Independent damp surveys in Harrow
Harrow is Metroland in its purest form: mile after mile of interwar semi built along the railway between the wars, plus a smaller amount of much older building around Harrow on the Hill. It also has a significant number of timber framed houses built in the sixties and seventies, which need treating quite differently from the masonry around them.
Request a survey Fixed-price surveys from £215, report included
Harrow housing, and what it does when it gets wet
The interwar semis are cavity walled with a functioning damp proof course and airbricks feeding a suspended timber ground floor. Damp in these houses is very seldom rising. The dominant cause across the borough is ground level: eighty or ninety years of drives, paths and patios laid over one another until the external ground sits above the damp proof course, so water crosses it. The remedy is excavation and drainage, and it is repeatedly replaced by a chemical injection that cannot address it.
The timber framed housing of the sixties and seventies is the borough's under recognised issue. A timber frame relies on a breather membrane, a ventilated cavity and a vapour control layer on the warm side, all working together. Later alterations that penetrate the vapour control layer, or cavity fill injected into a frame cavity that was designed to stay clear, put moisture into structural timber. It is not visible and it is serious.
Around Harrow on the Hill there is older, solid walled and in places timber framed building in a conservation area, needing breathable repairs rather than modern impermeable ones, and needing recommendations that will actually receive consent.
What we are usually called out to in Harrow
- Ground levels raised above the damp proof course after successive drives and patios
- Cavity fill injected into a timber frame cavity that was designed to stay clear
- Damaged vapour control layers in sixties and seventies timber framed houses
- Blocked or buried airbricks and musty suspended ground floors
- Slumped retrofit cavity insulation on weather exposed elevations
- Breathability problems in older solid walled property around the Hill
Rising, penetrating, condensation or a leak
A tide mark low on a Harrow wall is often called rising damp on sight. It may be. It may equally be a patio laid against the outside, a front area drain that has stopped draining, salts left behind by an old leak, or condensation collecting behind furniture on a cold wall. A pin meter cannot tell these apart, because salts and surface moisture make it read high regardless.
The survey works through the possibilities in order and records why each was accepted or ruled out, so that whoever reads the report, a solicitor, a freeholder or a contractor, can follow the reasoning.
The inspection, around Harrow and across Harrow
- Every wall showing damp, and the walls either side of it for comparison
- Rainwater goods and roof junctions from the ground and from windows, and closer where access is safe
- Basement and lower ground floors for water table, drainage and bridging at the lightwell
- Condensation risk measured with temperature and humidity readings
- Visible timber for decay and beetle, with moisture content recorded
- Anything that would need opening up, identified and agreed with you rather than done unannounced
What you receive
A written report with photographs within 24 hours, in plain English, that stands on its own whoever reads it.
- Findings by room and by elevation
- Readings and the pattern they form
- The diagnosis, and the causes considered and excluded
- Recommendations in priority order
- Notes for a purchase, a lease or a disrepair matter where relevant
- A clear line where a quote you hold for a Harrow property goes further than the defect
From request to report
- Send the request form or call. We reply the same day with the fee in writing.
- We agree a visit, including evenings and weekends, and arrange access to any communal areas if needed.
- The surveyor spends as long as the Harrow property needs.
- The written report follows within 24 hours.
We do not sell damp proofing, tanking, ventilation units or timber treatment. In Harrow, as everywhere in London, that independence is what makes the report useful to a buyer negotiating a price, a tenant raising a disrepair issue, or an owner deciding whether a quote is justified.
Leaseholders, landlords and buyers in Harrow
Leaseholders in Harrow often discover that the cause of their damp sits in a part of the building they do not own. Our report says where the water is coming from and which element of the building it passes through, which is the evidence a freeholder or managing agent needs under the lease. For landlords, damp and mould are hazards under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, and social landlords in England now work to the fixed timescales of Awaab's Law. Our guide to Awaab's Law explains what that means.
By town
Harrow on the Hill
Historic buildings around the school and church, many listed, in a conservation area on the hill. Lime walls and retained ground on slopes recur.
Pinner and Stanmore
Interwar suburbs and older village cores with timber framed houses. Breathable repairs in the old cores; drives and extensions in the suburbs.
Wealdstone and Harrow Weald
Victorian terraces and interwar housing. Rear additions, drives and mould are typical.
Where we cover
We survey across the borough, from Harrow and Wealdstone out through Pinner and Stanmore to Hatch End and Harrow Weald.
- Harrow
- Pinner
- Stanmore
- Wealdstone
- Hatch End
- Harrow Weald
- North Harrow
- Rayners Lane
- Kenton
Postcode districts
- HA1
- HA2
- HA3
- HA5
- HA6
- HA7
What customers say about us
Massive thanks to Ben and the team, came over very quickly, very professional and at a great cost.. wld recommend them all very highly
Track day Junkie, on Google
Best servey i have had done fast easy and everything got sorted A+++
Lee, on Google
Harrow questions
How do I know if my house is timber framed?
It is not always obvious, because most are clad in brick and look identical to their masonry neighbours from the street. Age is the first clue, since the bulk of them were built between the mid sixties and the early eighties. Sound, wall thickness at reveals and the behaviour of fixings are further indicators, and drawings or a warranty document will often settle it. It matters because a timber frame handles moisture in a completely different way, and treatments that are harmless on masonry can be damaging on it.
Should a timber framed house have cavity wall insulation?
Generally not injected fill of the kind used on masonry. The cavity in a timber framed wall is a designed, ventilated drainage gap between the cladding and the breather membrane, and it needs to stay clear so that water getting past the outer skin can drain and dry. Filling it can bridge moisture straight onto the frame. Where a house has been filled, we look for evidence of that having happened rather than assuming either way, and the report says what was found.
Our Pinner cottage is timber framed and damp. Should we inject?
No. Timber frames need breathable finishes, low ground and sound rainwater goods.
Do Stanmore semis need damp proofing?
Rarely. Drives and patios bridging the course are the usual cause.
Do you survey on Harrow on the Hill?
Yes. The report respects listed building and conservation controls.
Will you try to sell me damp proofing in Harrow?
No. We carry out no remedial work, so there is nothing to sell after the survey. The report states the cause, the work that would actually fix it and an outline of what that work should reasonably cost, so you can get like for like quotes from contractors of your choice, or put it to a seller, landlord or freeholder.
Nearby
Book a damp survey in Harrow
We survey and report only, with no treatment to sell, so what the report says is the whole of our interest. Same day response to every enquiry, and a written report with photographs within 24 hours of the visit.
Book a survey or call 020 3355 4944