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Welcome to the UK Damp and Decay Control website where you get honest, practical and understandable advice on all aspects of the diagnosis and control of dampness and timber decay.
UK Damp & Decay Control are independent specialists in the remedial treatment industry and carry out damp and timber surveys ( including taking plaster and timber samples for laboratory testing) and provide independent damp and timber reports . Our surveyors are qualified to standards recognized by the Property Care Association ( C.S.R.T.) and the Institute of Wood Science (F.I.W.Sc.)
We provide independent dampness and timber decay surveys which will accurately diagnose any dampness or decay problem using in-depth building pathology techniques and a holistic approach widely ignored by most damp and timber surveyors. Our comprehensive and impartial damp and timber reports come complete with recommendations for any remedial work which are usually chemical free, environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions.
You have no doubt trawled through several sites on damp-proofing and
timber treatments and by now are familiar with the cause and cures for
rising dampness, woodworm, dry rot and other forms of fungal decay.
Most damp-proofing and timber treatments arise because of Building
Societies and their Surveyors' reports during the buying and selling
process or for re-mortgaging purposes. The mortgage market is very tight
nowadays and the lending criteria is getting very strict and things have
been made worse this year as the Financial Conduct Authority are now
asking Banks and Building Societies to vet our spending habits before a
mortgage is granted.
The question is whether these
treatments are really necessary. During the previous housing boom years
up to 2007/8 Banks and Buildings Societies hardly worried about possible
damp or timber decay problems but nowadays, even though George Osborne
has manufactured a pre-election housing boom, lending criteria is much
stricter and dampness and timber decay seem to be their number one
priority when undertaking mortgage valuations or Building Surveys.
Perceived dampness and timber decay problems are therefore always
highlighted in a pre-purchase survey by Building Surveyors working on
behalf of mortgage providers. The surveyor, erring on the side of
caution, will generally recommend that a damp and timber report be
obtained from a specialist damp-proofing and timber contractor. Building
Surveyors always put these caveats in about specialist damp and timber
surveys. I’m not sure why as they are highly qualified, some say it’s a
dereliction of duty as qualified RICS surveyors should be able to
identify rising damp and timber decay while others say it is just a way
of indemnifying themselves against any possible negligence claims.
Many Estate Agents have informal arrangements with lots of tradesmen and
these usually include damp-proofing and timber treatment firms whereby
the remedial company will carry out a 'free survey' on the property and
submit a report with their recommendations. Damp surveyors (who are
usually paid on a commission only basis) carry out most of these surveys
and some defects will invariably be found and an estimate for carrying
out the works will be included with your report.
Most of
this work as well as being expensive and disruptive is usually
unnecessary as rising dampness is often assumed to be the problem when
it may in fact be condensation or penetrating damp, due to raised ground
levels etc., and these two problems can usually be remedied at a
fraction of the cost of remedial works. Unfortunately most damp-proofing
surveyors, even Property Care Association (PCA) members, seem to have a
default setting and will recommend chemical damp-proofing and
water-proofing plastering works without considering other more
environmentally friendly options as these ‘specialist’ damp-proofing
works have a much greater profit margin than regular building work. All
our surveys include the taken of plaster samples, at no extra cost, to
determine the true moisture content instead of relying on moisture
meters which are widely used by most damp-proofing companies and result
in the misdiagnosis of rising damp and costly damp-proofing works.
The majority of damp-proofing surveyors are really employed as salesmen
and if you if you have any doubts about this you only have to look at
job vacancies on the Property Care Association website where Timberwise,
the UK’s second largest damp-proofing and timber treatment company, are
advertising for ‘Experienced Preservation Sales Surveyors’. Prospective
surveyors are required to have a sales background and have a passion for
sales and part of their job is to sell the company’s sales and services.
Over 90% of the houses that we survey have had a physical damp-proof
course fitted at the time of construction. This will usually be a
horizontal layer of slate for older houses built in the late 1800s and
early 1900s and for houses built after the 1930s it is often hessian
impregnated with bitumen. These physical damp-proof courses will still
be effective on controlling rising damp and there should never be any
need to install a chemical damp-proof course but the vast majority of
damp surveyors seem to always state ‘ rising dampness caused by the
breakdown or lack of a damp course was found and we recommend chemical
damp-proofing to all ground floor walls’. In reality physical damp-proof
courses rarely fail and even if there has been some cracking of the damp
course it will still be effective in preventing most rising dampness
from the ground. Even if there is no damp-proof course present then
‘rising damp’ can be controlled by ensuring that the take up of moisture
from the ground is less than the evaporation rate from walls by
installing drainage channels etc to remove any moisture reservoir effect
which is a much more effective method of controlling rising damp than
resorting to an injected damp-proof course. We find that most low-level
dampness is ‘induced rising damp’ which has been caused by raised ground
levels or water ponding on hard external grounds, both of which allow
dampness to penetrate into walls which then migrates through brickwork
by capillary action to appear as ‘rising damp’ internally.
Woodworm and fungal infestations are usually treated in the same way and
surveyors will recommend treatments with potentially toxic chemical
preservatives as a precautionary treatment against any possible
infestation by woodworm or wet and dry rot. However it is usual for
beetle and fungal decay to be confined to damp timbers and they are
easily controlled by the removal of the dampness without resorting to
the use of toxic chemicals. Dampness in floor timbers can also be
reduced by the installation of extra air bricks which will improve the
flow of air under timber floors and this will purge excess moisture from
the floor void, the result of this is that timbers will not be damp
enough to sustain any fungal decay or insect infestation and there will
be no justification for chemical woodworm or dry rot treatments.
The works recommended after the 'free survey' can often result in the
buyer seeking a reduction in the price of the property or even
withdrawing their offer.
Instead of waiting for a purchaser
to have a 'free dampness and timber survey' it would be prudent for
anyone selling their property to have your own independent survey
undertaken to find the real extent of any suspected dampness and timber
defects.
We can provide a detailed report on any dampness
and timber infestation issues, which may arise as an obstacle to the
sale of your house.
Our fees for surveying a property and
providing a report range can be found by clicking on the fees page on
the menu, and vary depending on the duration and complexity of the
survey and in approximately 90% of properties surveyed resulted in no
remedial work being required therefore substantial savings compared to
the average cost of damp-proofing and woodworm treatment to a house,
which can easily exceed £4,000.
Usually the work involved
to rectify any dampness or timber decay problems are fairly
straightforward and may just involve reducing external ground levels and
installing extra air bricks and can be carried out by a competent
general builder without the need for any specialist damp-proofing and
timber treatment companies involvement but if required we can also carry
out the works and deduct the survey fee will be deducted from the final
invoice.
As independent damp and timber surveyors we do
not carry out any remedial work but if any damp-proofing or timber
treatments are required then we will provide contact details of local
firms who can carry out these works and offer long term guarantees
issued by Construction Guarantee Services and insured by Guarantee
Protection Insurance (GPI). These are 10 year insured guarantees which
are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Building Societies and other lending institutions accept all our reports
and findings as a certificate of integrity of the house with regard to
dampness and timber defects as a suitable alternative to previously
obligatory damp and timber guarantees.
If you require an
independent survey and assessment of any damp or timber related problems
please phone 0800 028 1903 or contact us by e-mail on
enquiries@ukdamp.co.uk
If you don't need a full damp or timber survey then we can still help
with our 'survey lite' option. Our surveyors can carry out brief but
comprehensive inspections to give you peace of mind from as little as
£275.00. If any work is required this fee is deducted from our final
invoice.
REMEMBER- If you can’t see damp and can’t smell
any damp then there probably isn’t any damp