Carolyn wrote:

I had a surveyor round the house as part of my Remortgage process. He
used his sensor on
all the downstairs internal walls and said that it showed him damp
readings in the front
lounge, dining room, and on the hallway walls. I`m on an end terrace,
so the hallway is
exposed, ie not joined to another house.. The lounge wall divides the
lounge at the front
of the house from the dining room in the centre of the house, with an
access door between
the two rooms. (Just for useless info, really) .

What I want to know is; how foolproof are these readings?

theyre not. They use them because of the outcome of a court case, not
because theyre diagnostic. Quite simply they detect damp, condensation,
conductive building matrials etc. Oh, and are designed to measure
moisture in wood, not other materials.



His gizmo was of the type that
had a series of lights climbing up from green, then amber, to red, in
a black box affair,
with two metal prongs he put against the walls.

dampmeter, =A39 from any hardware outlet. What they actually measure is
electrical resistance.


Also, what sort of cost am I looking at to get this addressed?

deends if theres a problem or not, and if so what it is.

I know that it will
probably mean all the plaster knocking off to about 2 feet up from
the skirting level,
then replacing once its dried out, and finally repainting it all
..

Thats one thing it wont involve. At least not if you identify the cause
and rectify it.


The rooms aren`t
huge, approx 3.5m x 3.3m and 3.7 x 3.1m.


OK, start he what signs of dampness are present? Are there any?


NT

ps these folks regularly field this one:
http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/cgi-...sing/forum2.pl