Don't let me down !!

[Moo]

I've just had this plea for help from my dearest friend regarding her son and daughter-in-law's new house (actually, it's an extremely posh basement conversion in an extremely posh part of London) :

"N has asked me if you would ask on your period property website for a specialist damp firm in London. One of their bedrooms has some damp which has been worked on and carries a guarantee. However the rich people next door thought it might be their new bathroom so they have retiled. However during this recent wet weather some damp has come again so it had to be looked at properly. You advised early on that any old damping firm will always run their equpment about and find some damp. What we need is a seriously specialist firm. They would be very grateful to you for this help. "

 

[Craig]

Best bet is to point them towards a decent surveyor. I have used CNP in Esher (ask for Jonathan Greenyer) on a similar situation who gave very sensible advice.

We have this in our basement - a party wall, which our neighbours believe has rising damp - reality is that in London its very common for the original timber suspended floors to have been removed and a concrete floor laid (especially in the posh conversions...), but the DPC they lay doesnt integrate with the party wall DPC layer properly so...

We hacked off the gypsum/cement render and replastered in Lime. Its just a little bit damp. Nothing much you can do that makes economic sense.

 

[dormouse]

Your friends don't necessarily need to look just for a company in London - decent damp surveyors will travel. I recently used Premier Heritage (http://www.premier-heritage.co.uk/) who were very good and do cover London. The survey on the whole property was very thorough and the surveyor explained what he was doing and discussed the building in some depth as he was working. There is no comparison between a decent surveyor such as this and a damp company peddling their wares with cheap or free surveys.

 

[Nemesis]

And of course PC who has posted here about damp issues for such a long time is sorta connected...

 

[andrew gayton]

I would suggest, due to the very construction methods used in such buildings, that they will always be prone to damp which is quite often complicated by subsequent attempts at remedial treatments. probably the only way to prevent damp on internal surfaces - issues regarding saturation of the flooring and walling aside - is to install a sumped dry lining system or to excavate and provide set back retaining walls. thses options however are obviously quite invasive and will lead to the loss of original features. I lived in such a flat once and found that the best way to manage the situation was to ventilate and keep a constant background heat in an attempt to avaoid condensation. however, cold (saturated) walling always causes a problem..... fine in th esummer, but winters were quite uncomfortable although a dehumidifier did help.

 

[Penners]

Moo - have I understood your friend correctly, in that the damp wall is a party wall with next door's basement? And the neighbours have tiled their side of the wall?

If so, I wonder whether this might have exacerbated the damp problem on your friend's side of the wall, by cutting off ventilation to the other side.

Not much they could do about that, I suppose. In which case Andrew's advice would be the most qualified here.

 

[Moo]

Thanks to all - xxx.

I've sent them all the posts, together with a list of the damp surveyors from the Seeking Specialists page.

However, it goes without saying that any more suggestions/recommendations would be more than welcome.