Damp proof course guarantee

[martin123]

Hi, I'll make this as short as i can!!

I'm in the middle of buying a house built in 1887, it has rising damp.Ive knocked £17,000 off the asking price because the seller couldnt find the damp guarantee, which he accepted.He has now found the guarentee but i stuck to my guns over the price as i senced he was desperate to sell and now he wont hand over the guarantee even though its no use to him whatsoever.The sale is going ahead and in the meantime ive contacted the damp company which was origionaly used and was told the propertys damp proof course had not failed it was a case of hygroscopic salts in the plaster.A the same time the estate agents got me a damp report(by the same company!!)which said it needed a new injected damp course and replastering.

Are all guarantee's from companys likely to be useless? How do i know if the damp course has failed for sure, I dont want to totally replaster interior only for the salts to come back.

Anyone had similar probs or can anyone give me some info?

 

[evdama]

The injected dpc may well be ok but the dampness caused by salt can only really be cured by renewing the original plaster with a special type of plaster often refered to as "Lime Lite".
Any dampproofer worth his salt ,if you excuse the pun,should know this.
If the verdict is that the walls are damp then the guarantee should be used to get the damproofer out to re-do the plaster.The chances are he
will worm his way out of it in any way he can,especially if his letterheads dont carry the mark of a trade association.
Dont rush into the sale unless you are sure the vendor will drop to cover the work.
Check the floors as well as there would have been no damp course in the original construction and the importance of such wasnt realised by many builders/restorers until the 1960s

 

[masona]

Sadly the damp guarantee paperwork are not worth the paper they written on.(waste of time, only for the mortage lenders).

You'll be better off getting a 2nd opinion from another damp company for piece of imnd.

 

[martin123]

I'm going to get 5 estimates and take it from there, Im sticking with the price my surveyer values it at £6000 more than he accepted even with the damp.

Cheers