Level 3 RICS survey: rising damp diagnosed, £7,500 to fix?!

jmo81

Hi,

I'm grateful for any advice, thanks for reading. I have just received the results of a level 3 RICS survey for an end terrace built around 1908. The only concern from that is 'evidence of rising damp to the majority of the ground floor walls' detected using 'a proti-meter'. When I viewed it I had no concerns about damp, the building seemed sound to me. No visible damp patches or damaged plaster. No smell of damp.

Since the only evidence the surveyor could offer came from this meter, and I've reason to doubt their accuracy based on the reading around I've done, it seems off to me. I live very close so have been round today as it was raining heavily, to check the guttering and roof. Everything looked fine. The walls even looked very dry. I've come to disbelieve this diagnosis of rising damp detectable from inside the house. However, I did see something that concerned me -- see pic, by far the worst one I took.

The house did have DPC injected around 2008 and I suspect the cement (? sorry if wrong, I'm no expert on this!) below the injection holes was applied at that time. It is now clearly flaking off and vegetation is growing there which is obviously not ideal.

My worry really is the soundness of those bricks under the cement. They look damp and mossy to me. What the surveyor told me feels wrong, and he never mentions this issue in the report.

My tentative conclusion is if something is wrong, it might be this and perhaps the cement can be removed with potentially the bricks replaced? I really want to buy this house but am afraid it's clouding my judgement.

jonnydeppiwish!

Get a proper company in who specialises in damp, not a a company who comes out from free.

FreeBear

jmo81 said: The house did have DPC injected around 2008 and I suspect the cement (? sorry if wrong, I'm no expert on this!) below the injection holes was applied at that time. It is now clearly flaking off and vegetation is growing there which is obviously not ideal.

Was it the current vendor that had the work done back in 2008 ?

If so, ask if the guarantee is still valid and transferable - If it is (to both), give the company hell for doing a shoddy job, and have them undo the damage they have done. Unlikely they will, and will try to wriggle out of honouring the guarantee  The bit of paper is usually worthless and full of get-out clauses.

I wouldn't be surprised if the moss covered brick in your photo is a hard engineering brick. If it isn't, there may well be some slate hidden in a mortar joint behind the strip of cement render.

ss2020jd

We had a similar comment in our full survey for an 1890 house amounting to £5000+. I knew from reading threads on here that it’s always worth getting it looked at in more detail by an independent specialist surveyor - one that doesn’t offer or is in the business of selling damp treatments. The damp treatments themselves can cause issues in older properties. 

jmo81

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Get a proper company in who specialises in damp, not a a company who comes out from free.

Yes, clearly anything that comes for 'free' costs you in some other way

jmo81

ss2020jd said:

We had a similar comment in our full survey for an 1890 house amounting to £5000+. I knew from reading threads on here that it’s always worth getting it looked at in more detail by an independent specialist surveyor - one that doesn’t offer or is in the business of selling damp treatments. The damp treatments themselves can cause issues in older properties. 

Ta, will do.

Van_Girl

Also worth noting that if they "tanked" it on the inside when they did the pointless injection DPC, depending on what they used it can affect the readings on the Protimeter (which incidentally, are useful for initial investigations and moisture mapping, but absolutely should not be used as the primary method of diagnosing damp)

jmo81

@FreeBear for some reason the forum flagged my reply as 'suspicious'?!

No it was a previous owner and I suspect it was sold around that time so I reckon this work was done off the back of a survey.

FreeBear

jmo81 said:

@FreeBear for some reason the forum flagged my reply as 'suspicious'?!

No it was a previous owner and I suspect it was sold around that time so I reckon this work was done off the back of a survey.

I suspect an guarantee issued at the time would be worthless, and quite likely the original company has gone out of business and/or morphed in to a new one. These outfits are a slippery bunch of burgers...

You are in good hands here and over on the Period Property forum - A wealth of knowledge between the two, and if you do decide to buy, the two forums can guide you through fixing any problems you may uncover.

Digging the soil away from the walls should be your first step after taking possession - It need only be a trench 150-200mm wide, and the same deep as long as you don't expose the footings. Back fill the trench with some decorative gravel so that the level finishes about 75mm lower than it currently is. Get the heating on inside over the winter months, and then reevaluate any areas of concern in the spring.

jmo81

@FreeBear Excellent, thanks, sounds like a plan. I will check out the other forum you mention. Re the contractor who did the work, the only trace of that name I can find on the Internet is a LinkdIn account...

Mardle

Is it occupied or empty?

Our 1908 built end terrace had been empty for some time & the survey mentioned damp in several ground floor rooms. As we were getting work done before we got 3 quotes from builders. 2 (older) builders didn't think any work was needed. The 3rd brought in a 'damp treatment' company who quoted over £3K for the work needed. That was almost 8 years ago, No signs of damp now. No work done to rectify the 'damp' other than ventilation & living in the house. There were no extractor fans at all. We now have one in the kitchen & both bathrooms.