insulation for damp

donemedosh

Hi i am new to the forum, But after a little advice. In july last year i had a call from a local insulation company to offer advise on damp problems. As it happened we did have an issue with damp in the lounge & one bedroom. We were told that we had rising damp & penertrating damp but they would do a deal to spray the property with a sealing cream if i signed up on the day and yes we signed as we thought that at least we get the problem done (even though i had doubts i wanted the problem solved). Now in december we still have the damp issue so i have been doing some real investigating & spoke to people who know better than me. Long story short we have a condensation problem which we are getting on top of by using a dehumiifier & increase air flow around house. But how do i prove that the salesman basicly ripped us off by lying & miss selling us a product that wasn't needed. Plus i could have bought the product from the people who make it for a £400 when they charged 10 times that.!!!

knightstyle

No advice unfortunately but you should be aware that when you come to sell the house with this insulation may be un-mortgageable!
I bet the conman/salesman didn't mention that!

donemedosh

had not heard about that but thanks for the info i will check it out.

DiddyDavies

No advice about the damp but I hope than in future you will avoid dealing with any company who cold calls you trying to sell a product or service.

donemedosh

yes the alarm bells were ringing in my head but i ignored them. But never again

Aylesbury_Duck

Just keep doing the good things you're doing about improving ventilation and removing moisture.  Also, if you're getting condensation and mould on certain walls, make sure furniture is pulled away from the wall. Quite often people have wardrobes, cupboards, sofas, etc. right up against the wall so there's little or no air circulation.  That allows moisture to easily condense on the cold wall.

I'm afraid you've been ripped off by a cold calling company offering expensive solutions for symptoms that are relatively cheaply addressed.

donemedosh

thanks for the info & yes i have been done. But i am going to try and make sure no one else falls into this trap.i should know better.

mikb

Be aware that companies llike that usually have a special meter that detects just as much moisture as they need it to, to convince you there's a problem. These are only available to people in the trade, who know how to operate them.

donemedosh

thanks i just thought it was a box standard moisture tester. will add this to other info i have gathered. I intend to go back to the company & see what they say.

mikb

donemedosh said:

thanks i just thought it was a box standard moisture tester. will add this to other info i have gathered. I intend to go back to the company & see what they say.

Like any tool, it's all in how you (mis)use it. It's amazing what a deftly applied wet finger can do when measuring how damp a wall isn't ... cowboys have been caught out on this on Watchdog/Rogue Traders/similar, where they've been spotted on camera fiddling the meter, or using one which just misreads anyway -- verified fake with a proper *real* calibrated meter used correctly.

Same as measuring the "moisture content" of an external brick wall when it's just rained, to sell some expensive solution to a problem you don't have. Of course it registers damp, what do you expect?