rising damp proofing Loughborough area

[user1467297746]

Hi - we finally got the keys to our house last week - just in time for torrential rain and the slight damp problem the surveyor mentioned definitely showed up!

can anyone recommend a good damp proofing company in the midlands area?

tia!

Have you checked things like blocked guttering, leaking downpipes and outside gr ound levels? It is likely any of these things could be causing damp and can be easily fixed. Damp proof courses are often a waste of time and money because they dont solve the problem. Also not recommended for older houses which need to breathe.

thanks! we had a look outside - and seems to be ok - the thing is these are the internal walls that suddenly have 'puddles' on them at the bottom.

All the external walls seem ok - just the walls in the middle of the house.. they are all solid brick too

actually the surveyor we used was very friendly and he came back round to have a look and said they prob didnt put a damp proof course on the internal walls?!

My advice here is to get several quotes. We had the same problem in our house when we moved in, and there was £12k of difference between our top and bottom quotes. The companies differed greatly on how bad the problem was and how much needed to be done to repair it. We ended up going for a sensible middle ground, which got rid of the issue and saved us about £10k.

Check out this article & guide to costs to help you!
www.which.co.uk/reviews/damp/article/dealing-with-damp/how-much-does-it-cost-to-repair-damp

If the problem is due to rain, then you haven't got a "rising damp" problem, you've got a Leak problem.

Injecting chemicals into walls does not repair leaks.

but how can it be leaking in the middle of the house?

it must be coming from underneath the house

the top of the walls are dry, it's just the skirting board that has problems, right in the centre of the room.

and behind that wall is the inner hall, upstairs is dry. and the walls to the outside are dry.

leaking downpipe collecting under the floor perhaps. Take it up and have a look.

Or water running down a chimney

Or waterpipe perhaps. Including radiators.

well we took it up and had a look and yes the 'floor' underneath looks quite damp.

we actually took all wall paper off the downstairs rooms and it looks like all internal wall plaster has a 'tide' mark where it has got a bit damp

the house has lots of air bricks around the front.

actually we had a few quotes for damp proofing this week.. one seems reasonable and is a mortar based one - they hack the plaster off - drill holes in the mortar inject and then replaster,

another one would go around the whole house and outside and drill holes in the wall every 10 cm and then inject = and fill holes with render

a 3rd one was really weird. they wanted to put a lampshade in that transmitted a frequency and would ionise the water so that capillary action would be eliminated! ( www.aquapol.co.uk/ )

pricey too!

now really confused - especially as my brother has gone tinfoil hat and saying rising damp is a conspiracy theory!

is it a concrete floor? Or planks?

is the radiator dripping?

If you drew a line between where the stopcock in the front garden used to be, and where the kitchen sink used to be, would it pass through the wet area?

the garage and kitchen are solid floor concrete along that side of the house- but the living and dining area are wood floorboards and about a 50 cm void to a rather muddy looking floor- I didnt touch it - but will go take a spade or something - becos the damp proofing contractor opened it up.

I think the lead water pipe would go under the dining and lounge tho.

It is near where the radiator pipes are going tho

Do you think its better to do the damp proof stuff under the level of the joists?

You need to find out where the water us coming from. Dampproofing won't sort this you have water ingress somewhere

Lead water pipe?

By the time it is 100 years old it is quite likely to be leaking.

If the ground under the void is visibly wet or muddy, you have to find and fix the source of water, as hay says.

chemical injections do not cure leaks.

On the bright side if (when) you replace the old water pipe, you can put in a larger plastic pipe which will give you much better flow.

Have you got a water meter? Does the bubble ever stop moving?

It can also be a leaking drain.

In a terrace, it can be your neighbour's leak.