Becoming a damp proofer!!

[Joe Malone]

Joe, your logic is slightly skewed. Firstly, siliconates don't form a complete impermeable barrier to rising damp. They work by a process called viscous fingering which means that voids are left in the brickwork for moisture to continue its journey up the wall. The best you can hope for is to slow down the rising damp complex to a point whereby an equilibrium is reached because the moisture is evaporating as quickly as its rising. Even after injection it would take approximately six months for the wall to dry out so you're explanation of a 'miracle' overnight cure goes against how we know these systems to work. Secondly, siliconates take time to cure, it doesn't happen overnight and they only form the barrier once cured.
The only logical explanation for your rapid success in curing this problem is change in occupancy.

 

[Shytalkz]

THe condensation stopped when he'd finished doing his samples for the vasectomy clinic.

 

[Joe Malone]

THe condensation stopped when he'd finished doing his samples for the vasectomy clinic.

Like I said, that's an occupancy issue.

 

[Shytalkz]

A few million occupants, albeit very small ones.

 

[joe-90]

The only logical explanation for your rapid success in curing this problem is change in occupancy.

Nope sorry. We lived there for a year before it was injected and the problem was clearly evident. Afterwards it simply went away. Next door neighbour had same problem - same cure.

You should learn something about capillary action rather than 'vicious fingering'.

 

[noseall]

sounds like joes been spanked and rumbled.

 

[Shytalkz]

You should learn something about capillary action rather than 'vicious fingering'.

You are sooo rude - funny though . Another one for the can, methinks, when soh failure comes around again, unf...

 

[Joe Malone]

You should learn something about capillary action rather than 'vicious fingering'.

Joe, as interesting as your vicious fingering sounds, it's not what I said. I'm failing to see your point relating to capillary action and how this makes a difference to how siliconates work but let me educate you in this area too.

Capillary action is only the major moisture transport mechanism in brickwork however the major moisture pathway for rising damp is the mortar perps and injection should focus on these areas, the moisture transport mechanism in mortar is diffusion and not capillary action.

You're clinging onto an outdated piece of knowledge which does nothing to make you sound knowledgeable on this subject.

 

[joe-90]

Stop being haughty and try this.

Get two pieces of chalk and a class of inky water.

Dip one piece half in the water and watch it drawn up by capillary action (or magic if it makes you feel better).

Dip the other piece into something like 'No more damp' and when it has dried dip it into the water.

Which one has a absorbed the most liquid? Which one has the highest 'rising damp'?

Don't bother with a highfalutin reply until you've tried it.

 

[Joe Malone]

Genius Joe, thank you for educating us all in the process of capillary action;

I may put a suggestion forward to the BBA that they start using chalk instead of bricks when testing chemical dpc systems. I've got to assume from this that you'll continue to cling onto the argument that rising damp primarily occurs in brickwork.

Completely wrong, but you are still evading the point and going off on all sorts of tangents. Why is the moisture transport mechanism so important?

 

[Joe Malone]

Joe, you remind me of a purse snatcher I recently heard about. Convinced of his own intelligence he decided to shun lawyers and defend himself. His first question to the first witness was; 'So, did you get a good look at my face when I snatched your purse!'

 

[joe-90]

OK Joe Malone. Have it your way. A fairy flew over my house and blessed it and I've never had damp problems ever since.

Or (even more unlikely) the house knew it had new occupants and decided to behave itself.

 

[noseall]

joe at least act dignified when you have your butt kicked.

 

[andy2306]

I cant understand your problems really, people have said rising damp exists in between 5-30% of properties that have damp issues. I would imagine being cautious 1 in 5 properties when sold have a damp issue, It seems to be a common note in the surveyors report. I'll do my figures from 5% is rising damp?

So

1 in 5 properties in the UK have damp issues

20% of 25.000,000 properties is 5,000,000

5% of this is 250,000 properties with rising damp.

30% which has also been mentioned would mean a market of 1,500,000


Seems a big enough market for specialist to be specialists.

 

[Joe Malone]

Andy, I think you're missing the point, I mentioned 30% because of one academic reference, the 1991 English House Condition Survey cited the incidence of rising damp as 12% of damp properties.

This was a large sample and probably nearer the true estimate. So lets for arguments sake say that 12% of the properties you attend have rising damp; the other 88% have some other type of damp where injecting walls will serve no purpose. How are you going to make money from the other 88% of properties that take up your time for survey work? If you're saying someone else will do the diagnostic work for you then fine but if you intend to do it yourself then that's a large percentage of your working week wasted because you can't offer dpc injection as a solution.

I recently did a damp survey where a damp proofing company had hacked off all the plaster and were about to inject the walls. The client would have paid £1500 for this work until she received my damp report. I was ready to go to court on her behalf but the company backed down and cancelled their fee's. This was one of the largest damp proofing specialists in Nottingham and their survey work was woeful. They didn't have a leg to stand on and they couldn't afford the bad publicity of a court case that they would certainly have lost.

Clients are getting more and more savvy to the unscupulous work of these companies so unless you truly intend to become an expert in damp investigation then I wouldn't bother.

Read BS6576, the industry code of practice; you're duty bound to survey for all forms of damp even when the instruction is limited to rising damp, being an 'expert' in rising damp simply isn't good enough.