Removing damp

dominoman

Good. Glad you didnt give them the job. Almost comical what they suggested.

You have to find the source of the damp and fix that. Replastering or injecting DPC into bricks will do absolutely nothing to stop the damp.

In the meantime get a decent dehumidifier. The De'Longhi DEM10 (Amazon sells them) is excellent. It will give you enough time to see where the water is really coming from.

Halle71

flimsier wrote: »

Actually, I was a bit worried because I found two different addresses in different parts of Essex for the company. I also found only two (positive though) reviews for them despite their claim to have been going ten years.

This is really interesting and helpful feedback.

Just to be clear: it is definitely the case that their meter reading showed damp in the walls. Do they not need to do something about that? I knew there was no rising damp, but assumed they had to treat the walls.

Thanks for your help you two. I better find someone else.

Those damp meters are designed for wood not brick.

We moved into a new house in August that had a few damp problems as it had been empty for 2 years.

We have a similar problem to yours in our first floor master bedroom but after a bit of research I've included it's probably condensation. It's in a cupboard so lack of ventilation and on a corner with 2 outside walls. We've removed the (ugly cupboard) and are drying it out before making good.

We have the same problem downstairs and our (RICS) surveyor suggested rising damp so advised a damp survey. EA recommended a comany (I know.... now!!) who, funnily enough confirmed rising damp and privided a quote for £1600. Fortunately we didn't rush into anything because scraping off some flaking paint revealed perfect plaster - the mould was condensation and has not returned six months later.

To help in the long term we're removing paint on the outside and checking all the air bricks are clear - it's an Edwardian house and needs to breathe. I love the Internet for researching this kind of thing - how did my parents manage?!?


.

paddyrg

'Damp' meters simply measure electrical resistance. Different media have different base resistances, natural salts in plasterwork, especially with a little humidity, can give high readings - especially if pressed firmly to get good contact. They are qualitative, not quantitative tools - they can compare two areas to see which is damper, but cannot say an area is authoritatively damp or not.

flimsier

dominoman wrote: »

Good. Glad you didnt give them the job. Almost comical what they suggested.

You have to find the source of the damp and fix that. Replastering or injecting DPC into bricks will do absolutely nothing to stop the damp.

In the meantime get a decent dehumidifier. The De'Longhi DEM10 (Amazon sells them) is excellent. It will give you enough time to see where the water is really coming from.

Yes, already bought a big dehumidifier - am a huge fan of them. Thanks.