How to save 5K on damp proofing?…….
January 21st, 2020
How to save £5k on damp proofing?…..
I was instructed to undertake a damp survey last week as a second opinion to a prior inspection. The client had already instructed a free report and had been quoted five thousand pounds to remove the kitchen, damp proof and re-plaster the walls behind. Their justification being that apparently the kitchen walls were damp.
The client’s complaint was throughout winter they suffer from moisture within the kitchen corner cupboard which can affect their stored food stuffs. Their perception was perhaps the wall behind was damp which was causing the dampening within the cupboard.
Providing your own diagnosis / opinion to a company which undertakes a free survey is asking for trouble. The company after undertaking a survey agreed with the client’s diagnosis therefore provided a quotation for repair. It was the cost of the repair which prompted the client to obtain a second opinion.
After carrying out a very through survey of the property, I was able to inform the client that the work specified was unnecessary, the kitchen walls were in-fact dry. I proved this using multiple methods however, also backed this analysis up by removing a very difficult mortar sample from the first available mortar joint above floor level from directly beneath the kitchen units. The results of the test confirmed my analysis at 2.4%, the wall was in fact dry. The cause which is not that uncommon is high humidity behind the cupboard adjacent the kitchen rear wall.
To be honest any basic understanding of psychometrics or moisture in buildings would steer you towards this conclusion. If a wall were supposedly wet enough to create such an atmospheric imbalance within a cupboard, the wall wouldn’t be wet it would be soaking!
It may have cost the customer £150.00 for our survey however that’s a huge saving of £4850.00!
As my friend Damian Brennan from team Wikibuild would say, “Good surveyors are not expensive, they’re priceless”.
Paying for a professional survey, that’s how you save £5000.00 on damp proofing.
Dryfix, There’s a reason we’re Yorkshires Leading Damp & Timber Specialists!
