Hi,
We have been in our property for about 13 years, after a year or so it was apparant that we had a problem with damp around the front ground floor bay window area.
We got a couple of estimates and appointed a company to inject a DPC and carry out remedial plastering as necessary, the contractor provided a 30 year guarantee for the work.
We have since had some reccurance of the damp but because the DPC had been replaced we looked for alternative causes and ended up 9amongst other things) getting the render under the bay window replaced to eliminate penetrating damp as a cause.
Recently a few damp patches have appeared above and on the edges of the area that was replastered during the original work, in order to finally determine the cause of the problem we paid for an independant suvey to be carried out by a specialist surveyor.
The surveyor confirmed that the problem was that damp was rising above and beyond the area that was originally replastered and that we should approach the original contractor to look at the situation and claim under the guarantee.
Sorry for the long preamble but here is the point of the post :-
The contractor came out and said that yes they would redo the damp proof work, he stated that they now use a special membrane on the interior of the walls and cover that in plasterboard then skim - he said because of this there would be a charge involved.
We have just got his estimate, the job originally (OK ten years ago) cost about £500 which included some extra unrelated plastering work upstairs.
His new estimate reads that he will re- inject the DPC foc but that the cost to hack off the plaster, fit the membrane and plaster will now be £1131 inc vat.
I am going to speak with the surveyor on Monday about this 'revolutionary new process' he uses with the membrane but it was certainly never mentioned as a desirable option by the surveyor.
The membrane he is going to use is called Oldroyd XP, looking this up it seems to be designed for tanking in cellars and therefore seems to be over the top for the problem we have.
Is the opinion that he is blinding me with science as an excuse to charge a higher price and therefore win back the FOC warranty work?
As I said, I will ask the surveyors opinion and I think probably get a couple more estimates from other contractors as I don't think I can afford his free of charge warranty solution.
Any opinions welcomed
We have been in our property for about 13 years, after a year or so it was apparant that we had a problem with damp around the front ground floor bay window area.
We got a couple of estimates and appointed a company to inject a DPC and carry out remedial plastering as necessary, the contractor provided a 30 year guarantee for the work.
We have since had some reccurance of the damp but because the DPC had been replaced we looked for alternative causes and ended up 9amongst other things) getting the render under the bay window replaced to eliminate penetrating damp as a cause.
Recently a few damp patches have appeared above and on the edges of the area that was replastered during the original work, in order to finally determine the cause of the problem we paid for an independant suvey to be carried out by a specialist surveyor.
The surveyor confirmed that the problem was that damp was rising above and beyond the area that was originally replastered and that we should approach the original contractor to look at the situation and claim under the guarantee.
Sorry for the long preamble but here is the point of the post :-
The contractor came out and said that yes they would redo the damp proof work, he stated that they now use a special membrane on the interior of the walls and cover that in plasterboard then skim - he said because of this there would be a charge involved.
We have just got his estimate, the job originally (OK ten years ago) cost about £500 which included some extra unrelated plastering work upstairs.
His new estimate reads that he will re- inject the DPC foc but that the cost to hack off the plaster, fit the membrane and plaster will now be £1131 inc vat.
I am going to speak with the surveyor on Monday about this 'revolutionary new process' he uses with the membrane but it was certainly never mentioned as a desirable option by the surveyor.
The membrane he is going to use is called Oldroyd XP, looking this up it seems to be designed for tanking in cellars and therefore seems to be over the top for the problem we have.
Is the opinion that he is blinding me with science as an excuse to charge a higher price and therefore win back the FOC warranty work?
As I said, I will ask the surveyors opinion and I think probably get a couple more estimates from other contractors as I don't think I can afford his free of charge warranty solution.
Any opinions welcomed
