Becoming a damp proofer!!

[hotrod]

It seems to be a common note in the surveyors report.

It is Andy, followed by the disclaimer, "a detailed survey by a damp specialist should be undertaken blah, blah, blah, I'm covering my backside because I'm really not sure if it's a leaking gutter, blocked air brick, occupant lifestyle or something more serious and I'm only getting paid £150 for this."

 

[andy2306]

It seems to be a common note in the surveyors report.

It is Andy, followed by the disclaimer, "a detailed survey by a damp specialist should be undertaken blah, blah, blah, I'm covering my backside because I'm really not sure if it's a leaking gutter, blocked air brick, occupant lifestyle or something more serious and I'm only getting paid £150 for this."

Exactly why i say that 12% of the cases of damp diagnosed is a hell of a lot of rising damp.

On average on your survey how many times would you write that a house has damp?
1 in 5
1 in 3
1 in 2
almost every house

1 in 10 or 50? just to give us an indication of how many properties we are looking at? In my opinion is it actually the surveyor diagnosing damp to cover his own arse and rightly so that causes people to call damp proofers in the 1st place.

I dont see it any different to a plasterer coming around and saying a new skim is required when a fill and sand would do?

 

[noseall]

the difference is they have a choice with the plasterer.

unfortunately mortgage lenders do not afford that choice.

 

[Joe Malone]

Andy, that's 12% of rising damp cases, most of which can be cured at source with small building works and without resorting to chemical injection which is a management solution and not a cure.
Damp proofers are called in the mistaken belief that they have the necessary tools and expertise to carry out a more in depth survey than the original surveyor. The fact is that they don't! They simply mimic the original survey using nothing more than a hand held moisture meter and diagnose rising damp. If people knew the true extent of rising damp and the fact that it most cases it can be cured at source without dpc injection then the industry wouldn't be the size it is and would only cater for a small niche market. DPC injection is nothing more than a triumph in marketing helped along by a mortgage industry that love the pointless guarantees offered by injection companies.

 

[kevintaylore]

When the injecting took place you could actually see little 'beads of perspiration' appear on the brick surface and trickle down the brick face. If that wasn't damp - then what was it?

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 it was actually the solvent coming out.

 

[joe-90]

No sorry it wasn't. It was clear water. The brick changed colour as the solvent permeated the brick. You could tell it was water by the surface tension.

 

[JerryM]

sorry if i've missed anything in skipping to the end (football taking priority).

in terms of the initial question - join sovereign

they provide a course and then continual mentoring and tech support.

you will need plastering skills, an enquiring mind and a disposition for hard work.

of course and i know there will be no sympathy for this other fact - very low remuneration for such sweat, backache and exhaustion

 

[kevintaylore]

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 of not causing 24 litres of solvent to evaporate into the ozone layer every time we used a drum.

 

[joe-90]

It does push the water out. A low pressure system is a waste of time as it doesn't displace the damp in the brick.

 

[kevintaylore]

It does push the water out. A low pressure system is a waste of time as it doesn't displace the damp in the brick.

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 over by Sovereign.

 

[joe-90]

Water has a high surface tension and forms droplets on the solvent soaked brick. Solvent has a low surface tension and doesn't form droplets on brick. Basic physics if you want to follow it up.

 

[Joe Malone]

It does push the water out. A low pressure system is a waste of time as it doesn't displace the damp in the brick.

No Joe, you've got it wrong again, these systems don't work by displacing moisture from the brickwork and low pressure injection is far better than high pressure injection. I'd even go a stage further and say that gravity systems are more effective than low pressure systems. All because the less pressure you have the fewer problems you have with viscous fingering.

 

[Shytalkz]

Shaurwlee you mean vicious fingering, JM ?

 

[joe-90]

Oh for heavens sake - I've SEEN it. Gravity systems don't replace water out of a saturated brick - go try it.

 

[joe-90]

More racist rants from Shyster.