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Damp

Newcomer1234
Posts: 29 Forumite

Hi
I would really appreciate some help.
I have an outside wall that appears to be suffering from damp. The nails in the skirting board have been rusted a while (I thought I had been slap-happy with my mop and the room hasn't been painted for a while). But recently I realised that the paint on the plaster above the skirting was bubbling.
I called out a damp guy who says its rising damp. He put his damp meter on the wall and it registered up to about three feet on the inside of the outside wall.
At my request he also put his damp meter on a totally inside wall that is the adjacent side of the room. Badly described, but two adjacent sides of the square, hopefully you can follow what I mean. The damp meter also displayed in the red area on his meter for part of this wall too.
He says he can fix it and give a 30 year warranty. Not by injecting chemicals as there is cavity wall insulation there.
How do I know if he is correct? Some posts suggest rising damp doesn't exist. He seemed to be quoting verbally around the two hundred mark which I think includes re-plastering where he does his stuff. The estimate has yet to arrive.
Any advice or observations would be welcome.
In case its relevant, its a cloakroom which is usually quite warm and the window gets opened frequently!
I would really appreciate some help.
I have an outside wall that appears to be suffering from damp. The nails in the skirting board have been rusted a while (I thought I had been slap-happy with my mop and the room hasn't been painted for a while). But recently I realised that the paint on the plaster above the skirting was bubbling.
I called out a damp guy who says its rising damp. He put his damp meter on the wall and it registered up to about three feet on the inside of the outside wall.
At my request he also put his damp meter on a totally inside wall that is the adjacent side of the room. Badly described, but two adjacent sides of the square, hopefully you can follow what I mean. The damp meter also displayed in the red area on his meter for part of this wall too.
He says he can fix it and give a 30 year warranty. Not by injecting chemicals as there is cavity wall insulation there.
How do I know if he is correct? Some posts suggest rising damp doesn't exist. He seemed to be quoting verbally around the two hundred mark which I think includes re-plastering where he does his stuff. The estimate has yet to arrive.
Any advice or observations would be welcome.
In case its relevant, its a cloakroom which is usually quite warm and the window gets opened frequently!
0
Comments
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Rising damp does exist but,
(1) there is often a simpler explanation
(2) it is easy to fake a positive reading
Bubbling plaster and soggy skirting does suggest a genuine problem. Have you checked outside for any problems with gutters, raised ground level, etc?
He is presumably quoting to strip plaster and re-render with a waterproof render mix then re-plaster. It should work but better to investigate any other defects first.0 -
Hi
I appreciate your reply.
I have looked outside - its a driveway, weed and leaf free. My belief is that its a concrete drive and tar has been dumped on top to make it look prettier. It is still below the damp course by about 6 inches or a bit more. The house is probably built in the late 70's so I would have thought rising damp unlikely but obviously not impossible.
There are no pipes nearby and the guttering doesn't drip particularly there even when when its heavy rain. Nor are there puddles there. There is, however, what I would call bloom on the bottom of the wall - whitish deposit a max of an inch or so high. The neighbours also have this on their wall which is opposite.
I have just put a dehumidifier in the room to try and reduce the moisture levels. It seems to be filling up quicker than it did in the bedroom where I had it earlier today.
I suppose the biggest issue is trying to find somebody you can trust to advise you - I am not convinced by damp meters ever since I was told I had a gas leak because somebody used a gas meter incorrectly! But in this case I guess the de-humidifier is backing up the meter reading.
Thanks0 -
See my thread of this afternoon:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5111912
Cheers,
Laurence0 -
Newcomer1234 wrote: »Hi
.
He says he can fix it and give a 30 year warranty. Not by injecting chemicals as there is cavity wall insulation there.
What exactly dos he believe is the cause?
What exactly is he proposing to do?
All very well say he isn't going to inject chemcals, but.....???? :huh:
Have you lifted any floorboards? What is below the floor inside? and in what condition?
If it is 'rising damp' (unlikely) then how will he cure it?
Get at least 3 people round and compare their diagnoses, and their remedies, before you decide what to do.0 -
Hi,
I agree you need to try and check out all other possible causes. A 1970's house should not have its DPC fail by this time.
How long have you had the damp, were there any changes nearby around the same time? including Trees removed/planted - anything that would impact the dampness in the surroundimg ground.
One last thing is, when the house was built its possible that builders waste may have fallen or was dumped in the cavity and so would bridge the gap and allow dampness to soak across to the inside wall.
Is your floor solid? If not, try and take a look underneath floorboards, you may have a leaking pipe.
Dont rely solely on 'experts'.0 -
£200 gives me cause for concern.
30 year guarantees always make me smile.Well life is harsh, hug me don't reject me.0 -
£200 gives me cause for concern.
30 year guarantees always make me smile.
yep, it would be interesting to hear from someone who had successfully claimed after 20-odd years, or even 5 years for that matter.
I have heard stories of quite large fees for the company's assessor to come and examine any issues, and also that the guarantee is void if, for example, you have used the 'wrong' paint on the wall, or had any other work done in the problem area.0 -
A 30 year guarantee would be well worth having...... provided it was insurance backed. ie if the contractor goes out of business the insurer picks up any cost.0
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Many thanks to all of you for taking time to reply.
The answers to some of your questions go like this;
Mr Dampman said it was rising damp but did not suggest a reason for it. He said it as though that was the only answer required.
He's going to use special plaster on the inside of the walls which will stop the moisture going through and solve the problem (he says). My query is, if the wall is effectively two layers with a cavity (insulated one) between, and the water is coming up from the ground, re-plastering part of the inside of the wall surely won't stop the damp? Won't the moisture just find somewhere else in the wall to go or go through the insulation in the cavity?
The thirty year guarantee is insurance backed although as others have mentioned it might be hard to make a claim.
Downstairs floors are concrete.
No changes that I am aware of in the area over the last few years. No tree cutting or removal - or new ones either. No road-works to mention. And the water board wrote to me today saying they are only going to take £1.00 a month as my water meter has reduced my costs so much (hooray) and I had overpaid. So I am assuming I don't have a leak
Guttering doesn't appear to be dripping drastically (it has rained a lot recently) and none of the overflows are dripping.
I was about to have the cloakroom refitted which was how I noticed the plaster problem crawling round measuring for a new toilet. The toilets pipes are all bone dry. I have put the fitter off until the problem is resolved.
Finding suitable people to come and look seems harder than I thought it would be but I will press on.0 -
Probably he will tank the walls? Don't nail the skirtings back in, you'll breach the tanking. We just spent thousands in the same job and a handyman came in and studiply nailed the skirtings in.
A year later the damp was back (couldn't get rid of it) so we moved. Interesting an internal wall had high damp readings.0
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