Rising damp (ffs)

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

You can buy special paint to seal it off so they don't pick up on it. Mind you should have done that before you had them around!

Good advice
Would you buy a house with rotten skirting boards?
I wouldn't

 

[Seathestars]

Miss Jones was hot

 

[COYBL25]

Cheers for that mate, how did you prove that it wasn't rising damp?

I went on a DIY / Builders forum, described it and posted pics.

Within minutes someone had seen all the condensation and asked the right questions to diagnose it :

Age / type of house.
Last time damp course was done.
Whether I dried clothes in the house.
Type of floor etc etc.

I never opened the windows during the Winter / when it was cold and the house was storing the damp.

I`ve never known anyone who sold a house (other than a relatively new one ), where they didn`t find some type of damp.

The surveyors do it, as it looks like they`ve done something and it justifies their fee to the client.

 

[COYBL25]

Miss Jones was hot

She looked like utter filth

 

[The binman chronicles]

Good advice
Would you buy a house with rotten skirting boards?
I wouldn't

Asking for trouble isn't it. Had a warped skirting board from where a shower cubicle wasn't sealed correctly, but easy fix to seal and them replace said board. Always best to stay on top of these things, certainly if you have people come around as it's just a smoking gun if they can spot it a mile away.

 

[peteblue]

It's on an inside wall, living room ground floor mate

I just reread your original post and deleted mine...

Have a look at this and see if anything applies, if not then either hack off the plaster and inject with silicon or give Rentokil a call.......any decent builder will advise you.....

 

[COYBL25]

I think I read a ‘which’ report a while ago that tested a number of the top damp proof companies. Some missed the real damp, others ‘found’ damp where none was present, most suggested the wrong treatments....it’s a bloody minefield.....

It`s an industry based on the client believing them at face value and largely unregulated.

Anyone can go and get the kit to sort out a damp proof course and they`re in business as a " damp specialist ".

 

[The binman chronicles]

Age / type of house.
Last time damp course was done.
Whether I dried clothes in the house.
Type of floor etc etc.

I never opened the windows during the Winter / when it was cold and the house was storing the damp.

I`ve never known anyone who sold a house (other than a relatively new one ), where they didn`t find some type of damp.

The surveyors do it, as it looks like they`ve done something and it justifys their fee to the client.

These are good points. Obviously if the board is rotten it indicates a more serious case of damp or the above has been going on for years.

But opening up the house, hiring a dehumidifier + replacing bad skirting board may have been enough to let it pass.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Hi mate.

Before you start chucking money around and ripping plaster off, do a bit of research.

A surveyor comes around with a damp meter and sticks it on the wall, hey presto you`ve got a damp problem.

Wrong, damp can be caused by loads of things that are easily remedied, without having to going nuclear.

There`s load of really good builders / DIY forums that will really help you and possibly save you thousands.

They always find damp and either make a generic diagnosis of rising damp or that the damp course has failed.

It`s in the interests of the surveyor to get money knocked off for the buyer, it`s what they do.

It could well be that the problem lies with your neighbour and not you.

As I said, have a look at those forums, there`ll be loads of stuff on damp and it`s causes.

* I sold a Victorian Terrace house and they found " rising damp " and tried to knock thousands off - it was condensation and remedied by opening all the windows in the house and getting a dehumidifier.

I mean that's still a bad problem because the condensation will come back when it's cold, unless you heat up the entire house evenly everywhere.

But it's usually bad outside insulation (be it walls or windows), so it's not *that* hard to fix... unless it has to preserve the Victorian look I guess...

 

[COYBL25]

These are good points. Obviously if the board is rotten it indicates a more serious case of damp or the above has been going on for years.

But opening up the house, hiring a dehumidifier + replacing bad skirting board may have been enough to let it pass.

Could be dry rot too, unless it`s damp to the touch.

Get on those forums mate, they`ll help you out one way or another

 

[COYBL25]

I mean that's still a bad problem because the condensation will come back when it's cold, unless you heat up the entire house evenly everywhere.

But it's usually bad outside insulation (be it walls or windows), so it's not *that* hard to fix... unless it has to preserve the Victorian look I guess...

Spot on, which is why I had to buy a dehumidifier.

Victorian houses where built to have an open fire in every room, which dried the house out and not central heating, hence the condensation build up in the Winter when the heating is on.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Spot on, which is why I had to buy a dehumidifier.

Victorian houses where built to have an open fire in every room, which dried the house out and not central heating, hence the condensation build up in the Winter when the heating is on.

Yup. It's pretty horrible to deal with as well.

The dehumidifiers work wonders though lol

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

If any off you watch homes under the hammer
Often houses need a good airing
We as a nation are to soft heating full blast windows shut
Houses can't breathe
Try a second opinion

 

[Baines' left foot]

Hi mate.

Before you start chucking money around and ripping plaster off, do a bit of research.

A surveyor comes around with a damp meter and sticks it on the wall, hey presto you`ve got a damp problem.

Wrong, damp can be caused by loads of things that are easily remedied, without having to going nuclear.

There`s load of really good builders / DIY forums that will really help you and possibly save you thousands.

They always find damp and either make a generic diagnosis of rising damp or that the damp course has failed.

It`s in the interests of the surveyor to get money knocked off for the buyer, it`s what they do.

It could well be that the problem lies with your neighbour and not you.

As I said, have a look at those forums, there`ll be loads of stuff on damp and it`s causes.

* I sold a Victorian Terrace house and they found " rising damp " and tried to knock thousands off - it was condensation and remedied by opening all the windows in the house and getting a dehumidifier.

Agreed.

I’m a construction manager and I recently completed a block of flats which had a major damp problem, although the cause was a major leak from the main water riser.

We got a company in to dry out the whole building and try and save as much materials as possible. The company which dried it out, building surveyor, air quality testing company, dey lining ‘expert’, architect and mould remediation companies all had different opinions on how it should be treated, and all were looking after their own best interests. We spent tens of thousands sorting it out. I was a shambles and in the end we stripped out nowhere near as much as we should have done and the building will likely have related problems in the future

Like you’ve said the best information can be found from forums and speaking to people who have had similar issues. Surveyors should be your safety net and help people who aren’t as knowledgable about these things, but you often find there’s tonnes of caveats to what they report, rendering their services slightly better than useless.

 

[PITA]

It`s an industry based on the client believing them at face value and largely unregulated.

Anyone can go and get the kit to sort out a damp proof course and they`re in business as a " damp specialist ".

Agreed. An industry full of Tory voting, white van men.