Misdiagnosis of Damp and the Damage Caused by not Addressing the Causes
SWLBE was appointed to assess a rising damp diagnosis on a building in London. Rising damp had been diagnosed on three separate occasions by 'damp proofing surveyors' between the year 2000 and 2025. On each occasion extensive damp proofing work was carried out to the walls.
None of the three surveyors used the correct methods for diagnosis of damp. They used a protimeter to 'identify' damp then simply sold more wholly unnecessary damp proofing treatment to the homeowner.
As a result of these misdiagnoses moisture remained in the building and over the 25 year period the floor joists and floorboards developed wet rot. Extensive replacement works and timber treatment are now needed and the homeowner is having to pay for tenants to move out as well as this repair work. The actual causes of the damp were a number of very basic errors when the building was refurbished and modernised in the year 2000.
The builders who were engaged to carry out the works in 2020 simply did not execute the work correctly. Selecting builders by price as the primary criteria is frequently the most expensive option a home-owner can take.
In all three free surveys no attempt was made to diagnose the actual cause of the damp.
Total cost of repairing the wet rot is now into the tens of thousands of pounds. The original defects causing the damp still need to be rectified.
This is a protimeter, it measures electrical resistivity on the surface or just below it. It cannot diagnose rising damp nor identify the differences between rising damp, penetrating damp and water ingress through chimneys. It merely indicates areas to be investigated