Andy Dingley wrote in message . ..
On 27 Oct 2004 06:34:13 -0700, (Ellen
Rawlinson) wrote:

I have just bought a very wet house! Semi detached about 100 years
old. I've taken some steps to try and cure what I thought the cause of
the problem was i.e. removing the 12 inches of concrete that encased
the building above the internal floor levels, fixing drains, removing
3 feet of concrete render along one side, gutters etc. It subjectively
feels much drier even after only 4 weeks.

Congratulations. Now the sensible thing to do is ignore the problem
until next Summer. We've had a wet Autumn and it's going to get worse.
Assuming that your guess is exactly right (and I bet it was), then
your house will remain damp for quite some time - nothing short of
freeze-drying it is going to remove the existing moisture, so you're
just going to have to wait a while to really find out what's what.

No-one with a shiny suit and a magic meter knows _anything_ more than
this. You know the walls _were_ wet, you now have to hope you've
removed the single cause and that drying out will improve things.
"Tests" won't tell you any more about causes than simple visual
inspection.

In the meantime, assume the worst. Don't hang valuable pictures on
outside walls. Put some $5 hygrometers around the place. Think about a
dehumidifier. Don't redecorate yet, and expect to do so next year.

Knocking off the damp plaster throughout to about 1 to 1.3m

That's even more than I would have done so far.

Rentokil sent along a surveyor today

Never mind. I'm sure there's a pest control company that can
eradicate it. Just keep the food in sealed tins and don't let them
build a nest.


Rentokil are not a trustworthy company for damp proofing (Look what
happened over their past guarantees). "Surveyors" that work for
solution companies are implicitly untrustworthy. You've very probably
fixed the real problem of the exterior bridging and internal
injections et al. are a very poor second best in comparison.


BTW - What happened about the original buyer's surey and spotting the
bridging in the first place ?

I bought it knowing full well it was very damp. I got a full
structural survey from a very helpful, friendly and talkative
surveyor, and this, along with detailed inspection, suggested doing
the things I've already done would go at least part way to solving the
problem. I just wasn't sure if I still needed things like injections
or mechanical DPC etc as well.... unfortunately getting Rentokil out
didn't really help!!!