render and DPC

Goods · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:57 pm Post Subject: render and DPC

Had a DPC put in internally to 1 m and was advised that external pebbledash render should be removed to the same level. But a builder says that I am wasting my money and it doesn't need doing. He says it will look ridiculous, that there may be damaged brickwork underneath and that the external walls aren't damp. The DPC firm said that any survey would advise that the external render is too low. Help please.

AndersonC · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:52 am Post Subject: Re: render and DPC

Goods wrote:

Had a DPC put in internally to 1 m

Can you please clarify exactly what this means?

Quote:

The DPC firm said that any survey would advise that the external render is too low.

The DPC firm will say whatever they want in order to get your money out of you. As long as the render doesn't bridge above and below the DPC and has a bellcast along the bottom of it then you should be OK.

I'd put my money on the builder in this instance. If he is a local tradesman he may well know the construction of the house inside out. In any case, someone with knowledge of how houses are built is far more likely to understand the relationship between render, brickwork and damp than a 'DPC firm'.

If you hadn't noticed, 'damp' companies aren't on my top ten favourites list at the moment.

noseall · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:05 am Post Subject: Re: render and DPC

AndersonC wrote:

If you hadn't noticed, 'damp' companies aren't on my top ten favourites list at the moment.

mine neither.

i'm sure the building trade wouldn't even notice if these dpc companies simply disappeared overnight.

Goods · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:35 am Post Subject:

Thanks - as I don't know what I'm talking about I didn't describe that well -DPC firm hacked off plaster to height of 1 metre then injected DPC.

Outside the pebbledash render stops at height of 2 bricks above the ground. Why I'm not sure what to do is that the DPC company don't seem to gain anything from their advice - they don't do the work.
Can you tell me what bellcast is?

AndersonC · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:56 pm Post Subject:

Well I'm not a plasterer, renderer or builder, however I understand the bellcast to consist of a bead which forms the render out away from the wall, allow rainwater to drip clear of the wall.