I have just had a damp survey carried out as there were signs of rising damp
on the walls. The surveyor reported that there was evidence of rising damp
in a number of places and that the whole house needs silicone injecting.
This is fine and as I expected. The cose he quoted was £2200 plus vat.
This would be to strip the plaster to 4 feet, inject the silicone and
replaster and replace new skirtings. This is small house - 22 feet by 15
feet with small internal walls. How does this cost sound? Is stripping
plaster back bt 4 feet absolutely necessary?

What I did not expect was for him to tell me that the his advice would\be to
get the floors all replaced also at a cost of £1800 plus vat. The reasonong
being that some of the floors (bathroom, kitchen and cloakroom under the
stairs) were solid floors with no damp proof membrane and that they willk
soak the water and possibly rot the timber in the suspended floor in the
living room. He was not able to inspect this floor as there is a laminate
sloor covering on top.
This does sound plausible, but am not sure wherther to go ahras with a
further cost of over £2 grand.

Any advice appreciated.

This is really bizarre. I can't offer a great deal of advice but the
exact same thing has just happened to us last night.

The survey on our house showed damp to the chminey breasts and damp to
a partition wall. We knew the problems and went ahead with the
purchase. I've sorted out the damp in the chimney as it was not
ventialted properly and this seems to be on the mend. we thought we
better get the professionals in so we had someone in last night.

He was actually baffled and is getting his boss to come and have a
look. in several walls he was getting high readings right next to low
readings and he also spotted some damp in places we had never even
noticed and I'm sure were not there.

i have a theory but its probably rubbish. its a end of terrace at the
bottom of a hill, its got stone floors in the hall and back room and
suspneded timber in the front room - the most damp is in the partition
wall between these two areas. could it be possible that a lot of this
is condensation casued by the recent hot weather combined with the
contact with the stone floors?? another theory is that we are
decorating the room above and have been using a steamer and a great
deal of water.

he's said £2000 worst case scenario and this is for hacking off
plaster from the 4 walls, reinjecting and plastering so your quote
sounds about right if it's for a whole new damp course.

In article ,
"TS" writes:
I have just had a damp survey carried out as there were signs of rising damp
on the walls. The surveyor reported that there was evidence of rising damp

He wasn't a "surveyor".

in a number of places and that the whole house needs silicone injecting.
This is fine and as I expected. The cose he quoted was £2200 plus vat.
This would be to strip the plaster to 4 feet, inject the silicone and
replaster and replace new skirtings. This is small house - 22 feet by 15
feet with small internal walls. How does this cost sound? Is stripping
plaster back bt 4 feet absolutely necessary?

You _probably_ don't have rising damp at all -- most
people who receive the advice you received don't, and
many of them go on to waste their money on the treatment.

What are the symptoms?
What is the wall construction and age of the house?

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Thu, 8 Jun 2006 20:50:20 +0100, "TS" wrote:

I have just had a damp survey carried out

What did this bod use to measure this damp? Was it a thing like a
torch with two probes on the front, that he pressed against the wall?

In message , TS wrote
I have just had a damp survey carried out as there were signs of rising damp
on the walls. The surveyor reported that there was evidence of rising damp
in a number of places and that the whole house needs silicone injecting.
This is fine and as I expected. The cose he quoted was £2200 plus vat.
This would be to strip the plaster to 4 feet, inject the silicone and
replaster and replace new skirtings. This is small house - 22 feet by 15
feet with small internal walls. How does this cost sound? Is stripping
plaster back bt 4 feet absolutely necessary?

What I did not expect was for him to tell me that the his advice would\be to
get the floors all replaced also at a cost of £1800 plus vat. The reasonong
being that some of the floors (bathroom, kitchen and cloakroom under the
stairs) were solid floors with no damp proof membrane and that they willk
soak the water and possibly rot the timber in the suspended floor in the
living room. He was not able to inspect this floor as there is a laminate
sloor covering on top.
This does sound plausible, but am not sure wherther to go ahras with a
further cost of over £2 grand.


25 years ago the rising damp in my house front wall was cured by
replacing the rotten window.

The 'damp proof company surveyor' also diagnosed rising damp to the
back of the property but failed to notice the true cause of the problem.
A hole in the outhouse roof had been letting in water for the previous
couple of years prior to me purchasing the property.

I suspect you have been quoted £4K for totally unnecessary work by a
salesman without any 'surveying' qualifications.


How old is your property?
What type of property?
Was it unoccupied recently (especially during the colder or wetter
months?
Are your air-bricks clear?
Has anyone constructed a flower bed against the walls?
Has anyone laid something like concrete paving slabs that have raised
the outside level above the damp proof coarse?
Do you have leaking windows or gutters?

--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

"TS" wrote in message
...
I have just had a damp survey carried out as there were signs of rising
damp on the walls. The surveyor reported that there was evidence of rising
damp in a number of places and that the whole house needs silicone
injecting. This is fine and as I expected. The cose he quoted was £2200
plus vat. This would be to strip the plaster to 4 feet, inject the silicone
and replaster and replace new skirtings. This is small house - 22 feet by
15 feet with small internal walls. How does this cost sound? Is stripping
plaster back bt 4 feet absolutely necessary?

What I did not expect was for him to tell me that the his advice would\be
to get the floors all replaced also at a cost of £1800 plus vat. The
reasonong being that some of the floors (bathroom, kitchen and cloakroom
under the stairs) were solid floors with no damp proof membrane and that
they willk soak the water and possibly rot the timber in the suspended
floor in the living room. He was not able to inspect this floor as there
is a laminate sloor covering on top.
This does sound plausible, but am not sure wherther to go ahras with a
further cost of over £2 grand.

Any advice appreciated.

Based on what was said I share the sceptical views. Is there any damage to
the decorations? Are the underfloor void spaces ventilated? Can you
decorate/carpet in a way that allows the fabric to breathe rather than trap
any moisture? What are the underlying source of moisture?

You need to make your own assessment based on the evidence presented by the
"surveyor" and the evidence that he uses to form his judgement of the risks
wiht the floor and base all this gainst the peace of mind arising from
treatment.

On Thu, 8 Jun 2006 20:50:20 +0100, "TS" wrote:

I have just had a damp survey carried out

You didn't, you had a sales pitch from an unqualified droid who makes
his money from selling unnecessary and ineffective treatments on
commission.

as there were signs of rising damp on the walls.

There were signs of damp - not the same thing at all. Bet he went
around with his little meter with prongs making sucking sounds
through his teeth.

The surveyor reported that there was evidence of rising damp
in a number of places and that the whole house needs silicone injecting.

Amazingly, this seems to be the case in almost every house they
visit.

What I did not expect was for him to tell me that the his advice would\be to
get the floors all replaced also at a cost of £1800 plus vat.

He obviously took your ready agreement to the first part of the scam
as indicating you were likely to swallow an even more unlikely (extra
commission earning) story.

Any advice appreciated.

Go around the outside of the house and clear all the rubbish and
plants back from the wall. That cures many "rising damp" cases (and
is the main reason injection treatments seem to work as this is done
to gain access to the walls). "Damp meter" readings are completely
meaningless and can be manipulated by the operator to produce
anything they wish. It's only a resistance meter - it doesn't
measure damp at all.

If you really must have the place surveyed find a real surveyor
experienced in this field (not a "free" one linked to a dampfraud
company) and _pay_ them to carry out an independent survey. It will
save you a lot of money.

Competent surveyors are unfortunately few and far between but have a
look at

http://www.pdoyle.net/

Mr Doyle has been known to post here and could well be a wise first
port of call if you want competent advice.

http://www.ebssurvey.co.uk/dampness.htm
http://www.handr.co.uk/literature/rising_damp.htm

also seem to know what they are doing.


--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/

TS wrote:

I have just had a damp survey carried out as there were signs of rising damp
on the walls. The surveyor reported that there was evidence of rising damp
in a number of places and that the whole house needs silicone injecting.
This is fine and as I expected. The cose he quoted was £2200 plus vat.
This would be to strip the plaster to 4 feet, inject the silicone and
replaster and replace new skirtings. This is small house - 22 feet by 15
feet with small internal walls. How does this cost sound? Is stripping
plaster back bt 4 feet absolutely necessary?

its irrelevant to curing the problem. Treatment companies often dont
cure it, they put fresh plaster up to cover it over.

What I did not expect was for him to tell me that the his advice would\beto
get the floors all replaced also at a cost of £1800 plus vat. The reasonong
being that some of the floors (bathroom, kitchen and cloakroom under the
stairs) were solid floors with no damp proof membrane and that they willk
soak the water and possibly rot the timber in the suspended floor in the
living room.

risible

He was not able to inspect this floor as there is a laminate
sloor covering on top.
This does sound plausible, but am not sure wherther to go ahras with a
further cost of over £2 grand.

In at least half of cases condensation or penetrating damp (which is
what 99% of damp cases are) can be cured with a budget of a tenner.


Any advice appreciated.

The causes of damp are almost always simple and straightforward. Learn
them, identify them, fix them. Or pay someone that actually does know
how to identify and solve damp. Injection and waterproof plaster wont
be any part of it.


NT

Huge wrote:
On 2006-06-09, wrote:
TS wrote:

I have just had a damp survey carried out as there were signs of rising damp
on the walls. The surveyor reported that there was evidence of risingdamp

[snippage]



He was not able to inspect this floor as there is a laminate
sloor covering on top.
This does sound plausible, but am not sure wherther to go ahras with a
further cost of over £2 grand.

In at least half of cases condensation or penetrating damp (which is
what 99% of damp cases are) can be cured with a budget of a tenner.

My parents bought an old house that had a tunnel along the front - why
? because it had been built with an open area in front to prevent
dampness in the 'ground floor' - there would originally have been a
bridge across this area to the front door. At some point an owner had
bridged over the whole area and laid slabs - much nicer looking. All
the water said was whoopee now we can make the whole house wet, and it
did ! As kids the tunnel was a great adventure and it had stalactites
from the lime mortar used. A big land drain was put in - and there
was no more dampness ( or stalactites)

Rob
..

The causes of damp are almost always simple and straightforward. Learn
them, identify them, fix them. Or pay someone that actually does know
how to identify and solve damp. Injection and waterproof plaster wont
be any part of it.

I fixed the damp in my last house by removing the path down the side of
the house and relaying it *below* the DPM.

I fixed the damp in this house by cleaning out all the guttering.


--
"Other people are not your property."
[email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]