Tradesman work - problems aferwards

[NickinBrum100]

Hi, I hope somebody can help here, and advise me on anyway I can persue this.

When I moved into the terraced House I'm currently in, built around 1888 I think, it had a number of problems I've been slowly dealing with. DIY where possible, but pulling in Tradesmen here and there when things were beyond my knowledge or skills.

A couple of years ago, I found a creeping rising samp below the window in my back room. I must have not noticed it for a long time, due to the TV and a chair mostly blocking the wall. But a loud cracking of the plaster made me notice that it was coming loose. Pulling off the wallpaper i found that the wall was completely damp, and all the plaster along the wall was about to fall off.


I called in a TRadesman who has done some other work for me, and he treated the rising damp with a kind of solution that is injected into the mortar instead of the bricks, which I've seem before. I had it replastered, and it cost me a lot of money, not to mention disruption.

In the time since I have entered the world of unemployment and poverty, and am uttery broke...

Now on a random check around the house the other day I found thick white mold growing on the wall just above the skirting board along the 'treated' wall. Cleaning it off, and toiching the wall, I found that it is still damp, albeit to a lesser extent, and so far just for about 10cm above the skirting board. it's ot risen all the way up the wall.

Obviously the treatment has not worked.

So I sent the tradesman the following email:

Hi ****,
I have a serious problem with that bit of damp treatment you did under the window in my back sitting room. It doesn;t seem to have been done properly, as the wall is damp to the touch, and I have just found mold growing on the walls, along the bottom. It's been hidden behind the chair, but I just found a really bad growth. This is very serious. I cannot afford for the plaster to come off again, the mold spores floating in the air, or damp to increase etc. Could you please come and do something to put this right asap before the plaster starts bulging and loosening.
Thanks,
*****

to which I got the following reply:

Hi *****

It sounds as you might have a drain problem from out side, due to no cavity wall the bricks just sock up the water hence the mold. Unfortunately I don't work for myself anymore I sold up,the recession hit the building trade so I work for someone else now doing something complete different .

Regards ****


This doesn;t follow. The house is double skinned, how can there be no cavity? I'm pretty sure there is. Even if it is the case, the walls were treated, so if it is from a drain (there is one nearby but it's small), it still shouldn;t soak up past the protection. Otherwise what was the point of the treatment?

Further to this, he treated other parts of the house with the same stuff, so I'm concerned about the same thing happening there.

As he's said he no longer works self-employed as a builder, what are my rights? I cannot afford to have this all done again, and shouldnt have to either If I can. Can somebdy please advise me on this and where I can go? Thanks.

 

[footprints]

If you employed a proper damp company you would normally have had a guarantee for about 25 years did you get one? If so they are often insurance based so you might be able to claim on it even if the installer has gone bust.

Built in 1888 I would be very surprised if it had cavity walls.

 

[NickinBrum100]

it was abuilder who i was employing for other work at the time. everything else seems fine, thankfully. My prevoius experience with damp treatment companies was not good.

 

[noseall]

My prevoius experience with damp treatment companies was not good.

No surprise there.

Damp is a bit like a leaking roof, sometimes you can find a fix sometimes you can not.

You have paid for one avenue of repair which unfortunately for you has not worked. Now you are going to have to try another way and pay for that.

You can't expect tradesmen to work for nowt until they find the solution if the problem is not conspicuous.

 

[Bosswhite]

As footprints has said about the cavity, if the property was built in 1888 it has probably got "rubble filled footings" and no dampcourse

You needed a specialist firm to tackle this problem, one with a 25 Year guarantee

 

[alpcon]

Damp can be a right sod to sort out but .... maybe this could be whats happening.

Normally with a DPC injection solution to the problem the plaster is hacked off in the affected area to a height of 1 metre minimum. Then the DPC is injected and a tanking slurry applied. At this point you do not decorate as a white fluffy powdery growth usually starts to appear. This is normal as the chemicals in the slurry are drawing the damp out of the wall and all you do is wipe/brush this stuff off. Once it stops doing this then you can decorate and this can take months to subside so ....

Just maybe this is what you are seeing as you have said this white mould is not spreading.

First thing I would have done is removed a few bricks to check and clear out the cavity if needed then left it for a while to see if that was the cause then go down other avenues.