Investigation of moisture and its effects on traditional buildings

Whilst this document is good in that it offers some form of a sensible approach into the advice of damp buildings, it is something that has lost all traction.

Expensive damp surveys

I often see and hear of poor advice regarding damp issues. This document though does play into the hands of some damp surveyors that are heavily promoting the use of lime, and poor damp surveys. I’ll explain what I mean by this, as im very pro for the use of lime plaster, and lime pointing etc, but lots of people spend many hundreds, and even thousands on a damp survey, and the advice is to basically remove everything from the building that is cement based and replace it with lime. Now whilst this does seem sensible, literally many people don’t have 50k or even more to spend on this, and perhaps the cause of the damp could be a leak or a damaged drain! This could be covered under your home insurance. So what the document promotes is actually a sensible survey initially to find the root cause, and like any damp survey it should be an investigation before trying to offer repair advice.

An example of this from a few months ago, a friend of mine asked me to help her friend where she had recently purchased a 3 bed mid end terrace house. The RICS pre purchase building surveyor noted some damp at the property, and explained that she really needs to get advice and costs from a damp specialist before purchasing the property. She did in all fairness get some advice….. rather poor though from a plastering firm, that isn’t a specialist in damp investigations. Unfortunately this type of firm will always offer the same old recommendations, being a chemical dpc, and some form off re-plastering. Anyway she wasn’t really convinced by the advice she was given, and contacted a Heritage Specialist that offers Independent damp advice.

One of the first things he said when carrying out the survey was the RICS surveyor was liable, and to speak to her Solicitor, as all of this should have been picked up on her survey. It was picked up on her RICS HomeBuyers survey. The damp survey consisted of no damp meter readings as a damp meter was said not to be accurate, and should not be used anywhere in an old building. Damp meters should be used on every damp survey as they are brilliant at the preliminary stage, and help to map out areas of concern.

• Didn’t use a carbide meter, or gravimetric sampling
• No hygroscopic salt tests
• No mention of a CCTV drain survey
• No mention of any plumbing leaks, or a mains leak
• No condensation assessment

The survey was a non invasive type really, he just chipped away at some pointing and internal plaster. it was sold as an intrusive damp survey though. What was astonishing there was no reported history in the report, she moved into this property 9 months prior to this survey….. there could have been a previous leak, blocked rain.

In my opinion one thing the damp surveyor failed to also ask is about budget and timings. If she only has 2k to spend then in my opinion, the most important thing to do is investigate to find the root cause, so use this money to budget for further advice, and by that I mean a thorough damp investigation. No amount of lime plaster will repair damp issues, from a damaged drain or a mains leak.

A successful claim was made under her home insurance for the repairs to the drainage, and also for the drying of the building and the plaster repairs and decoration.

Whilst I promote lime and it is a repair we offer, but it is important to understand the costs in ripping out concrete floors, internal and external render and removal of modern masonry paints. It also important to explain to a client the expected timings this will take as this extent of work, they wouldn’t be able to live in the property whilst that is being carried out, especially if floors are being removed. This amount of works could take many months, until final decoration and floor coverings go back down.

My advice on damp and solid walled buildings

The video is not about the above but an example of a previous damp investigation and the repairs offered to this property. This was subject to advice after I carried out an in depth damp investigation to the drains and the rest of the building. Whilst some people might not agree with my external repairs, and say the building needs to be completely stripped externally, my client didn’t have a large budget. Unfortunately she had very poor advice from the RICS building surveyor initially, and then also horrendous advice from the local damp specialist recommended by the Estate Agent. Remember those Estate Agents want a free damp survey, and they will only recommend the cheap poor advice ones as they want to flog the house.

Just because the surveyor claims to be an independent damp expert, they still have a survey to flog. They will still try and flog you the most expensive non invasive damp survey they can. If they offer an invasive damp survey, it’s highly likely it will not cover CCTV drain surveys, and leak detection, yet most of the time it will still offer you advice on a repair without knowing the root cause.

The big question

You own an old building and it’s damp, with lots of visible damp at the base of the wall with possibly damaged plaster. Do you instruct a drainage firm to carry out a CCTV drain survey initially, or a damp surveyor?

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