I find the number 1 cause of rising damp is drain defects. Other damp specialists might say it’s something else, but from my experience carrying out thorough damp investigations that include drains that’s what I have found. With this property I was called in to offer advice / solutions and costs, to what was the root cause of rising damp symptoms, and also how it could be fixed. Interestingly a neighbour spoke to me and told me they had spent several thousand pounds on damp proofing the property and none of the stuff I found was even mentioned or looked at. How can you really understand why a building is damp unless you have every piece of the jigsaw? Unfortunately when I looked at her damp issues a few weeks later, she had very similar issues, that had all been masked up by the damp proofing repairs. So despite spending a chunk of money, she still had the cause of rising damp not found and still persisting. Where she had damaged drains that were picked up with the CCTV drain survey, this could be claimed under her house insurance.
What type of damp survey do you need?
In my opinion don’t be looking for the cheapest, or a free damp survey, because you will most likely be getting poor advice. Damp investigations can take me on a larger property to evaluate and investigate everything, up to a day. So for me I would charge for 1 days surveying, reporting writing, and any analysis I have to do following BRE DIGEST 245. https://www.completepreservation.co.uk/what-is-bre-digest-245/# If you have a damp survey carried out and they turn up with just a damp meter, and don’t even offer you an intrusive damp survey, it’s most likely you will be getting ripped off.
Should you get a CCTV drain survey?
As mentioned earlier without every piece of the jigsaw, how can you be sure the advice is correct and any money spent will fix the issue. A common issue I tend to come across is where the client is told to dig out concrete floors, remove cement render and plaster, and replace everything in lime, without finding out the root cause of damp. This will cost thousands of pounds to carry out, and the cause of the damp could be damaged drains and subject to a claim under your house insurance. In my opinion get a CCTV drain survey and at least eliminate the drains to be certain.
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