Buying house, lots of damp on survey

[Kearn]

I'm paraphrasing heritage home / Peter Ward:

While he has lots of useful things to say, and some decent experience, I personally wouldn't regularly reference Pete as an oracle on the topic. I believe his outspokenness and opinionated style can be contagious... :roll: And speaking from experience, his views and expertise are certainly not always foolproof.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a fair point to point out that one person saying one thing doesn't make it true. The Heritage Home website is fascinating, the videos of this guy ripping houses apart still makes me shudder... That said just because lots of people say the same thing also doesn't make it true...so I go on evidence of lots of other respected and learned people... read: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/-rising-damp-is-a-myth-says-former-rics-chief/5204095.article , "Elaine Blackett-Ord, chair of the Register of Architects Accredited in Building Conservation, has also spoken out against rising damp, saying it was as rare as ‘rocking-horse shit’."

or

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/rising-damp/.

or

http://www.rics.org/uk/shop/The-Rising-Damp-Myth-17888.aspx
"'If rising damp exists, then so does the tooth fairy. In this exhilarating detective story, Jeff Howell conclusively debunks a multi-million pound myth...."

I mean it's even in their shop !!

Now Zebra's case in point, might, might be down to "old porous bricks" it might... but I wasn't sure that old porous bricks were selective. Presumably most of the rest of the house is made of old pourous bricks too, so is there a rising (and specifically using that term) damp problem Or is it an unexplained damp problem ? Damp where new building materials (concrete, cement etc meet old breathable materials) is explainable very easily since moisture is trapped against the old material by the new.

There is a snobbery in the world that says if you've not got letters by your name or you're not in the building trade (turkeys voting for Christmas) then you're wrong. I don't but I do have the ability to do research and listen to people who have no vested interest, Peter Ward and others get nothing from me visiting their webpages (no pay per click advertising!!) whereas most of the others who claim rising damp exists do.

I reject the concept that DPC's are a requirement, buildings have been built for centuries without them and the plastic one's were really only introduced in the 1960's, so are we really saying that for centuries people building old houses and churches etc have been doing it wrong?

Now it is a documented fact that old walls get wet from rain fall and that water can penetrate in to the inside of a wall (a thin one) but that's by design, when the wind blows and the temperature rises the water evaporates and the wall dries out, if you apply modern finishes (inside / out) that can have and affect on it's breathability.

It's only where 20th & 21st century builders have got involved that problems have reared their heads and rather than face big compensation bills or admit that they've got it wrong and the only reason they use the materials they use is because they're cheap, they blame the craftsmen of yesteryear who can't defend themselves.

That's all I have to say on the subject... please feel free to comment further but I won't reply anymore.

Best luck with all your projects.

Paul.

 

[Kearn]

I don't but I do have the ability to do research and listen to people who have no vested interest, Peter Ward and others get nothing from me visiting their webpages (no pay per click advertising!!) whereas most of the others who claim rising damp exists do.

While I am not in any way supporting the existence of the tooth fairy here - unfortunately what you have said is not entirely true.

Click through Pete's website, beyond the homepage, you will be greeted by an ad front and centre on every single page - small detail. It has in fairness become more subtle over the past few years since the first time I looked at a previous incarnation of his site. I'd also point out that he isn't doing this out of the goodness of his heart, it is him touting for business. Again, nothing wrong with that of course, this is his livelihood after all, but some may argue that is a vested interest.

None of this of course detracts from the real point in question; and I fully agree that any of us with responsibility for a historic property should be doing our best to maintain their structural integrity the correct way. Hence the appreciation and value that I have taken from the knowledgeable folk on here sharing their advice and experience, since i started restoring our 16C home.

cheers

 

[stuart45]

I reject the concept that DPC's are a requirement, buildings have been built for centuries without them and the plastic one's were really only introduced in the 1960's,

The plastic ones were a replacement for the older felt rolls which had less linear ft per roll. Really down to cost. In the past there were various more expensive options.
Although Peter Ward has some valid points, I can't understand why he claims that rising damp was invented in 1962 by the industry and only the UK and Australia recognize the problem.
I think that most people in the trade and outside know that chemical DPC's have been one of the most mis sold products in the last 40 years.

 

[jamestyler]

We did very carefully consider who to get the damp survey from, as we didn't want to go down the rabbit hole of surveyers looking for work to quote on. Especially as the house had already had some (failed) work by a company, and it would be one company's word against another.

We almost employed Peter Ward for the survey, but at £900+vat for a timer/damp survey we felt this was excessive and paid around £500 inc vat.

After reading between the lines, etc, our plan of action is:

* Repoint front/gable/rear walls in lime mortar as these are showing the worst issues with cement pointing (in some cases almost render!)
* Add a french drain around the perimeter of the house as in some cases the ground level is slightly higher by a couple of inches
* Remove any paint on a couple of internal walls that have been left exposed to allow to dry out. Possibly lime them afterwards.
* Increase ventilation internally. There is a walk-in wardrobe built against the exposed internal wall that doesn't seem a good idea as no free air movement. There's a radiator in there so it's not cold, but still not enough airflow, so we're going to pull this down
* Ensure all gutters/drains are working properly
* If, after a few months, there is still penetrating damp, add a water-repellent sprayed on layer. Trying to avoid this but speaking to 3 reputable stonemasons they have said they do work and don't cause breathability issues if you pick the right ones, based on experience with lots of houses.

We've been advised that the repointing needs to happen ASAP as it was raised on the survey from the purchase before ours (and not done), so we're currently negotiating a slight reduction in price so we can get this done as soon as we move in.

 

[stuart45]

The old saying for brickwork sealing used to be that the beast sealer you can get is no sealer. However the newer siloxanes are said to be breathable ( seem popular in the USA ) and if wind driven rain is coming through and this stops the problem you can't really argue against them.