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Independent damp surveys in Hammersmith and Fulham
Hammersmith and Fulham is one of the most consistently Victorian boroughs in London, street after street of two storey terraces built quickly in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Most have since been extended, dug out, or both, and the damp we survey sits almost entirely at the junctions between the original house and what has been added.
Hammersmith and Fulham housing, and what it does when it gets wet
The standard Fulham terrace is solid brick, narrow fronted, with a rear closet wing and a slate roof. Side return infills are near universal, and the junction between a new flat roof and old brickwork is the single most productive defect in the borough. A flashing chased in too shallow, an upstand below the minimum, or an outlet that ponds will show internally as a damp patch on a first floor wall, some distance from where the water is actually getting in.
Basement digs are common here, generally shallower than in Kensington but numerous. They are cavity drainage systems with a perimeter channel and a pump, and they fail in the maintainable parts far more often than in the membrane. Owners are rarely told at handover that the system requires servicing, so the first failure typically arrives several years later with no maintenance history at all.
The other constant is ground level at the rear. Successive patios and garden works have raised the external ground against the back wall on a great many of these houses, bridging a damp proof course that is otherwise intact. It produces low level damp on the internal face that is repeatedly diagnosed as rising and treated accordingly.
What we are usually called out to in Hammersmith and Fulham
- Damp on a first floor wall from the flashing where a side return infill meets old brickwork
- Cavity drainage basements failing at the channel or pump, with no service history
- Raised rear patios and garden levels bridging an otherwise intact damp proof course
- Second opinions on injected damp proof course quotes running into thousands
- Timber decay at joist ends built into a solid wall that has been dry lined
- Blocked or overflowing rear rainwater goods behind a closet wing where nobody can see them
Where we cover
We survey across the borough, from Fulham and Parsons Green up through Hammersmith to Shepherds Bush and White City.
- Fulham
- Hammersmith
- Shepherds Bush
- Parsons Green
- Sands End
- White City
- Brook Green
- Baron's Court
- Wormwood Scrubs
Postcode districts
- W6
- W12
- W14
- SW6
Book a survey in Hammersmith and Fulham
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.
Hammersmith and Fulham questions
We have been quoted for an injected damp proof course. Is it likely to be right?
Sometimes, and in this borough usually not. An injected course treats water rising through masonry from below. If the moisture is arriving from a failed side return flashing, a bridged rear ground level or a blocked gutter, injecting the wall changes nothing and the damp returns once the new plaster has dried out. We survey independently and carry out no remedial work, so we have nothing to gain either way, and we will say plainly when the work quoted for is not justified.
Our basement was dug out years ago and has started leaking. What usually causes that?
Almost always the maintainable parts rather than the waterproofing. Perimeter drainage channels silt up, sump pumps fail or their float switches stick, and service penetrations that were sealed correctly can be disturbed by later work. Because most owners are never told the system needs servicing, the first fault arrives with no maintenance history behind it. We inspect the whole system, including the parts a re waterproofing quote will not mention.