ATi Damp SurveyRising damp: an independent second opinion
If you have been quoted for a chemical damp proof course, the useful question is not what it costs but whether it is the right work. We survey and write reports. We install nothing, sell nothing and take no commission, so a report concluding that no damp proofing is required costs us exactly nothing to write.
Why a quote for a damp proof course deserves checking
- At least four common faults produce the same tide mark, salt blooms and meter readings as rising damp
- A moisture meter responds to salts as well as to water, so a dried out wall can read as high as a wet one
- Most London housing has a physical damp proof course that still works and has simply been bridged
- The firm that diagnoses is often the firm that would carry out the treatment
- Replastering after an unnecessary injection hides the real cause for two or three years
What we do instead
We take calibrated readings across a grid rather than at the worst looking spots, so the profile of the moisture is recorded. Rising damp decreases with height and stops at a consistent level. A leak, a bridged course and lateral water each have a different signature, and the shape of the readings is what separates them.
We inspect the outside, which is where most answers in London are: ground levels against every elevation, lightwell and basement drainage, gully and downpipe condition, render and pointing, and the height and condition of the existing damp proof course. A survey confined to the inside face of a wall can tell you the wall is wet. It cannot tell you why.
Where salt contamination is likely, on flood affected or coastal property, we say so plainly, because a meter reading on a salted wall is close to meaningless on its own and it is one of the most reliable ways to be sold treatment for damp that is no longer there.
Who instructs us on this
Buyers whose homebuyer or building survey flagged elevated readings and recommended a damp and timber specialist. That recommendation is not a diagnosis; it is a referral, and the referral usually goes to a firm that sells treatment.
Owners holding a quote for injection and replastering that runs into thousands and does not feel right. Landlords and managing agents who need a defensible position before committing to work. Solicitors and leaseholders in disputes where the cause of the damp determines who pays.
In each case what is wanted is a document written by somebody with no financial interest in the outcome, which is the whole reason ATi does no remedial work.
What you receive
A written report within 24 hours of the visit, with photographs, the recorded readings and their locations, the diagnosed cause, and what should be done about it in order of priority. Where we conclude no damp proof course is needed, the report says so in terms you can put in front of the firm that quoted for one.
Where the correct answer is remedial work, we say what and where, and you are free to obtain that from whoever you choose. We do not recommend contractors and we take nothing from anyone you instruct.
Get an independent view before you commit
A survey by a practice with nothing to sell, and a 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.
Questions
Our surveyor recommended a damp and timber specialist. Is that a diagnosis?
No, and it is worth understanding what it is. A homebuyer or building survey is a generalist inspection, and where the surveyor records elevated meter readings they are obliged to refer the question on rather than resolve it. The referral commonly goes to a firm that carries out damp proofing, which means the diagnosis is made by the party that would be paid to treat it. An independent survey answers the question that the referral only raised.
Is a report from you cheaper than the treatment we have been quoted?
Almost always by a wide margin, and that is rather the point. A survey costs a fraction of a typical injection and replastering quote for a whole ground floor. If the work turns out to be justified, you have lost very little and gained confidence. If it is not, which happens frequently, you have avoided the whole cost and the disruption that goes with it.
Can you tell the difference without opening walls up?
In most cases, yes. The profile of moisture readings with height, the pattern across an elevation, the external ground and drainage condition and the internal environment together resolve the great majority of rising damp questions without intervention. Where they genuinely do not, we say what needs opening and precisely where, so the smallest possible investigation answers it rather than a general one.