IS THIS RISING DAMP!!??

[Glassman]

Hi all.

I have a problem with damp walls and at the moment I'm ripping my hair out.

Just over 12 months ago we had a local damp-proofing company to inject dpc to the outside walls to the front and the back of our terraced house. When the guy came out to do the job my girlfriend said he stank of booze. Personally I would have thrown him out if I'd have been here but she let him carry on with the work regardless.
We were issued with a reciept and a 30 warranty and we decided to use a family friend to plaster the walls who did so at a good price. Saving money was the key thing here.

This family friend currently work for Severn Trent but was previously a plasterer for at least 15 years I believe so we agreed and he did what we thought was a good job at the time.

When the platering was done we got a de-humidifier to help the plaster to dry out so that we could get on with redecorating the house. The de-humidifier was left to do it's business for a couple of weeks and we then set about with painting the walls.

Anyway, twelve months have passed by and now the paint is starting to crack and come away from the wall. It was our worst nightmare!! The damp seems to have returned.
We found the damp-proof warranty and contacted the damp-proofing company to see what they had to say.

It transpires that although we have a 30 year warranty and a receipt to prove the work has been carried out they seem to have no records of the job being done and they have also informed us that the operator who did the work had since been sacked for turning up to work drunk on a daily basis.

We argued the toss and eventually they agreed to come out to take a look and now they are claiming that the plasterer is at fault because he hasn't used the correct plaster and has invalidated our warranty as a result. We complained and a few days ago they sent an "expert" to take a look and he agreed with their original assessment.

I am furious because they are now claiming that we should have used their own plasterer to carry out the work but my question is, why would they issue a warranty in the first place if they knew it would be void??

I've since done a bit of research of my own and after speaking to another damp-proofing company I have learned that this is a common occurance in the trade because many plasterers dont add the correct salt inhibiting chemicals in the plaster. I've spoken to the plasterer who has 15 years experience under his belt and he has assured us that he has carried out the work correctly and he has agreed to come over to have a look on Saturday.

Now it seems to me that there must be moisture in the plaster because the paint is peeling and flaking off and I'm beginning to realise that perhaps the damp-proof people may have a point. Im just annoyed that they didn't warn us before they did the work.

At the moment I'm at a complete loss as to who should take the blame so I'm just hoping somebody on here might have some sound advice as to what to do next?

Please........................Anybody??

Thanks in advance

JEZ

 

[topbanana]

glassman, in my experience i would first look for easily apparent reasons for the damp, such as;
high levels of soil outside against the walls concerned,
leaking pipes, etc.etc.
do a search for 'damp' and you'll find more.
as for your problems with the d.p. company, that does not surprise me that they will try to wriggle out of it.however if you read the guarantee i'm sure there are conditions on it which you can check.
what plaster did your plasterer use? i'm assuming he put on a render coat(sand and cement) to which he should have added the waterproofer that is supplied (in my experience, again)by the d.p.company. or at the very least a suitable approved waterproofer. these are questions you need to ask your plasterer first, then if a chemical analysis is made, you won't have to foot the bill.
don't automatically accuse your man, the company always tries to wriggle out. however if you can answer someof my questionsi could comment further.

 

[topbanana]

i meant do a search on this forum for 'damp'.
i'm sure you dont have to search for it round the house.

 

[Mantamad]

Does seem very strange to issue a warranty before the plaster work is done if they dont warrant the work unless they do their own plastering. What do the contract terms say?

Possibly more likely that the guy doing the DPC work did not do it correctly - especially as he was sacked. Threaten Trading Standards and see if it makes a difference.

 

[topbanana]

get the information from your plasterer first.
information is power.
then you can threaten trading standards, whether it be from a position of strength or weakness,only you will know, that is after you've given us some more info.

 

[Softus]

Just over 12 months ago we had a local damp-proofing company to inject dpc to the outside walls to the front and the back of our terraced house.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that this kind of treatment is pointless.

We were issued with a reciept and a 30 warranty and we decided to use a family friend to plaster the walls who did so at a good price. Saving money was the key thing here.

This family friend currently work for Severn Trent but was previously a plasterer for at least 15 years I believe so we agreed and he did what we thought was a good job at the time.

When the platering was done we got a de-humidifier to help the plaster to dry out so that we could get on with redecorating the house.

Too late - if the walls were still damp then the plaster, in terms of its damp-resistance, would have been ruined.

Anyway, twelve months have passed by and now the paint is starting to crack and come away from the wall. It was our worst nightmare!! The damp seems to have returned.

I doubt that the damp ever actually went away.

We found the damp-proof warranty and contacted the damp-proofing company to see what they had to say.

It transpires that although we have a 30 year warranty and a receipt to prove the work has been carried out they seem to have no records of the job being done and they have also informed us that the operator who did the work had since been sacked for turning up to work drunk on a daily basis.

We argued the toss and eventually they agreed to come out to take a look and now they are claiming that the plasterer is at fault because he hasn't used the correct plaster and has invalidated our warranty as a result. We complained and a few days ago they sent an "expert" to take a look and he agreed with their original assessment.

You face a difficult legal battle over this, and you have my sympathies

I am furious because they are now claiming that we should have used their own plasterer to carry out the work but my question is, why would they issue a warranty in the first place if they knew it would be void??

Surely the point is that the contractor acted without authority, and it's him you should be pursuing?

I've since done a bit of research of my own and after speaking to another damp-proofing company I have learned that this is a common occurance in the trade because many plasterers dont add the correct salt inhibiting chemicals in the plaster. I've spoken to the plasterer who has 15 years experience under his belt and he has assured us that he has carried out the work correctly and he has agreed to come over to have a look on Saturday.

Now it seems to me that there must be moisture in the plaster because the paint is peeling and flaking off and I'm beginning to realise that perhaps the damp-proof people may have a point. Im just annoyed that they didn't warn us before they did the work.

At the moment I'm at a complete loss as to who should take the blame so I'm just hoping somebody on here might have some sound advice as to what to do next?

I know it's no consolation now, but you've been ripped off right and proper. The goal of saving of short-term money nearly always ends in tears. Sorry.

My advice is to consult the CAB, who will tell you your legal rights, and they'll do it for free. You can decide on the best course of action from a position of knowledge. If the job was done wrong, and the company refuses to remedy it at no cost to you, then you have the right to get another company to put it right and then seek compensation from the original company. This would be a long and painful battle, but if you're persistent then you might well succeed.

 

[jbonding]

i would have to agree with the firm no one is gonna guarantee someone elses work.were you advised to have the plastering done by the firm? sounds like hes used a gypsum plaster for the backing coat, that will always fail as a damp course. It sounds like theyve not done the job proper, thats if it really works anyway, personally i think its a con and its not solving the real problem. sand and cement with a waterproofer should of been used for your backing coat if not i cant see you getting any joy.

 

[Softus]

I agree with jb on this one.

For more of my own verbose opinion on rising damp, please see these:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34446

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34549

 

[Glassman]

Thanks for the reply fella's.

Looks like we've had to learn a valuable lesson the expensive way.

Haven't spoken to the plasterer properly just yet but I'm beginning to think that the only way that I'm going to find the truth would be to have a section of the plaster removed and sent away for analysis.

Thanks a lot for the comments

Here's a link to a very useful site regarging re-plastering and damp-proofing:

http://www.buildingpreservation.com/Rising damp and replastering facts.htm

JEZ

 

[topbanana]

you wont need analysis for definate.
that could be just piling good money after bad.
speak to the plasterer first , then take a couple of sections off and describe what you see here or better still post some pictures.

 

[andymarshal]

Heres my 10 pence worth if it helps.

I had to have my house injected and used rudders and payne a birmingham based company.

They were going to take the plaster off up to 1 metre and then use a render to replace where they took the old plaster off. (maybe your guy should have used render?)

I decided to use slate lathe and foil backed plasterbooard which they accepted as a suitable alternative to their render.

Hope this helps.

Btw i found rudders and payne very helpful i wonder if it would be worthwhile for them to call out and have a look for you?

Cheers and good luck

Andy

 

[Softus]

Andy, can you reveal exactly what work they ended up doing?

For example, any rendering outside? Lowering the ground level? Make a soak-away channel? Mend guttering? That kind of thing...

 

[andymarshal]

On the side of my property the ground level is a metre lower than my flooring so there was no need for any ground to be cleared.

The house is an end terrace built around 1880 so the end gable was a solid 9 inch brick wall which suffered from rising damp as well as pentrating damp. The end gable of the house had been painted with like a bitumen paint a few times, however this had now become quite craked. They advised that the best course of action was to remove the bitumen and expose the bricks thus allowing them to breathe. They advised against render as this doesnt let the brick breathe. However if the faces of the brocks had perished then render was the only option.

Because i couldnt afford to do anything with the end of the house yet, they advised me to use tanalised slate lath and foil backed plaster board as this would stop the moisture coming in. They wanted to render up to the old plaster (however the plaster was gone) so boarding was the best option.

They replaced my dinning room floor (dry rot), put in new airbricks along the side of the house, sprayed for woodworm and basically injected the whole of the house.

However i believe that there wasnt a great problem as the walls have been exposed for months now and they never feel damp, (rising or penetrating) but i had to have this done because of the mortage company.

Good luck and let us know ho you get on.

Anymore questions just ask

Cheers

Andy

 

[jbonding]

Heres my 10 pence worth if it helps.

I had to have my house injected and used rudders and payne a birmingham based company.

They were going to take the plaster off up to 1 metre and then use a render to replace where they took the old plaster off. (maybe your guy should have used render?)

I decided to use slate lathe and foil backed plasterbooard which they accepted as a suitable alternative to their render.

Hope this helps.

Btw i found rudders and payne very helpful i wonder if it would be worthwhile for them to call out and have a look for you?

Cheers and good luck

Andy

plasterboards on battons is not a suitable alternative to render(maybe your guy should of used render). If the damp problem hasnt been sorted plasterboards will only hide it, fungus will form behind the boards you may notice a smell in a few months.

 

[andymarshal]

oh i forgot to say that i had to take up the quarry tiles in the living room and put in a new concrete floor.

also forgot to mention (maybe the walls are dry because there is no plaster on them)

Also when we first got the house the walls felt very damp and you could see damp patches. (infact the old owners had pinned ply to the wall and them wallpapered over it) i guess to try and stop the damp?

Cheers