Please, please help advice needed damp proofing dispute

Debtomaniak

Hi guys,

Can someone please advice what I should do?

I had dampproffing works done last year by a company and they gave me 25 years guarantee. In the last few days I could smell damp in my flat and in one of the corners red dust had appeared. When I pulled the carpet away, I was horrified to see floorboards wet and rotten and wall behind skirting board wet and falling apart.

My question is, shouldn't the company removed plaster behind the skirting board in the first place?

I called the company and they promised to come out and take a look, but the guy stopped answering my calls last year when I was trying to get hold of him to ask why another part of the wall wasn't done. He eventually left me voice mail saying that wall wasn't wet enough and therefore didn't need doing.

I am horrified, I had paid £1,500 to have walls around the house injected and only few parts of the walls replastered and now am left with this damp and rot not even a year on.

Do I need to get surveyor out to do report that work hasn't been carried out correctly before I let the original man to fix it (if he shows up!!!).

Do I pay him anymore money?

Gosh I just don't know what to do. Can someone please advice?

Thank you,

D

phill99

Was the £1500 the cheapest quote you got? Were the other quotes considerably more?

Leif

I would get him to visit, and give you his assessment. Ask for it in writing. If he does not answer calls, keep on trying at various times of the day and keep a written record of when you called him. You might need to try over a week or two as he could argue that he was on holiday. Also send him a written letter. Make it clear that his company treated the damp, and that since damp has reappeared it looks as if the treatment was not successful. Since you have a 25 year guarantee, ask him to visit to inspect the damp, and to make recommendations for remediation at his expense, since you have already paid for work.

If he does not do anything, or he visits and tries to charge you a big wodge and explains that the damp is nothing to do with the original problem, I think your only option is to get an independent damp expert in to examine the house, and determine the cause of the damp. I would first write to him explaining that you are paying for an independent expert, and that if he finds that the original damp treatment was faulty, then you will make a claim to him for the cost of the survey, as well as the cost of rectifying the problem. It would be sensible to ask the independent expert to examine your damp proofing documents, and comment on them. This will cost you, I have no idea how much, but at least you will know exactly where you stands i.e. the cause of the damp, and whether or not the company that treated your damp is at fault. If they are at fault, then you can write to the damp treatment company enclosing a photocopy of the survey. State clearly that they are at fault, and you expect them to make good at their expense, and to reimburse the cost of the independent survey. State that if they do not offer to make good, and rectify the problem, then you will resort to legal means to get reimbursement. I would suggest you contact the Citizens Advice Bureau. Also you can contact a solicitor and the first session is free. But solicitors give me the willies. It might be that one letter from a solicitor will be enough to get them to act, but one question is whether or not you feel that you can trust this company to make good after messing up first time round (assuming that is the case). If you can find any previous customers, perhaps via a Google, then that might tell you if they are a good company. To be honest his past behaviour suggests that he is not short of stetsons and spurs.

I hope you get a good outcome.

Absolutely

Debtomaniak wrote: »

Hi guys,


My question is, shouldn't the company removed plaster behind the skirting board in the first place?

I am horrified, I had paid £1,500 to have walls around the house injected and only few parts of the walls replastered and now am left with this damp and rot not even a year on.

D

From my experience - many years ago - I had a dpc done on a terraced house with quite bad damp. We had to remove the skirting boards and knock off all the plaster from about waist height downwards.

Then the dpc was re-done and we had the replastering done. Re-fixed the skirting boards and never had any more problems.

So yes, I think the plaster behind the skirting boards should have been removed in the first place.

Just my opinion/experience.

Debtomaniak

phill99 wrote: »

Was the £1500 the cheapest quote you got? Were the other quotes considerably more?

To be honest his was the only quote I could get in our area. I didn't want to go with the company that no body knew and did call 3 other local companies, one of which got back to me 1 month after my initial contact and the other two said they dont really work with damp.

This guy was recommended by a friend of a friend. They did work and it was good and I was told that it was the only encounter with this builder.

I foolishly felt comforted that at least someone knew the builder.

D

Debtomaniak

Leif wrote: »

I would get him to visit, and give you his assessment. Ask for it in writing. If he does not answer calls, keep on trying at various times of the day and keep a written record of when you called him. You might need to try over a week or two as he could argue that he was on holiday. Also send him a written letter. Make it clear that his company treated the damp, and that since damp has reappeared it looks as if the treatment was not successful. Since you have a 25 year guarantee, ask him to visit to inspect the damp, and to make recommendations for remediation at his expense, since you have already paid for work.

If he does not do anything, or he visits and tries to charge you a big wodge and explains that the damp is nothing to do with the original problem, I think your only option is to get an independent damp expert in to examine the house, and determine the cause of the damp. I would first write to him explaining that you are paying for an independent expert, and that if he finds that the original damp treatment was faulty, then you will make a claim to him for the cost of the survey, as well as the cost of rectifying the problem. It would be sensible to ask the independent expert to examine your damp proofing documents, and comment on them. This will cost you, I have no idea how much, but at least you will know exactly where you stands i.e. the cause of the damp, and whether or not the company that treated your damp is at fault. If they are at fault, then you can write to the damp treatment company enclosing a photocopy of the survey. State clearly that they are at fault, and you expect them to make good at their expense, and to reimburse the cost of the independent survey. State that if they do not offer to make good, and rectify the problem, then you will resort to legal means to get reimbursement. I would suggest you contact the Citizens Advice Bureau. Also you can contact a solicitor and the first session is free. But solicitors give me the willies. It might be that one letter from a solicitor will be enough to get them to act, but one question is whether or not you feel that you can trust this company to make good after messing up first time round (assuming that is the case). If you can find any previous customers, perhaps via a Google, then that might tell you if they are a good company. To be honest his past behaviour suggests that he is not short of stetsons and spurs.

I hope you get a good outcome.

Thank you Leif,

I will start taking notes of each step and get independent surveyor. Thank you so much for your advice, I didn't know where to start to be honest. Just got so upset that someone could take so much money and do shoddy work leaving such a mess. I guess I was easy pray for him, young girl leaving by myself. He even told me "I am not one of those people".... blah, blah, blah...

Can't believe this happened to me. I normally watch people on TV saying "how can they be so silly to be fooled by rough traders"!!!! Now I am one of these "silly" people.

Debtomaniak

Well, surprise, surprise.... The builder's phone went into answerphone immediately!!!! I doubt that he will ever come out to fix his mess. I guess, I will try again tomorrow and if still no answer, will send him 'nice' letter by registered post and the next step will be letter from my solicitor! So angry!

I wonder why do people not do the job they are taking money for???? And how do they sleep at night????

keystone

A DPC is to stop damp coming up from below. How do you know that its not coming down from above (leaking gutters) or from a leaking internal water pipe? You might be being just a tad hasty in blaming your DPC man.

Cheers

Leif

keystone wrote: »

A DPC is to stop damp coming up from below. How do you know that its not coming down from above (leaking gutters) or from a leaking internal water pipe? You might be being just a tad hasty in blaming your DPC man.

Cheers

That is the reason for an independent survey. Obviously!

Debtomaniak

keystone wrote: »

A DPC is to stop damp coming up from below. How do you know that its not coming down from above (leaking gutters) or from a leaking internal water pipe? You might be being just a tad hasty in blaming your DPC man.

Cheers

I'm jumping into conclusions based on his behaviour & the fact that he didn't remove 20cm wide skirting board & contaminated plaster. The info I read on DPC states that it is essential to remove contaminated plaster.


There are no external pipes near that wall & no signs of leak on the wall itself.I haven't removed other skirting boards to check if the rest is done in same shoddy manner, but i suspect it will be the case.You could be right & it may well be some pipe underground, but he still should come out to explain why he hadn't done a proper job & I can get other tradesman to investigate & resolve the issue.

D

Leif

Be careful who you get in to advise. The reason I suggested an independent damp expert is because these people are not hawking their wares, just knowledge. So they have no vested interest in diagnosing a particular cause. That way the only issue is their competence, but it they are afffiliated to some professional body, that gives some reassurance. Damp treatment companies are, according to many sources, notorious for diagnosing something that can be cured with their products e.g. a chemcial damp proof course. My house had a chemical DPC injected, and plaster hacked away and tanked, but I have a strong suspicion that the real cause of damp was condensation caused by vinyl tiles on a concrete floor. I've removed the tiles, which do clearly cause condensation. If they inject a DPC, even though the damp was penetrating damp, not rising, and there is still damp, they can just turn around and say "Well we cured the rising damp, but there is still penetrating damp, which needs curing". So they can't lose. I warn you my knowledge is just picked up from reading around online. I can give you some links if you like, but I'm pretty sure you need a survey by an independent expert.