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If you successfully treat the damp you won't need a certificate as it won't come up in the HIP or homebuyer's survey.

The standard Thompson's product isn't actually a silicone (it's a stearate) which is why it needs recoating every couple of years (due to the fact that it gets broken down by the UV rays in sunlight). A decent-strength silicone product will last at least 10 years - although it will cost a bit more.

You really need to use a proper DPC. I worked in Melbourne for a couple of years in th 90s and a lot of houses there used Sika 1 in the mortar to act as a DPC. This actually worked quite well, but wasn't considered as effective in the long run as a proper DPC.

You could apply a waterproof render or slurry to the wall (e.g. Sika or Vandex). However you would have to make sure that the wall is built to be structurally capable of holding the water back - therefore if you expect the flood height to be more than approx 30cm you should be using something...

That would probably work. Another option (provided that you have enough headroom) is to lay the normal drainage channel around the perimeter of the room and fill the gap with 50mm insulation board. With either option you still have to make sure that the drainage channel drains to a gravity drain...

It looks like a cavity drainage plaster membrane - e.g. http://www.newton-membranes.co.uk/newlath.htm or http://www.safeguardeurope.com/products/oldroyd_p.php These are normally tied into further cavity drainage membrane laid under the floor. Additionally, in basement systems, there is...

The damp is only worth dealing with if: a) it is bothering you, or b) it is causing timber decay (which could lead to structural damage) As far as chemical DPCs are concerned there is a wide variation in performance depending on product strength. Basically go for the highest strength you...

It is generally accepted that walls take at least 6 months to dry out after a DPC is installed - it can even take sevaral years for thick walls. I assume you have replastered (you don't mention it) - as if you still have old salt contaminated plaster on the wall it will still be attracting...

To be honest, it sounds like the builder is a bit of a bodger. There is a debate within the damp-proofing industry about whether it is better to waterproof basements using a tanking slurry that holds the water back or to use a dimpled membrane that just redirects the water. Generally the...

As woody says, it's probably a condensation problem. Any conversion company worth their salt should know that ventilation is a key aspect of basement waterproofing. The standard for basement waterproofing (BS8102) gives 4 grades of dryness (see: http://www.cellars.co.uk/cellar-conversion.php)...

There are two basic options to waterproof a basement properly (i.e excluding bodge jobs): 1) Dimpled membrane systems (Oldroyd/Delta/Newton etc...). These allow water to come through the walls and floor of the basement and divert it to a sump and pump. The advantage is that minimal surface...

Yeh, that's the line the Sovereign rep fed me. I believed it too, until a rep from another firm (Remtox) suggested to me that I collected a sample on some foil and try setting alight to it. It burned which led me to conclude that it wasn't water. Ironically a few years later Remtox were taken...

As it happens it was a Sovereign rep who told me the BS about the solvent pushing the water out of the wall. We eventually switched to using a low-pressure water-based siliconate system as it didn't suffer as badly from the viscous fingering problem alluded to earlier. Also it had the benefit...

I don't think this is condensation as has been suggested. This used to happen when injecting the old solvent-based damp-proofing fluids. In fact one of the manufacturers used to make great play of it - saying that it was driving the damp out of the wall. However it was eventually discovered that...

There is a lot of confusion regarding "insurance-backed" guarantees. As far as I can make out the only legit ones are from a company called Guarantee Protection Insurance and you can only get them if you are a member of the PCA. You can only join the PCA if you have passed their CSRT exam. So...

If you only want to treat damp that has already been positively identified as rising damp then becoming a damp-proofer is incredibly easy. As you say, you just inject Dryzone and replaster. Dryzone works exceptionally well at what it is designed for (treating rising damp), however it won't work...

So what has happened to all the non-believers on this forum? Has there been some kind of purge?

That's interesting. I'd always imagined that they built proper walls. Surely a pillar is going to have a much higher exposed surface area - therefore resulting in higher evaporation rates and distorting the results. Does it say how big the pillars are and how much damp is allowed to rise in...

Dryzone is quite a lot stronger than other damp-proofing creams so I wouldn't worry too much. Whenever I have used it I have just plugged the holes with sand/cement.

SBR in basements might work when the damp is not very severe, but I wouldn't want to issue a guarantee on it. On the other hand it might be OK for replastering as part of a rising damp treatment.