Damp Proofing surveys and scams.

blossom385

Hi, I am new to this site today and have just been reading your questions on damp proofng.

I work as a secretary in a damp proofing company and can give you some advice when instructing a survey.

Never get a free survey. There is damp in almost all houses, it is whether the dampness is causing a problem or not that should be addressed therefore no damp surveys are free, they are out looking for work.

Reputable damp specialists charge from about £50.00 for their services.

Make sure the surveyors are qualified. (many call themselves surveyors but are really just salesmen) Qualifications to look for are:-

CSRT - qualified in damp, timber, health & Safety and Law (relating to damp surveys)
CRDS qualified in damp
CTIS qualified in timber

Some people put all the qualifications to make themselves look good but if you look for the CSRT it incorporates the others

The surveyor should look at the wall and surrounding areas (I know that's obvious but many just glance at size of wall and stick his meter in for a few seconds so he can quote on inserting a dpc.)

A good surveyor will inspect the wall, put a damp meter in various places and take several readings (one reading giving very high damp signals does not necessarily mean you have rising dampness) he will look outside at any other factors ie, rendering, gutters etc and look at the floor in the room if possible.

(i kinow gutters are high up and dpc are low but sometimes the gutters are blocked causing water to drip over and hit the wall at low level giving the appearance of rising dampness) Once the gutters are unblocked the walls will usually dry out.

:mad: Some companies have a different person sign the report. The person who signs is qualified (but never visited your property) and the person inspecting the house isnt. Thereby fooling you into thinking he is a qualified surveyor.

:mad: Some companies say 'Approved'. This means they have been on a 1 day training course - usually run by the chemical manufacturers- and are then allowed to sell the chemicals.

Always look for a BWPDA registered company (soon to be PCA) They are the governing body of damp proofers and regularly vet the companies, surveyors and operatives. The accounts of the company are vetted, the surveyors always qualified and the operatives (the ones who actually do the work in your house) are assessed yearly on site.

:mad: some companies say they 'work to BWPDA standards' but they are not actually registered (this tells you a lot about the company:eek: )

Remember. valuation surveyors are very basic, sometimes the surveyors just say 'damp and get a specialist in' Dont be alarmed in many cases they are just covering themselves. Countless times we have gone out and the house is fine, the dampness was because the homeowner was cooking and drying clothes at the time and the dampness was condensation!!!!

Hope this helps.

sizzlesausage_2

[PHP]Always look for a BWPDA registered company (soon to be PCA) They are the governing body of damp proofers and regularly vet the companies, surveyors and operatives. The accounts of the company are vetted, the surveyors always qualified and the operatives (the ones who actually do the work in your house) are assessed yearly on site.[/PHP]


My lender would only accept a report from a 'BWPDA' registered company. Beware that this can delay the house-buying process as in my experience, nearly all were fully booked for the next 2 weeks!

cattie

I must be one of the very lucky few who had occasion to call out a couple of small local damp proof companies to give me advice & a quote on a damp problem mentioned in a survey.

Both companies carried out a free survey & told me the damp was within the accepted range & that in their opinion remedial work wasn't neccesary.

Not everybody is a rip off merchant or a cowboy I'm pleased to say.

Oddgy

Ive had a nitemare, had several companies that all gave conflicting information. It is so stressful when you cant seem to get to the bottom of it, and all along have suspicion that all they want is your dosh.

I do wish i could have found someone to pay to come to take a look and would have given us a solid report as that would have been so much easier than arranging for all these plonkers to come out!! But you cant find anything in the yellow pages. All you can find are companies that do it that come and give.....Free estimates!!

Oddgy

Ps THANK YOU BLOSSOM for this.

Debt_Free_Chick

It's also worth bearing mind that period properties usually don't cope well with modern chemically injected DPC as a "cure" for rising damp. The original building materials and decorative finishes were designed to allow the building to breathe and a modern chemical DPC usually interferes with the breathing process.

Oddgy wrote:

All you can find are companies that do it that come and give.....Free estimates!!

Yes, Yellow Pages tends to list companies that sell DPC - not surveyors that give a proper opinion. The easiest way to find a surveyor is through a firm of Chartered Surveyors - ask if they have a damp specialist. I think this is a must for a period property.

Thanks for the info Blossom

ka7e

My husband is a builder and he used to quote the information given in the Askjeff website to surveyors. Whenever he was called in to install a DPC following a survey for dampness, he always found there was an external source which was cheaper and easier to correct.

clutton_2

i saw a documentary on TV a few years back in which a guy claimed there was no such thing as rising damp !! he showed that faulty rain-water and water-disposal pipes; blocked up air-bricks; debris in the middle of cavity walls; loose tiles; poor pointing; poor window/door maintainance all could easily be resonsible for dampness in properties - needless to say the DPC industry hated him !!!!!