Surveyor or specialist - damp?

[catslave]

My mother in law's house needs loads doing to it and we have set aside some money to help as she has none.

One of the problems is that her skirting boards are essentially rotting away - the area is built on poorly drained soil that has been made worse by the building of loads of estate homes up the hill with associated acres of concrete, so all the rain drains down to m-i-l's garden and under her bungalow.

So - in order to work out what to do next, who should I call? A damp specialist? A Surveyor? We just need to get the measure of the problem so we can work out how to deal with it. The next door house (called Marshlands :) ) had to have a drainage channel dug!

If anyone has any suggestions, thanks.

Afraid I can't recommend anyone but am interested in the answer. We did pay once for someone to come round and he recommended about £3k worth of work needed doing - convenient when they are working for a firm that treats it!

I don't know who you would be looking for, IIRC you're looking for someone independent to tell you the extent of the problem? Hopefully someone will be along soon who can help!

I know - that's the thing. Having had a full survey done on our property and thinking 'you're just recommending we consult specialists in these areas while saying nothing yourself', I think a surveyor may be the wrong person. But problem is that the property may have other problems... so maybe we need both?

What did your damp specialist do / what did they check for?

UKdamp.co.uk
They're an independent company and have lots of useful info on their website.

Ours looked at the property while we were out (as it was part of the retention suggested by our original surveyor) but we got a report with their assessment of the problems (rising damp) and their recommendation for a damp-proof course and quote for that plus replastering etc. The actual damp-proof course was only about £1k, the rest of the quote was associated repair and decorating costs.

We left it in the end as the house had been unoccupied for a year and decided to take our chances that it was largely due to lack of ventilation/heating etc and are still trying to figure out whether there's a problem or not! Suppose it was helpful tho as it helped us negotiate £2k off our original offer!

Could you check paperwork and see if there's been damp work done before with a guarantee that may be still applicable? We've just been sent paperwork and found that that's the case for us. Also, talk to the neighbours and find out how they approached it?

I would try UK damp. We contacted them about some damp, didn't get them out in the end but they were very helpful and offered a lower price than advertised on their website. Its not cheap, about £400 for a damp and timber survey I think, but they are indipendant and claim to rectify most problems by actually dealing with the source of the damp (rather than just injecting and plastering with waterproof plaster to hide the problems which is basically what damp proofing companies will sugest).

I'll have a go at UK damp - they had a damp course installed about 20 years ago, though the bloke was a complete cowboy and got teenage H and his just-teenage sister to help him strip walls etc (!). It may be guaranteed, but if he's still in business it would be a miracle... Luckily neighbours are good friends so have told us all their trials and tribulations with it. I'll see what the damp people say and how it compares to what they had done.