Lobster
wrote:
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

Those two links are really useful! Makes things a lot clearer now, and I
certainly feel confident at discussing this issue with the `surveyor`.I just might
ask him `innocently`, as I have been advised, where I might find a damp survey
company, and see what he says... Be interesting to see how he responds.

many thanks, all

--
Carolyn