Hoping you can give me some advise. Had damp proofing done few months ago, not plastered as yet as wanted to check it is ok now. Looked this week and whole corner is still very damp. Company who done it, came in and said it will never be fully dry and to put roof felt to protect furniture from the floor dampness. Surely this is not a solution. Would levelling the floor snd waterproof membrane
Damproofing
- Thread starter MagF
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Take it there was no warranty offered by this damp-proofing firm? Sounds like small claims for a refund (assuming you've paid them), in the mean time yes pics of inside and outside the affected wall (and have a search in the Building forum for damp walls- much of the time damp walls are due to failed gutters/drains/water pipes/window sills, excessively high external ground level, blocked/missing air bricks or lifestyle condensation)
Addendum- damp floor as well you say? Concrete or timber?
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Yes i do have warranty. They have checked wall for dampness level and seems ok where all work was carried, only this small area where you can feel a bit of dampness, rest is covered with sludge and some sort of membrane, feels like felt (walls were also injected) so can't expose bricks. The property is lower than the rest of the houses so next to this wall is ground, neighbour gutters seems ok. But they also have decking built so can't see what underneath. Hence all work was carried from inside as no access to external wall. When trying to clean the area today, there is a gap from the wall to the concrete floor about 1 inch deep and wide, looks like damp is raising from below the floor there. Hope that makes sense
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No just this little gap between concrete floor and bricks about 1 inch deep and wide
I've never seen tanking membrane applied quite that roughly- it sounds like a bodge job. Usually in solid walls you inject from both sides- the modern stuff seems to go into the mortar courses rather than the brick. I suspect they've chucked SBR slurry at the wall then followed it with that membrane- if there is water leaching into the wall from high external ground it'll get above that membrane eventually. Gap between floor and wall- can't see it. Lots of older houses had ground floors concreted (unnecessarily) due to timber floors rotting cos of blocked airbricks or floor voids full of rubbish. Many concrete fills were poor quality- not bedded properly and no DPC (polythene layer) under the concrete so guess what- any water in the the ground will make the concrete damp. Good for its strength, bad for your furniture/carpets.
Did this company diagnose the problem (ie did they survey and give you a list of what needed doing and a quote to do it all)? If yes then they haven't finished the job, ask them nicely to finish it, then give them 14 days notice before action, then (if it's an insurance backed guarantee) claim on it, if it is only the company backing the guarantee then small claims or statutory demand
Did this company diagnose the problem (ie did they survey and give you a list of what needed doing and a quote to do it all)? If yes then they haven't finished the job, ask them nicely to finish it, then give them 14 days notice before action, then (if it's an insurance backed guarantee) claim on it, if it is only the company backing the guarantee then small claims or statutory demand
See below full quote, point 3 states line to the floor level, assuming they have left couple of inches above it i have right to get it rectified?
Following your recent request for me to carry out an inspection of the dampness which is evident to either side of the door frame to the utility room, I am fairly certain that this is being caused by higher exterior ground level and in all probability the door way junction closed the cavity and that would be a sensible reason to assume that it is caused by the exterior level,
and I would therefore suggest that we carry out the following:
1.The removal of skirting board and wall plaster to a height 1 meter on the first meter within the utility room and last meter of the kitchen, as shown on the enclosed sketch.
2.Drill and inject a new chemical damp proof course, bearing in mind that this will be directly above the higher level of the exterior garden of the adjacent property and that is the level from which the guarantee will apply.
3.Line the wall from the level of the damp proof course down to internal floor level using Dampco flexible water proof membrane, it should be noted this is not subject to our long term guarantee but has proven to be extremely successful in many similar situations.
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Was that dampco from Brixham ?
It's not felt - it's Dampco membrane. There is nothing wrong with the focus of the pictures - it's your eyes and/or computer ? every post you moan about pictures? If you could see and understand you'd know the OP wasn't talking about a cellar, but the house next door being higher.
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They didn't quote to bridge from floor to wall. Doesn't look like they quoted for floor at all. The whole thing is a bit poor, the best way to tackle damp is to keep it outside. If your neighbours decking is causing (or exacerbating) the damp it could be classed as a statutory nuisance- you should certainly be able to get at the outside of the wall and ideally lower ground level, next best is fix membrane on the outside of the wall.
Thank you for all your responses. I have called them back as realized corner is damp. He has arrived check dampness of the wall where membrane and slurry been done but not actual part i was referring to. And been told to use roofing felt as it's not possible to make it fully dry.
I don't refer to cellar walls, it is kitchen and adjoining utility wall where signs of damp were when i bought the house. House is last in a terrace, also is lowest, next property is about 50cm higher. Walls were strip to the brick and damp treatment done, then black membrane put over. Orignal quote included re-plaster which i declined as renovating entire property. If you asking about grey stuff seen around edges of the mebrane i can only assume it's someting to keep membrane in place.
Any recomendation for surveyor which would cover west midlands/warwickshire? This company was recomended as damp specialist
I don't refer to cellar walls, it is kitchen and adjoining utility wall where signs of damp were when i bought the house. House is last in a terrace, also is lowest, next property is about 50cm higher. Walls were strip to the brick and damp treatment done, then black membrane put over. Orignal quote included re-plaster which i declined as renovating entire property. If you asking about grey stuff seen around edges of the mebrane i can only assume it's someting to keep membrane in place.
Any recomendation for surveyor which would cover west midlands/warwickshire? This company was recomended as damp specialist
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