ATi Damp SurveyIndependent damp surveys in Camden
Camden runs from Georgian stucco terraces around Regent's Park up to the hill at Hampstead, and takes in a great deal of purpose built mansion block on the way. The three have almost nothing in common structurally, and the mistake we are most often asked to unpick is a diagnosis borrowed from one and applied to another.
Camden housing, and what it does when it gets wet
The stucco fronted terraces are solid brick behind a lime and later cement render. Stucco is a maintenance item, not a finish: once it cracks or blows, water gets behind it and stays there, and the render then holds it against the brick. Repainting over a blown section with a modern impermeable masonry paint is one of the most reliable ways to make a damp wall worse, and we see the result of it regularly.
The mansion blocks bring parapets, valley gutters, lightwells and long shared soil and rainwater stacks. Water entering at roof level in a mansion block can appear three floors down and two flats along, which makes it an expensive argument between leaseholders and the freeholder unless somebody establishes the actual path. That is normally why we are instructed on a block: not to say there is damp, but to say where it is coming from and whose repairing obligation covers it.
Hampstead and the higher ground bring the London clay and the slope with them. Retaining walls, split level rear gardens and basements cut into a hillside all produce lateral water pressure against a wall that was never built to resist it. Damp on the uphill wall of a lower ground room is a drainage question, and it is answered by looking at what is happening outside, not by injecting the inside.
What we are usually called out to in Camden
- Blown or cracked stucco holding water against solid brick, made worse by an impermeable masonry paint
- Water entering a mansion block at parapet or valley level and presenting several floors below
- Leaseholder and freeholder disputes needing an independent view on where the defect actually is
- Damp on the uphill wall of a lower ground room where the garden retains water against the structure
- Timber decay behind panelling and in joist ends in period property where nobody has opened anything up
- Pre purchase surveys on listed and locally listed buildings where invasive investigation is limited
Where we cover
We survey the borough and the surrounding streets, from Bloomsbury and Kings Cross up through Camden Town to Hampstead and Highgate.
- Camden Town
- Hampstead
- Kentish Town
- Belsize Park
- Primrose Hill
- Bloomsbury
- Kings Cross
- Gospel Oak
- Swiss Cottage
Postcode districts
- NW1
- NW3
- NW5
- NW6
- N6
- WC1
Book a survey in Camden
Same day response to every enquiry, and your written report within 24 hours of the visit. Put your postcode in the form and we will confirm cover and fee the same day.
Book a surveyOr call 020 3355 4944.
Camden questions
Who is responsible for damp in a mansion block flat?
It depends on where the water is getting in and what the lease says, which is precisely why the survey is worth having before the argument. Roofs, parapets, valley gutters, external walls and shared stacks are normally the freeholder's responsibility; what is inside your demise is normally yours. Our report records the entry point and the path the water takes, so the question becomes a documented one rather than a matter of opinion between neighbours.
Can you survey a listed building without opening anything up?
Yes, and in most cases that is the point. A great deal can be established without intervention: calibrated moisture readings across a grid, thermal patterns, drainage and ground level inspection outside, roof and rainwater goods, and the internal environment. Where something genuinely cannot be resolved without opening up, we say so and say exactly what needs opening and where, so you can seek consent for the smallest possible intervention rather than the largest.