Rising damp missed on survey

1032rebecca

Hi we brought our house 2 years ago and paid for a full structuctual survey. Everything came back great apart from the odd minor problem. 2 years on and we have just found out we have rising damp in at least 4 rooms!
My question is should this have not been picked up? Surely there would have been signs of damp issues back then for someone who knew what they were looking for?
Where do I go from here? I’ve got several different companies coming out to give me quotes on fixing this problem. Is it worth contacting the surveyors or is 2 years too long?
Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted User]

If it's only now visible two years after you've lived there, it suggests there may have been no signs to have been spotted at the time of the survey.

bxboards

Houses are 'bought' not 'brought' - they are far too heavy to bring them with you!

Joking aside, generally speaking the issue is unlikely to be rising damp, its likely to be from some other source, rather than coming up from the ground.

One of the best tests for dampness is a smell test (close doors and windows in the damp room then go outside for 10 minutes then come back in) and the back of your hand - a damp wall will often feel noticeable colder in the damp area vs. the rest of it.

I personally never bother with any sort of surveys, they either point out the obvious, or hedge their bets so much as to be useless. Is the wall wallpapered? This can often trap moisture which builds up over time, ditto vinyl non-breathable paints.

Have a look for obvious sources of dampness outside and check gutters / leaking pipes etc before assuming rising damp.

AdrianC

Whether there is such a thing as "rising damp" is a hotly debated topic. What's for sure is that most damp is from obvious external causes related to poor maintenance. High ground levels, poor ventilation, leaking rainwater goods, cracked render - that sort of thing.

Sort those out before panicking about something that is almost certainly irrelevant.

sevenhills

AdrianC wrote: »

Whether there is such a thing as "rising damp" is a hotly debated topic. What's for sure is that most damp is from obvious external causes related to poor maintenance. High ground levels, poor ventilation, leaking rainwater goods, cracked render - that sort of thing.

Sort those out before panicking about something that is almost certainly irrelevant.

I notice that the OP said rising damp in four rooms, it must be a large house to have four rooms on the ground floor all with rising damp.

Doozergirl

You've lived in the house for two years, so tell us what the symptoms are in these four rooms that have caused you to seek help.

If it's taken you that long then it's arguably not the problem that people are diagnosing. I'm not sure why one very rarely finds someone with a bit of common sense in the damp treating industry. They all just create work for themselves.

What you do is treat the cause of the damp and stop it altogether, not line the inside of the house with render. It doesn't fix the problem, it hides it, but it's way more profitable than unblocking an air brick or digging back the ground level and little bit.

So. What exactly is happening?

kingstreet

Have you obtained an independent inspection report?

You're not relying on reports from firms who make money out of fitting damp courses?

A leaky roof, chimney flashing, rainwater goods or soil level bridging the damp course would all cause high moisture readings...

shortcrust

I agree - identify and treat the cause.

Our row of houses suffered from damp since long before I moved in. I think everyone just accepted it due to the age, type of house etc. Six months ago a leaking water main was found by chance and it's slowly become apparent that the leak was the cause of the damp issues. My neighbour who had his basement tanked isn't too happy!