damp proof course guarantee

tiggle_2

I had a damp proof course installed by a fairly reputable installer 6 years ago. It semms to have broken down. large wet areas are showing through the paint work and it shows damp on the electric damp metres.

The work is still under guarantee and the initial contractor has been out to re-survey. The surveyor removed a small amount of the plaster work to be analysed which we did using render additives proproof and knapenoid supplied to us by the damp proof firm.

Does anybody know if the better test would have been to drill the bricks and take a brick dust sample and have that analysed. Are there any other tests?

Does anybody know if the additive system is as good as tanking as the contractor claims. Another national damp proofing firm has told me that some of the walls should have been tanked using a slurry as ground levels on the otherside of the wall are higher.

What is the best way to tell if the damp course has broken down or not?

Any help greatly appreciated. Thinking of taking out a brick at a time anp putting a physical in. Would this work?

iamcornholio

It all depends on whether the initial survey identified the problem correctly, whether the work done was the correct solution for the problem, whether the work was done correctly, or whether this new "damp" is really penetrating or rising damp or is the result of something new.

There are various tests available, but its not clear what you want to test for .... in context of the possibilities mentioned above

Why don't you just claim under the guarantee?

tiggle_2

Thanks for the reply.

I am claiming under the guarantee, but I believe that the company will try to not honour the guarantee on the basis of the plasterwork not meeting recommendations. I obviously disagree with this.

I was really trying to find out if there was a specific test that could be carried out which would determine whether the injected element of the dpc that they carried out had worked from examing the bricks somehow? I believe it has failed but I don't know how to prove this si the case.

iamcornholio

If the plasterwork does not meet the guarantee conditions, then the guarantee is void in any case.

There are tests for dampness within the wall, but I am not sure that this will assist you proving that the injection has failed, it will just indicate higher than normal moisture content, and you can't really infer that as a specific indicator of failure of the injected DPC

You just need to await the findings of the company.