Carolyn wrote:
Mike
wrote:

"Carolyn" wrote in message
...

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.

My comment would be if he is a proper surveyor (member of RICS) he
should know this instrument is not supposed to be used like this, and
if not, ask for a proper surveyor to come and do the job.


Why is the instrument not supposed to be used like this?
He was from Countrywide Surveyors, thats all I know, so I assumed
he was a Chartered Surveyor with his luminous jacket, ladders, big torch...

thanks for all the comments so far; making interesting reading!

Have a look at this, which answers a lot of your questions:
http://www.pdoyle.net/Rising_Damp.html. The site belongs to an
independent Certificated Surveyor in Remedial Treatment (CSRT) who is a
member of the BWDPA (http://www.bwpda.co.uk/). (I know nothing about
the bloke in question other than having found his website, by the way).

Contrary to what you've been advised by your building society surveyor,
CSRTs are the guys who you should consult; apart from anything else,
because their advice is *NOT* free; you pay for it because they have no
vested interest in "finding" rising damp in your property. If you end
up being compelled by your lender to undertake lots of remedial work
before they'll let you remortgage, I suggest it would be well-worth
engaging a CSRT, who may well be able to provide a report which would
completely refute the original 'findings'.

Also you might want to look at this site, from Jeff Howell who is well
known for his radical view that 'rising damp' doesn't exist anywhere at
all except in the minds of sensor-wielding surveyors...
http://ask-jeff.co.uk/building-rising-damp.htm

Good luck
David