Independent damp surveys in Islington
Islington is one of the densest concentrations of Georgian and early Victorian terraced housing in the country, and most of it is doing a job it was never designed for: subdivided into flats, with a lower ground floor that was a service basement and is now a bedroom. That single change accounts for a large share of the damp we are asked to look at here.
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Islington housing, and what it does when it gets wet
The typical Islington house is solid brick, one or one and a half bricks thick, with no cavity and no damp proof course worth the name. It was built to breathe: lime mortar, lime plaster, and a floor void that could dry out. A great deal of it has since been repointed in cement, dry lined, or sealed behind gypsum and a plastic membrane. The wall then has nowhere to lose the moisture it takes in, and it appears at the first cold, weak point in the room instead.
The second pattern is the lower ground floor. A front lightwell that was built to keep soil off the wall is now full of decking, a bike store or a raised planter, bridging the wall at or above internal floor level. Rear extensions have often taken the garden level up at the same time. What gets diagnosed as rising damp on a lower ground wall in Islington is very often ground level, a blocked gully or a lightwell drain nobody has lifted in fifteen years.
Conservation area status covers most of the borough, including Barnsbury and Canonbury, which matters practically rather than just administratively. External wall insulation and replacement windows are frequently not an option, so the answer to a cold, mould prone room has to be found in ventilation, heating and internal detailing. A report that recommends work you will never get consent for is no use to anyone.
What we are usually called out to in Islington
- Mould on the rear corner of a lower ground bedroom, put down to rising damp, caused by a lightwell or raised patio bridging the wall
- Salt staining and blown plaster after a well meant cement render was applied to a solid brick wall
- Black mould in a converted flat with a shared soil stack and an extract fan ducted into a void rather than outside
- Water tracking down from a shared parapet or valley gutter and showing two floors below, on the wrong wall
- Timber decay in ground floor joist ends where an airbrick has been rendered over or blocked by a new floor
- A pre purchase survey flagging high meter readings on a solid wall, where a meter cannot distinguish salts from moisture
Getting the diagnosis right in a London building
London's housing has been altered more than most: basements dug, lofts converted, houses split into flats, gardens raised, chimneys removed. In Islington that means damp is frequently the result of a change made decades ago rather than of the original building, and the remedy is to undo or correct that change.
We look for those alterations as much as for the damp itself. A floor laid above an old course, a fan ducted into a void, a lightwell filled with decking or a stack capped without ventilation explains more damp than any failed damp proof course.
The inspection, around Angel and across Islington
- 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
Inside the report
Each Islington report follows the same order, so it reads easily to a buyer, a landlord or a court:
- Scope and conditions on the day
- Observations, with photographs
- Measurements, with where each was taken
- Conclusions on cause
- Recommendations and an outline cost
- Limitations: what was not inspected and why
How a survey is arranged
- Tell us the postcode, the property type and what has been noticed.
- We confirm the fee and the time. It does not change on the day.
- On site, outside first, then inside, with findings explained before we leave.
- The report arrives within a day, ready to forward to a solicitor, agent or freeholder.
Most of our Islington surveys are for one of four people: a buyer whose survey flagged damp, a tenant or landlord with mould, a leaseholder trying to get a freeholder to act, or an owner holding a damp proofing quote. Each needs the same thing, an account of the cause from somebody with no interest in the remedy, and that is all we provide. Quoted for damp proofing already? Read damp proofing in Islington: survey first.
Leaseholders, landlords and buyers in Islington
Leaseholders in Islington 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
Barnsbury and Canonbury
Georgian and early Victorian squares and terraces, almost all in conservation areas, many divided into flats with a lower ground floor at the bottom. Front areas, pavement vaults and rear gardens raised by patios and decking are the recurring sources of damp in the lower flats, and the upper flats see parapet and valley gutter failures.
Highbury and Holloway
Later Victorian terraces and large houses around Highbury Fields, mansion blocks, and post war estates nearer Holloway Road. The terraces have closet wings and lean to roofs at the rear, a common source of penetrating damp, while the estates see condensation and mould on cold concrete.
Archway and Tufnell Park
Victorian terraces and semi detached villas on rising ground towards Highgate. Sloping gardens send water at the rear walls, and lower ground floors retain the slope. Damp at the back of a lower ground flat here is usually lateral.
Where we cover
We survey across the whole borough and the streets immediately around it, north and south of Upper Street.
- Angel
- Highbury
- Canonbury
- Barnsbury
- Archway
- Finsbury Park
- Holloway
- Clerkenwell
- Tufnell Park
Postcode districts
- N1
- N4
- N5
- N7
- N19
- EC1
What customers say about us
We were in the process of buying a house and needed a damp survey fairly quickly. Really easy to arrange, they managed to fit us in without any hassle and the report came through quickly afterwards. Great service from start to finish and we’d definitely recommend.
Bradley Hollingdale, on Google
Really happy with the damp survey by ATI. Tom was friendly, professional and took the time to explain everything clearly. We’d been dealing with the issue for over a year, and Tom managed to find the root cause, which was such a relief. Really appreciate his help and would definitely recommend him.
Nala Nala, on Google
Islington questions
Our surveyor said rising damp. Is that likely in an Islington terrace?
It is possible, but it is diagnosed far more often than it occurs. In a solid brick house with a lower ground floor, the far more common causes are ground level bridging the wall outside, a defective lightwell drain, or a cement render trapping moisture in the wall. All three produce the tide mark and the meter reading that get read as rising damp. That is exactly why we survey before anyone specifies a treatment, and why we do not sell the treatment.
We are in a conservation area. Does that limit what you can recommend?
It limits what can be done to the outside, not what can be diagnosed. Most of Islington is covered, so external wall insulation, replacement windows and visible external work will often need consent or be refused outright. We write the report knowing that, and concentrate on what can actually be delivered: drainage and ground levels, internal ventilation, breathable finishes, and heating that keeps surfaces above dew point.
Is the damp in our lower ground flat our problem or the freeholder's?
It depends on the source and the lease. Water coming through the external walls, the front area, the vaults or the structure is often the freeholder's responsibility. Water from a neighbouring garden may be a matter between neighbours. The report identifies the source so the right person can act.
Can you survey a flat during a purchase in Islington?
Yes. We often survey for buyers whose homebuyer report has flagged damp. The report is ready within 24 hours of the visit, so it can inform negotiations or a retention before exchange.
Is black mould in a converted flat a building issue?
Often partly. Converted flats frequently have bathrooms without windows, extract fans ducted into voids, and cold external walls. We measure humidity, surface temperature and extraction so the report shows what is a building issue and what is not.
Will you try to sell me damp proofing in Islington?
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 Islington
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