Independent damp surveys in Tower Hamlets
Tower Hamlets holds early Georgian silk weavers houses, dense Victorian terraces, an enormous quantity of post-war council housing and the newest residential towers in the country, within a couple of miles of each other. Almost nothing about diagnosing damp in one of those transfers to another.
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Tower Hamlets housing, and what it does when it gets wet
The Spitalfields and Whitechapel Georgian houses are among the oldest domestic buildings still in ordinary use in London. Solid brick, lime mortar, timber floors built into the walls, and often a top floor weavers loft with very large windows. They depend on breathing, and a great many have been through unsympathetic refurbishment with gypsum plaster and cement pointing. Decay in timbers built into a wall that can no longer dry is the usual finding, and it is structural.
The post-war blocks and estates, which house a large share of the borough, fail at cold bridges and joints: mould in bands at slab level, at window reveals and in corners, following the structure rather than the room. In a disrepair context that distinction decides the case, so the report has to record the pattern against the building rather than simply confirm that mould exists.
The Docklands towers are the newest problem and in some ways the least well understood. Highly airtight envelopes, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, floor to ceiling glazing and single aspect layouts. When the ventilation is unbalanced, uncommissioned or switched off because it is noisy, moisture has nowhere to go and mould appears in a two year old flat. That is a building performance defect, not occupant behaviour, and it needs measuring to prove.
What we are usually called out to in Tower Hamlets
- Timber decay in Georgian houses refurbished with gypsum plaster and cement pointing
- Mould banding at slabs and reveals in post-war blocks, following the structure
- Housing disrepair reports needing evidence that separates defect from occupation
- New tower flats with mechanical ventilation that was never balanced or has been disabled
- Leaks entering a converted building at roof or parapet level and appearing several floors down
- Pre purchase surveys on listed Georgian stock where invasive investigation is restricted
Which kind of damp is it?
In a London building the same stain can have four or five different causes, and in Tower Hamlets we regularly find two at once. Water rising from the ground through a wall with no working course. Rain entering through a parapet, a gutter, a cracked render or a window head. Moisture from the air condensing on a cold wall. Water from a pipe, a bath seal or a flat upstairs. Each needs a different repair and, in a shared building, often a different person to pay for it.
Our readings are taken to separate them: at depth as well as at the surface, at heights up the wall, on either side of the damp, and alongside humidity and surface temperatures. The pattern, not a single number, is what the diagnosis rests on.
The inspection, around Whitechapel and across Tower Hamlets
- 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 Tower Hamlets 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
What happens when you request a survey
- A same day reply, with the fee and our first available times in Tower Hamlets.
- One surveyor, no sales visit to follow, because there is nothing to sell.
- A visit of one to two hours for most flats and houses.
- A written report with readings and photographs within 24 hours.
Buyers, landlords, tenants and leaseholders in Tower Hamlets use our reports for different reasons, but always because the report has nothing behind it. We carry out no remedial work and take no referral fees, so our conclusion is not shaped by what it would lead to.
Leaseholders, landlords and buyers in Tower Hamlets
Buying in Tower Hamlets? A homebuyer or building survey that recommends a damp specialist should be followed by somebody with nothing to sell. Our report arrives within 24 hours of the visit, in time to negotiate, and it separates what is wrong from what simply needs maintaining. Landlords and tenants use the same report to settle what is a building defect and what is condensation; see our note on Awaab's Law and landlord duties.
By town
Bow and Mile End
Victorian terraces, many converted, and post war estates. Concreted yards, closet wing roofs and condensation are the usual causes.
Wapping and Limehouse
Converted riverside warehouses and modern developments by the Thames. Thick brick walls sealed internally, roof terraces and balcony details are common sources of damp.
Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf
Large modern towers and developments on former docks. Mechanical ventilation, construction details and condensation dominate.
Where we cover
We survey across the borough, from Spitalfields and Whitechapel out through Bow and Poplar to the Isle of Dogs.
- Whitechapel
- Spitalfields
- Bethnal Green
- Bow
- Poplar
- Canary Wharf
- Limehouse
- Mile End
- Isle of Dogs
Postcode districts
- E1
- E2
- E3
- E14
What customers say about us
Excellent, came around on the same day, found the issue and gave advice through the process
Morris Seifert, on Google
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
Tower Hamlets questions
Our flat is two years old and has mould. How is that possible?
Very easily, and it is usually a ventilation failure rather than anything to do with how you live. A modern flat is built airtight, so it depends entirely on mechanical ventilation to remove moisture. If that system was never commissioned, was set to a token rate, has crushed or disconnected ducting, or has been turned off because of noise, the moisture a household generates stays in the flat. We measure the actual air flow against what the design required, which is the evidence a developer, freeholder or warranty provider will respond to.
Is a report from you usable in a disrepair claim?
Yes, and it is written on the assumption that it will be read by somebody looking for holes in it. That means calibrated readings recorded by location, the mould pattern mapped against the structure, ventilation performance measured rather than described, and the external condition that explains the entry point. We carry out no remedial work, so we have no interest in what the remedy turns out to be, which is the point of instructing us rather than a contractor.
Our Wapping warehouse flat has damp on an outside wall. Why?
Thick brick walls take in rain, and if the conversion sealed the inner face they cannot dry. The survey looks at the wall build up and the external condition.
Our tower flat has mould. Is it a building defect?
It can be, if ventilation is not working or a detail lets water in. We measure and report the cause.
Do you survey for social housing tenants in Tower Hamlets?
Yes. Social landlords must investigate and act on damp and mould within fixed timescales under Awaab's Law, and an independent report helps both sides.
Will you try to sell me damp proofing in Tower Hamlets?
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 Tower Hamlets
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