Is damp worth bothering with?

Laurence_WMF

A surveyor from a quite large company providing free damp inspections took a surprising attitude when he visited my house.

He told me that he has damp patches in his own home, but they don't bother him so he doesn't do anything about them. While he said that dealing with timber rot in the floorboards and foundations was important, he said that if I wasn't personally bothered by the damp in the walls of my house then it's probably not worth the expense and nuisance of eliminating it.

I am not personally bothered (it's not very noticeable). I asked him about impact upon long-term value. He said that if a buyer's survey indicates damp is an issue, the house price could be reduced by roughly the price of dealing with the damp myself; as the property is in a desirable area they'd still want it, so should settle for that.

Previously I had thought that a 'stitch in time takes nine' response was right for damp. What do you think of the surveyor's attitude?

Thanks,
Laurence

SG27

Why did you get the survey done in the first place? Seems like a strange attitude from the surveyor, it's his job to sell you the damp proofing! He is either very bad at his job or his hoping to get the sack?

I so agree with him to an extent. It's not always about damp proofing sometimes managing the damp through ventilation and breathablility is more important especially in older properties.

trollopscarletwoman

Laurence_WMF wrote: »

A surveyor from a quite large company providing free damp inspections took a surprising attitude when he visited my house.

He told me that he has damp patches in his own home, but they don't bother him so he doesn't do anything about them. While he said that dealing with timber rot in the floorboards and foundations was important, he said that if I wasn't personally bothered by the damp in the walls of my house then it's probably not worth the expense and nuisance of eliminating it.

I am not personally bothered (it's not very noticeable). I asked him about impact upon long-term value. He said that if a buyer's survey indicates damp is an issue, the house price could be reduced by roughly the price of dealing with the damp myself; as the property is in a desirable area they'd still want it, so should settle for that.

Previously I had thought that a 'stitch in time takes nine' response was right for damp. What do you think of the surveyor's attitude?

Thanks,
Laurence

Seems an odd attitude from someone who is trying to flog damp proofing-therefore needs to find it and usually exaggerate it.

if you sell your home try and get him as the purchasers surveyor or damp 'professional'. Might save you a few quid.

Laurence_WMF

^ Nice suggestion, trollopscarletwoman!

Laurence_WMF

SG27 wrote: »

Why did you get the survey done in the first place?

There were signs of some damp which did not bother me as a resident but which I thought I should be concerned about as a property owner interested about the maintenance and value of the property (a Victorian terrace house).

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm never quite sure about the effect of damp on the structure of a house, but it is something that impacts on the possessions of the person living in that house (ie having to clean perfectly clean possessions sometimes and occasionally throw them away).

Hence I would be on the lookout as to whether a house had damp and, if it did, wouldn't buy it (ie just in case I couldn't get the problem solved by throwing money at it).

I have, however, come to the conclusion that there does seem to be a pretty large number of houses that do have this problem and its never quite possible for a layperson to see if its solvable or no (without having to live in special ways...if solvable then).

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Surely it depends on the root cause of the damp. Poor ventilation is less urgent than a leak somewhere.

Laurence_WMF

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I have, however, come to the conclusion that there does seem to be a pretty large number of houses that do have this problem and its never quite possible for a layperson to see if its solvable or no (without having to live in special ways...if solvable then).

Yes. Can we trust the professionals, though? My impression is that, even apart from obvious bias towards getting you to hire their services further, they disagree a lot with each other.

Laurence_WMF

Just had yet another free inspection, with yet different advice, but mostly to the effect of 'I wouldn't bother with anything major' (contradicting two of the other three surveyors). Even the different surveyors' meters gave different readings. It's not just a matter of some surveyors distorting the truth to get you to hire their company, there are other disagreements which such bias wouldn't explain. Yet all the surveyors I've ever had have been pleasant, helpful and not at all pushy; it's not like inviting a double-glazing salesman into your house.

I would say that if you are going to have free damp reports, have several and compare, don't just have one and trust it.



Laurence

Oxid8uk

Laurence_WMF wrote: »

I would say that if you are going to have free damp reports, have several and compare, don't just have one and trust it.

Completely agree. The house we bought had a significant damp problem down one side of the house (the neighbour's driveway was higher than our floor level). We knew that the sensible solution was to tank the wall as an injection damp proof course would unlikely work. We got in 6-7 different damp companies in and they all came back with different ways to solve the problem, ranging from £1.5k-£3.5k. We asked them to detail what the process would be and what type of products they would use.

We managed to get £2k of the price of the house and did the work ourselves....for £350 using the products they suggested.