Damp Proofing in London Save Thousands of Pounds

After 30 years in the Damp Proofing and Timber treatment industry I have learnt from the vast array of different companies offering Damp Proofing remedies in London.

If you Google "Damp Proofing London" thousands of search results become visible. These range from National Trading companies such as Peter Cox, Timberwise, Rentokil and Kenwood Plc to one man teams operating from a van with a diverted mobile phone.

Who do you select?

Essentially, unless you pay around £600.00 + VAT for one of our University educated Surveyors to undertake the Dampness Survey the service from a large company may be similar technically to a smaller operation. In general none of the purported Surveyors have any realistic qualifications, some have trade qualifications such as CSRT or similar. These "qualifications" are obtained from short course study typically 1-3 days in duration and cost approximately £300.00. Basically worthless.

These qualification at best confuse the public into the miscomprehension they are dealing with a qualified surveyor, but in reality its a salesman trying to gain business for his employer. Nothing happens in the UK until someone sells a product or service, so this practice cannot really be criticised. The Nationals would have you believe their Surveyors are far superior than alternatives, but upon investigation the truth is no one excluding Graduate or RICS Chartered Surveyors are any more qualified than others.   

In our experience we find condensation is commonly dragonised as Rising Damp on a daily basis, the surprising element is this is actually negligence and lack of education rather than blatantly trying to extort monies. The reason for this is elementary, most Damp Proofing companies offer a free Survey or charge a nominal fee to cover travel and parking (which is wholly understandable).

However, what are you expecting from a Free Survey?

As explained most Damp Surveyors have no qualifications at all, many being former tradesman, all are trained by their employers to use an Electronic Damp Meter as a tool to determine if any Dampness exists in the wall and the Survey takes on average 15 minutes. To undertake a Professional Damp Survey it would take around three hours to conduct, measurements and observations using Hygrometers, sophisticated moisture analysis of the mortar beds and substrate by extracting samples for chemical determinations. Sub floor inspections using a CCTV cameras, air flow calculations considering volume and air vent size. Wall profiling using thermal imaging cameras. Unless these elements are examined and determined the results will almost certainly be incorrect and misdiagnosed. But a professional Surveyor charges a professional fee and our technical experts charge £600.00 + VAT per Survey. You pay for a quality service not an opinion.

In general the public opt for a free Survey and decide on price of service and presentation rather than accurate content. This is the reason we hear so many complaints of companies providing a service to find a year later the problem is still present. The reality is the treatment was never needed and the Damp Surveyor misdiagnosed condensation as Rising Damp because of ignorance and lack of technical understanding. Electronic Damp meters are not fit for purpose and only record the conductivity of the backing plaster which has no relevance whatsoever to the moisture content in the wall itself.

To conclude you can take your chances with the local damp Surveyor or request a Professional. If you select the former you could pay £5000.00 for a Service not or never needed, the later will only cost you £600.00 + VAT. A saving of over £4000.00 and without the mess and redecoration. More importantly the underlying problem will reoccur and eventually you will need a Professional.