaster on the inside is useless until you have fixed the cause of the problem!

Thank you again for confirming what I was thinking! The advertizing of all the companies I called stated that they were 'damp proof specialists' (Out of five called only two companies replied)

Thanks

Raie

*EvilMissKitty*

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

Sounds like you have asked two firms selling DPC to give you a quote. And they have quoted to give you a DPC.

As WeekendWarrior says, you don't know that you actually need a DPC, as you don't know if you have a rising damp problem. It seems odd that the damp only appeared after a downpour. The point about rising damp is that it's pretty much permanent - as the damp is being drawn up from the ground. Rising Damp may ease off in very, very dry periods, if the water table around the property falls - other than that, the existence of rising damp tends to be obvious for just about all of the year.

Does the gutter leak above the areas where the damp was seen? That's a common "damp" problem and does not require you to install a DPC - you simply fix the guttering and the damp problem goes away.

Many period properties do not need modern, chemically injected DPCs. Rising damp existed when the property was built and Victorian builders knew how to deal with it. Of course, the DPC originally installed may fail in time, but it's less common than is made out.

If you are concerned about the damp problem, you should get a specialist surveyor in. Sure, it might cost you a few hundred quid, but at least you would get an accurate diagnosis of the problem and clear advice as to how to remedy it. The surveyor won't be trying to sell you a DPC

Thank you for your reply Debt_Free_Chick :A

Both companies which I contacted said that they were 'damp specialists' I assumed that they were! But as you have pointed out, I think they were just builders/DPC specialists.

I am disabled and cannot use ladders or whatnot but I have given the exterior the once over. The rendering looks intact and the house did have a damp proof coursing renewed 20 years ago. The house was also re-pointed three years ago and the rendering was not touched.

The damp at the front - there does not appear to be any running water that we can see from outside of the house.

I think that my best option is to specialist surveyor.

Thank you for you good advice. :T

Raie

a-builder-A1

Due to the amount of rain lately it could be your soakaways filled up and the down pipes backed up is the damp in the region of a downpipe

davsidipp

or it could be your damp course is being bridged. we had damp when the next door neighbour raised the paving slabs they had and put them higher over our damp course . the solution with us was a french drain which works well if kept clear of muck and leaves,we had many damp companies come out each trying to sell different products but this has worked well for us.

cwhslh

Hi All
I seem to have a damp problem that is 'always there' so I have requested a survey. I am taking advantage of a free survey offered by Peter Cox

http://www.petercox.com/services/rising-damp.html

Clive

mouk

cwhslh wrote:

Hi All
I seem to have a damp problem that is 'always there' so I have requested a survey. I am taking advantage of a free survey offered by Peter Cox

http://www.petercox.com/services/rising-damp.html

Clive

is the survey free?
does not mention it being free on there website

Debt_Free_Chick

mouk wrote:

is the survey free?
does not mention it being free on there website

It's probably free, but it's not a "survey". It's an appointment for a salesman to call round and try to persuade you to buy one of their solutions for rising damp ... or any other product.

cwhslh

Hi
The request survey page says 'Free Survey'!
http://www.petercox.com/request.html
We'll see how it works out.
Clive