Duncan Lees wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
I wouldn't bank on that either. It's mainly surveyors and building
societies that have created the myth that all damp is rising. As I
said, go and see the house the day after heavy rainfall. Look
upstairs where the plaster is powdery. Normally you can feel it just
by putting the palm of your hand flat on the wall. Anything facing
south south/west is usually more vulnerable.

The prize goes to Stuart. Just got the survey back, and they reckon
that
the render on the outside of the wall is porous, and the wall is
uniformly damp. So no obvious staining, but damp all the same. The
whole
side of the house needs rerendering and replastering Bugger. Time
to
get some expensice quotes from some builders and try to haggle on the
house price...

Exactly same problem with house a relative bought recently.
It is the SW facing wall in this case.
Quotes for re-render alone are ranging from £1k-£2.5k. This is for flank
wall of end-of-terrace in SW London. Biggest problem seems to be actually
getting any builder to commit to doing the job anytime this decade.