Damp issues - over the phone quote

Hi,

I live in a late victorian mid-terrace which has damp areas just next to the front bay window and in a similar spot near the back room window. The total area of damp on each is probably 1m sq. I called a guy out of yell and without coming to the house or anything said it would cost about 250quid for the lot (front and back).

What work is he likely to do for this money? is it just drilling and injecting or perhaps something that i couldn't do myself?

Does it seem like a reasonable amount to pay for such work and is it likely to actually fix the problem for good.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

without wishing to sound rude, why not ask him? hes quoted the price, ask him what hes going to for the money

just thought I'd ask a little bit more about the process from a group of impartial people rather than asking the man himself.

thanks for your advice, it was very helpful

well sorry mate, but ive no ide what method he is proposing to deal with the problem, and not a great deal of info on what the problem actually is. Someone else may have a crystal ball, i havent.

I've posted as much info on this forum as i told the guy over the phone and he was able to pluck the quote out of the air (or perhaps his crystal ball), so I just idly hoped that someone might have an idea what kind of work it might be for the money.

rob, my advice is he probably has done exactly that if thats all the info he has. There are vast number of simple reasons that may be causing the damp, that can be rectified, without injection a dpc. Get some decent people round to have a look, rather than relying on someones crystal ball gazing over the phone.

YEAH,hes probably going to charge you £250 to come round and give your problems a good case of 'looking at'.
just be aware of the extras that will mysteriously be charged because he couldnt see them.

A lot of damp problems are incorrectly diagnosed, even with a site visit.
A friend of mine used to do damp surveys with BRE and he used to take a van load of equipment with him. He reckoned that a lot of damp companies had diagnosed rising damp when probably less then 10% of the ones he had been called in for a second opion actually were.

for heavens sake use google and do a basic search and read up on the subject.its infuriating to be asked to do all the basic legwork for someone who apparently can't be bothered to do it themselves.
There is terrabytes of info out there .

Your property probably has an original damp proof cause of slate to prevent damp from the ground rising up in the walls (internal and external.

Depending on the pressure of the local water table and other factors the damp can rise more than 1200mm up your walls

Check around the outside of your property back front and side and make sure that you have at least 6" from ground levels to your damp proof course. you should be able to see a thicker pointing course in the brickwork. You may find it is bitumen.

Any earth or concrete paving foliage etc needs to removed away from the base of the walls.

If you are getting your walls injected you will need to strip off all the wall plaster internally to at least 1200mm preferably 1500mm.
Once the DPC is installed you will need to allow the walls to dry out properly. (use CHeating and a dehumidifier .

Then have a plasterer render your walls with a 2 coat sand and cement render and a syraphite skim (only use syraphite as any other plaster will act as a sponge for moisure.

You may need to add a damp proof membrane to any solid floors and a sand and cement screed .This may compromise internal floor levels forcing you to exavate existing solid floors and reconstruct with hardcore blinding DPM oversite etc

You are not likely to get much of all that for 250.00 are you

You need to get a proper survey done by a Chartered Building Surveyor because the real problems may be far greater than apparent . It is after all over 100 years old

rob - the first clue is "next to" and "near" windows. Check that there are no cracks/gaps on the window sills outside which are letting in rainwater; seal if necessary.