Unnecessary damp-proofing done - should we be complaining?

[russella]

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I hope so!

We had some damproofing work done back in early 2009, which involved removing plaster from a bunch of walls, drilling, injecting stuff and replastering.

Apart from the fact that replastering was straight as a boomerang (we'll ignore that one!), we've recently discovered that around half the walls which were damp-proofed were actually sitting on floorboards, with a fairly high crawlspace underneath, and they were running perpendicular to the walls in the crawlspace. Doesn't this mean that rising damp in these walls is pretty much impossible, and so we've been charged for blatantly unecessary work?

Or was it our responsibility to check that the work was required before allowing the damp proofing company concerned to proceed?

Thanks in advance,

Russ

 

[Static]

Did you have alot of blown plaster, damp walls, rotten joists and floor boards before the work was carried out?

If the answer is no then why did you get the work done in the first place?

If the reason was because some irish guy knocked on the door and said you needed a new dpc and as luck has it he has some spare from a previous job and just for the small price of £2000 he can pop in the dpc and make good and it would only take 2hrs, but he can only do it now, and only take cash.. and left his business cards in his other saddlebag...

 

[oilman]

You have been caught, like we were many years ago. If you can, sue the firm, they are fraudsters.

Rising damp does not exist. It is always caused by something else.

If you need proof, go and look at the brick bridges on the canals. Water does not wick up the structure.

 

[Static]

Rising damp does not exist. It is always caused by something else.

If you need proof, go and look at the brick bridges on the canals. Water does not wick up the structure.

Not necessarily true.. it does exist just takes a pretty rare number of criteria to happen.. not sure how bridges are relevant to houses..

 

[russella]

Okay, a bit more detail on the background - the damp proofing was done as a result of a survey we had done when we bought the house. Countrywide did the surveying, they found damp and recommended we get in a specialist damp-proofing company to do a proper damp survey. The estate agent recommended a company, and we didn't know of any better looking alternatives, so we went with their recommendation.

So to confirm, an independant surveyor found damp, then a damp proofing company came in and told us what walls to do.

Is there any measure we can take short of suing them?

Thanks,

Russ

 

[joinerjohn]

Brick walls built straight off the floorboards??

 

[gregers]

yet again the question of 'rising damp doesnt exist'


and again i ask the question if this is so,then why the hell do we instal a dpc to brickwork etc.


walls on floorboards thats a good 1,perhaps the wall sucked the damp through the timber??

 

[opps]

yet again the question of 'rising damp doesnt exist'


and again i ask the question if this is so,then why the hell do we instal a dpc to brickwork etc.


walls on floorboards thats a good 1,perhaps the wall sucked the damp through the timber??

Capillary action will allow water to work its way up through brick work/ plaster hence the need for a dpc. On the exterior this is less of an issue because of airflow.

This is in part why bridges are ok, they have air flow and no wood.

There is also the increased risk of dry rot- a "fungus" which will move in any direction. It is this that "necessitates" the need to chop off plaster, 1m past where it was last seen.

The area is often treated and then render applied but there is a school of thought that says that the fungus does not harm the brick or plaster, it can only damage wet wood so leave the plaster alone and increase ventilation in the local area and all will be fine.

The slate that we used in the old days cracks eventually and a chemical dpc is needed.

The damp on the interior walls might have been condensation. The damp proof "experts" might have read the damp meter rather than inspecting fully.

I would be inclined to ask for an explanation/partial reasonable refund.

Then phone the estate agents and shout at them, in all probability they will be on back handers from the damp people

 

[gregers]

opps,thankx , it was a wry attempt at humour

i used to work in the preservation industry

 

[opps]

Hi Gregers

Cheers for that- i was in the pub at the time!!! but was baffled by oilman's post about bridges

 

[joinerjohn]

It's still unusual for brick walls to be built directly off floorboards or do the brick walls extend down into the crawl space? If they do then it is a possibility that the floorboards stop 10mm or so short of the walls.

 

[opps]

It's still unusual for brick walls to be built directly off floorboards or do the brick walls extend down into the crawl space? If they do then it is a possibility that the floorboards stop 10mm or so short of the walls.

The donkey that built my extension tried to put up an internal thermolite wall on the chipboard flooring ... it wasn't even the right grade of chipboard!!!

 

[joinerjohn]

The donkey that built my extension tried to put up an internal thermolite wall on the chipboard flooring ... it wasn't even the right grade of chipboard!!!

Was he also just happening to be doing some road repairs , down the road and had a couple of tons of tarmac to do your drive with??

 

[1john]

It's still unusual for brick walls to be built directly off floorboards or do the brick walls extend down into the crawl space? If they do then it is a possibility that the floorboards stop 10mm or so short of the walls.

Loads of houses around here are built with brick walls ontop of floorboards, normally there is a dwarf wall beneath the joists though, with slate on top!

 

[opps]

The donkey that built my extension tried to put up an internal thermolite wall on the chipboard flooring ... it wasn't even the right grade of chipboard!!!

Was he also just happening to be doing some road repairs , down the road and had a couple of tons of tarmac to do your drive with??

The GF made the mistake of going for the cheapest quote- the "builder" left the "mate" (who he found at the job centre) on site to do most of the work. I spent weeks rectifying their feck ups. eg they put velux windows flush on a flat roof and wondered why they leaked. I insisted that they use screws for the plaster board ceiling, they hammered them in. etc etc etc