Hi,

We live in an end of terrace house. Its in the middle of the street,
but on one side there is an alley way between us and the neighbour
(hence end of terrace). The alley way provides access to the back of a
number of properties on our street but there is no other access. It
has a concrete floor that goes all the way to the back to the property.

When I purchased the house the surveyor told me there there seemed like
damp present in the house, but only along the one wall on the alleyway
side. Damp proofing has been done as I can see the plastic round caps
all along entire the bottom of the house. I also have a certificate
from the previous owner stating that fact, with a 25yr warranty

The surveyor said the floor level in the alley way was bridging the
damp proof course (DPC), adding that the floor level should be 2 brick
lines below the damp proof course but in fact it is the same level as
the DPC. He said that this was the reason for the damp. Inside the
house no plaster is loose or coming away on that wall, but since the
DPC and remedial work was done 5yrs years ago, I can only assume the
previous owner did not know about the alleyway floor level (or did not
do the work)

There are air brick into my house along my wall in the alleyway,
however as they are lower than the alleyway floor there are cut outs to
allow air in. They were blocked with rubbish/stones but I have cleared
them now.

The surveyor has offered 2 solutions.

1) lower the floor of the alley way so that it is 2 brick lines below
the DPC. This would be alot of work, covering an area 1m wide x 10m
approx. Or
2) Dig out a channel along my wall in the alleyway (he did not say how
wide but I am guessing 6 inches or so?). Dig it out so that is is 2
brick lines lower that the DPC. Clean it out and then fill it will
gravel.

What I need to know is, is the surveyor correct in identifiying the
cause of the damp, and will his solutions work.

PS I know there is an issue of permission required to do the work in
the alley. It is owned collectivley by the houses it provides access
to. I would need permission from them all before I carry out any work.
I am looking into this

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get as much info over as
possible

Thanks

Bhupesh