Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Damp specialists
Hi there
Please could someone recommend a damp specialist to inject some walls in our flat?
We have had a quote from Abbott some time ago and they seemed expensive.
Sorry to post about this again but all the threads on this are old now and seem to recommend Abbott who have already quoted us.
Many thanks
Tags for Forum Posts: damp-proofing
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Deane on
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I had my damp proofing done with abbott, largely because it was part of a package of other work and they could do it in the time available before we moved in.
in general I would think that damp proofing isn't necessary. your house has probably survived over 100 years without being damp, so if something has changed, you need to identify and address that. injecting silicone into your walls may not necessarily be the best solution.
Our dampness stemmed from three main sources.
First the extractor fan in our bathroom (of our downstairs flat) vented directly into the ceiling space and wasn't ducted to the outside. this meant that damp air circulated within the wall spaces of the house, condensed on our cold external wall, and ran down behind the plaster board. this needed to be replaced as it was so soft that I managed to put my hand through it without trying very hard. simply reducting the exhaust to go outside solved that problem
Another damp problem we had was that our downpipe from the gutter went straight into the ground and stopped. the result of this was that water backed up in it, leaked out of the joints and ran down our outside wall.
To solve this we ripped up the concrete in the front garden (which can't have been helping anyway, as water tended to pool on it), dug a trench and a soakaway pit to take the roof runoff, then levelled the soil in the garden, created a light rake to take surface water away from the house, then put down matting and gravelled it. we put in a few lavender plants to take advantage of the moisture in the soil near the wall.
Finally we had dampness in our bay, caused by leaky windows, which we resolved by replacing the rotten wooden window frames (which were holding moisture), and hacking the render off the front wall underneath the window.
A previous occupant had attempted to damp proof by laying slates flat up against the wall, and rendering over. the result of which was to prevent the wall drying out when it was damp, rather than to prevent the ingress of water.
We removed that, took the vents off ( they actually came away with the render) and raked away the debris inside that was bridging the two layers of brickwork, replaced and mortared in the vents once more, did a bit of repointing, and painted. sounds very complicated but was a couple of evenings work with a mallet and chisel, pointing trowel and paintbrush.
If I'd appreciated all of this in the first place (and had time to deal with it!) I probably wouldn't have had the damp proofing done (although as I said, they did a lot of other work for us, reboarding and replastering. Incidentally, the plasterers that they employ are top quality.). However, people do seem to rate it; the valuer was very interested when we were remortgaging.
If you are going to do it, it might be worth looking at doing it yourself. it's pretty simple to do. you need to drill into the walls below floorboard level (so from outside the house) inject the solution yourself, then plug it with a suitable cap. There's no guarantee that comes with that, obviously, but if the company you go with goes bust then you're stuffed in that regard anyway.
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Permalink Reply by 35odln3hhydsp on
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I used Advance Property (Simon Wootton) to do the damp survey to identify the specific location/s, Tel. 020 8226 8799. Small fee for the survey, refunded if you get them to do any follow up work.
There was quite a bit of building work to be done as well so my builder is doing the injection in the end (hopefully today or tomorrow!).Hope it goes well.
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I used Simon Wootton recently and must say it has been a horrible experience.
They left the house in a complete mess, none of the walls are even, they took a break of two weeks before returning to finish the job. Plus, a lot of the debris was dumped in my back garden (they refused to remove it).
I would avoid them like the plague.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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This - P Doyle's website - is the best set of info on damp I've ever read. He is an independent surveyor who is based in West Yorks so not much use to us but he does recommend some more southerly experts. Much hard info on how damp happens, and stories of rip-off artists.
At some point I have to dig up the floor in the back half of the house, the old DPC is shot - when I get round to it, I'll be sure to pull in (and pay for) all the independent advice I can before letting 'damp specialists' loose on it.
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Mate of mine recommends an independent guy from enfield called mick O'connor contact details are tel 02088042619 or mobile 07970792671
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We used DeBrette, who I think I also had from HoL as a recommendation. Seemed about the same price as Abbott and were good - able to do the job at fairly short notice as part of replastering. I had the guy from Abbott around who said it probably wasn't rising damp - but then when we got the plasterers in, and they said it needed doing - who knows? We decided better to be safe than sorry and they give you a certificate and stuff. Which will, no doubt put TENS OF THOUSANDS onto the eventual sale price of our house if we ever put it on the market. Whatevs. The walls seem fine anyway. : )
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Permalink Reply by Alice Mezzo on
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Hi Sally, I noticed your thread and as we are looking for someone to fix a damp problem I wondered if you had made any decisions or had found someone good? Thanks! Alice
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Permalink Reply by Salsa on
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We are going to contact De Brette so will let you know the verdict. If you find anyone else we would be interested to hear about it! Thanks
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Hi Sally, I wondered whether you ended up using De Brette? Would you recommend them? Many thanks
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Oh dear in my usual style, I have not got around to contacting them yet! Will let you know when I do!
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Hi
I have just had Kenwood around to do a free damp survey. I was impressed because they were very honest and said that we did not need any damp related work doing. We just need to fix a leaking down pipe outside and a door frame which is letting some water in. Kenwood used a damp reader around the flat and confirmed that the walls were dry and therefore there were no significant damp issues. I would recommend Kenwood to others.
I had another guy around who I found on mybuilder.com who was supposed to be a damp specialist and he recommended loads of work e.g. new plaster, damp proof course, expensive extractors fans etc. He did not use a damp meter like Kenwood and told me there was damp when it seems there is not.
Hope that helps anyone looking for recommendations.
I didn't call de brette following some slightly negative reviews of their work.
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