Damp wally quoted £10,000. No work needed!

An almost pristine house, quoted many thousands by PCA damp wally company - strip all plaster, tank with cement, inject - the lot. It is perfect. Dry as a bone. No damp. A bit of water getting under one floor cuz the ground levels are too high - so we will drop the ground. No gypsum in the house, all lime - all bone dry. Wonderful story about how this old house was rejected by buyers on the basis of bad 'damp surveys' by PCA wallies. My clients took a gamble, bought it, and what a success - it's perfect!!!
www.heritage-house.org
www.heritage-survey.org

[@robertduncanmuir]

I love the palpable, savage disdain for Wally the Damp Man.

[@WarmDryHome]

I hate to see the public conned. Wally damp man is a thoroughly nasty, very well organised, multi million pound fraud. It is perpetrated at many levels by contractors getting kick backs, by the chemical companies, the insurance scams that issue worthless guarantees, and the PCA - their so called 'association' . Dig deep, find the paper trail of gangster Directors, shareholders and companies, and you start to see the size of the fraud that reaches to Board level in organisations like the BBA and Trustmark. It's about a £300 million a year scam, although we have severely curtailed damp wally's activities by educating the public - the power of the internet is helping rid the country of these scum - they hardly exist in other countries - how they got to be so big in this country is beyond me...

[@robertduncanmuir]

Thanks to your video I found a cracked vitrified clay elbow pipe just below the surface on our early Victorian house. I will replace this and avoid vandalising the house.

[@WarmDryHome]

Great story, and very typical. See if yu can get camera down any other drains too. Look at humidity levels in house - 50 to 55% RH at 15 to 20 degrees C. Don't forget - we MUST ventilate old houses - they need airflow, and humans produce a lot of moisture - kitchens bathrooms etc need venting to outside walls.. Drains are probably 90% of problems - but there can be other things like high ground levels, high humidity, gutters etc... Good luck!

[@jamesbarry9147]

im a stonemason in cardiff, your videos are so satisfying to watch haha. love to listen to people who know how old buildings work, theres so much ignorance. ive just had to walk away from a job becasue the client refused to believe that his cement pointing and render (6 months old) was the cause of his damp. customer always knows best, apparently.

[@WarmDryHome]

Thanks James - we do our best - luckily the internet is taking over, and 'the knowledge' is starting to spread - with luck we'll all be out of a job soon..!

[@leeetchells7100]

james barry

[@richardcoles2432]

as usual,a brilliant video,you have saved me so much money Peter...guess what? years ago I nearly called wally damp man lol.... I am slowly doing everything you suggest in these videos & I can honestly say the problems are slowly disappearing... many thanks.

[@WarmDryHome]

Good to hear - we aim to please!! Keep the good God of breathability uppermost in your head, and you won't go too far wrong..

[@richardcoles2432]

Peter Ward thanks for replying Peter.

[@NanoCottage]

Nice house, no wonder it is in such good nick - looks like it was built well in the first place and hasn't been messed around with, everything working in harmony.

[@leeetchells6372]

Peter that down pipe running at 45 degrees on front and rear is a bit shocking on such a lovely old house.

[@GavinParsons]

Great video and backs up what I believe. Old buildings have been so mistreated in the UK. I have subscribed to your channel :-)

[@firsttankcrews]

Wonderful video, looking forward to seeing more of your work. Thank you for posting

[@jaymean44]

Absolutely stunning house!

[@martinwhite2369]

Do you ever post a before and after comparison, showing what the houses look like after your work? I'd love to see that.

[@WarmDryHome]

I do if I can Martin - we do a lot of surveys, and often don't get back to them - but this one is relatively local, and the client is using a builder I know - so hopefully we can do some after vids. Will do my best!

[@saxmanzzz]

Another very informative video - thanks

[@sadiejones2443]

you are a legend

[@GeorgeMcKnight]

I understand you'll have to lower the ground level to below the original vents, but how far back from the building will you have to go? looks like there maybe a fair bit of excavation?

[@ilricettario]

Thanks for such excellent advice, now all have to do is write your book.

[@WarmDryHome]

Working on it!

[@ianroughley1933]

nice vid, lots of info there :) thx

[@bob1905able]

Amazing,you know your stuff peter

[@WarmDryHome]

Thanks! It aint rocket science - we are just up against a massive commercial lobby that wants to make money out of chemicals and misinformation.. Look at cavity insulation - huge industry, now in tatters - and we the taxpayer has funded it with high electric bills because all these energy saving schemes are funded by the energy suppliers - even if they are so badly thought out they fail.. Government run screaming for the hills...

[@Scotsman19]

take it the 4 dislikes are wally damp proofers

[@WarmDryHome]

Oh yes - moronic individuals who would rather carry on trying to sell fraudulent treatments than actuallly learning and understanding what is going on - and making an honest living doing lime plastering, and fixing genuine building issues with the right materials.

[@whitacrebespoke]

This really does make me chuckle I see so many problems just like this. Just cured the cottage next door its had rising damp since the 1970s when a big extension was done. Turns out my inlaws had not stripped the plaster back when they changed the wooden floor for concrete and trapped the lime plaster( that was over skimmed with gypsum in the 50s) below the concrete. In the following 40 years no end of idiots have looked at it and done work injecting damp courses etc all to no benefit. I'm new to your videos but loving them as a carpenter timber frames are one of my favourite things to work on when I'm not working on gates doors and windows the more traditional the better.

[@WarmDryHome]

Good to see folks getting the message and doing things properly. Nice to get positive feedback and success stories...

[@andrewsmall6568]

Do those siphon things not act in the same way as air-bricks? i.e. increase the airflow

[@Armstrongifyable]

Great video as always, such a well built house to last! Started watching your channel a few weeks ago.) How will the lowered ground look like? Is it going to be a trench 1m wide around the house, or a gradual slope a few meters from the house? I can imagine it on the lawn, taking off a bit of ground and slope it lower towards the house. But the driveway needs to be a bit flat for the car doesn't it, and it's narrow there.. Thanks, just curious, would be nice to see another sequel to this video once the house is done by you.) to show how it should be done.

[@WarmDryHome]

Thanks - the client has a landscaping contractor in at the moment, and I think the idea is to cut and retain a trench down the drive, with the rest being scraped away from the house. They need to slope ground away from the house, and put in some decent yard drains that take water away..

[@jcdenton23]

Peter Ward will French drains do the job?

[@mmack3286]

Any heating?

[@terrypavey2346]

Peter -thanks for all the advice you give. May I just ask about the hygrometer you use, and whether it is affordable or if its best to hire

[@WarmDryHome]

You can get them for about £25 on amazon - link on the condensation control page of our site - www.heritage-house.org - ours are the Vaisala - cost about £1000 - ideally, just measure RH, Temp and Absolute - if you need help let me know - [e-mail]

[@thebasifamily688]

Hello Peter, Really great video and a gorgeous house. I've just bought an old Victorian house which had what seemed like damp in a corners (front and rear). So when I called in the 'specialists' they told me that to remedy the damp it would cost in excess of £2000. So I thought I'll have a look outside and at the front of the house a drain pipe was clogged and then I went around the vents and cleared them too. Hey presto the 'damp' stopped. Watching your video today I noted that the air vents are in the same condition as mine. It does seem that the air vents would take in water if it rained. So I have three questions: 1. How far below the air-vents should I dig my trench? 2. How wide should my perimeter trench be? 3. Can I fill in the trench with pea shingle to help the drainage? Thank you so much for the really informative and money saving videos.

[@WarmDryHome]

Ideally your ground levels need to be 6" below the bottom of the floor joists - the vents will probably be about at the level of the joists. Ground should slope away from the wall. I'm not that keen on french drains - they tend to concentrate water in a trench, and can make life harder, rather than easier. Certainly if the ground is soil rather than concrete helps, as it is then able to dry out.

[@milooshea869]

peter, will you show us some videos after the ground has been lowered?

[@WarmDryHome]

Maybe - just depends on whether clients are able - landscaping contractor is over there shortly, so hope that we will be able to follow up - I don't always, as we often do surveys at other end of country, but this is local.

[@MrDjRayner]

Hi Peter, Is the Dryzone DPC cream any good? or is it just another gimmick?

[@WarmDryHome]

Just another total con. Diagnose the real reason for any problems, and let the place dry out - creams are tosh - they don't even treat the symptoms - they just cost silly money and do nothing.

[@andrewwheeldon3957]

I wonder if you could answer a question please Peter. I have removed the paint from the outside gable-end of our house and had it re-pointed (12 months ago) but some of the bricks are still damp looking, there is a definite pattern low down and where the chimneys are. The missus says it will take time for these bricks to fully dry out and i suppose it will do but my question is this: Do the chimneys need 'sweeping' to eradicate saltation ? The house ran on coal for over a hundred years. The salt from the burning of the coal attaches itself to the interior of the chimneys and attracts moisture leading to wet bricks, if the salt remains the moisture will continue to be attracted and the problem continues. Am i right? We need to get rid of the salt?

[@WarmDryHome]

Absolutely right - the only way you can really deal with this is to scrub chimneys down internally on a regular basis - so get them swept at least once a year, even if you think not needed. Externally, rake out as deep as you can, (NO ANGLE GRINDERS - they irreparably damage the bricks) and repoint using a lime mortar - NOT cement. This actually gets rid of a lot of the salts, as most are concentrated in the mortar - being more breathable. Internally, remove any gypsum or cement - and again, either rake out and repoint in lime, or re-plaster with lime. We now tend to use hot lime mixes rather than hydraulic (not hydrated builders lime) as hydraulic is not proving to be as breathable as we would have hoped.

[@andrewwheeldon3957]

Thank you for your reply.

[@gaidaerlano205]

Dear Peter. I would like to use your services. Any chance of heading over Wells, Somerset way? Or recommending somebody you know. I am a first time home buyer and did everything by the book and got a builders survey done before buying the property. It is now evident that the surveyor did nothing but describe what a wally can see.

[@WarmDryHome]

If you email our office - [e-mail] and let Sarah know you come via youtube, we'll see what we can do - need to compare the survey with the house, and see whether they are liable for negligence, having missed critical things that affect the value of the property.

[@Bananasifyful]

Could you recomend a book on renovation/ old building techniques?

[@WarmDryHome]

Well there's the Haynes manual that's pretty good - think there's a link on the Heritage-House.org website - or you can wait till I finally get around to writing the definitive book!!

[@DougEDoug-om8ie]

Peter Ward looking forward to your book Peter!

[@WarmDryHome]

Well we are collecting case histories... quite a bit of the stuff in the Haynes Manual is my work - the author is very good - Ian Rock - did a great job.

[@paulroberts1450]

I recently purchase a Victorian house which has had the suspended floors filled which has course damp at bottom of walls. I would like to install a beam and block flooring is this a good or bab idea?

[@WarmDryHome]

Expensive - you might be better doing a solid, but limecrete floor - which will solve all your problems of breathability - have a look for Ty Mawr limecrete floors on the internet - brilliant, and we use them all the time.

[@tizmescottyuk]

Hi, Peter When you say lower ground level, would this be done by making a trough around perimeter ? With a land drain back filled with gravel? Excellent videos keep them coming

[@WarmDryHome]

PArtly - some areas just scrape it back to 150mm below floors inside - at the side, we'll cut a trench to hold the driveway back, and retain it ..

[@Towerwatson525]

Hello Peter , love the vids, I have an old circa 1780 farm house, some parts still have the original horse hair plaster and features including ship timber roof joists, but unfortunately at some time in the past downstairs walls have been had a concreted like substance over them. What is happening is that in peak due point months typically spring and autumn, the coldest part of the wall is atracking the moisture and leaving what most would think is rising damp marks and white effervescent marks. It original was worse at the corner of the living room joining the conservatory facing wall that actually had run marks from the moisture and stains on the underlay as if a cat had urinated there. I placed some wire-wool insulation on the conservatory side of the wall and the problem vanished, presumably as i had increased the temp of the wall there? I understand what is happening and minimise human condensation via ventilation and extractors, however, it still appears in spring/autumn peak due point variation times, especially, if say airflow is restricted behind a settee/radiator. Is there any way, save boarding these walls that i can stop this vicious circle? Indeed would boarding the walls just send the moisture to the next coldest wall? Many thanks

[@WarmDryHome]

The 'behind settee' bit is the key - If air is moist enough in still areas like that, you have too much in the air to start with. And wall temps too low. Need to aim to keep heating on constantly, but at low temp - keep building fabric at 15 degrees C - or above - then no condensation / mould can form. Also humidity must be below 55% rh at 15 to 20 degrees C.. Ventilation should be humidity controlled, need to speak to Ray Hudson at RHL really - describe house and environment and see what he says - mention us, and he should help. Insulation is the worst thing you can do - stops heat getting to wall, reduces wall temp = increased interstitial condensation = more moisture in wall = you become damp wally's best friend.

[@Towerwatson525]

Thank you for your reply Peter. That room employs a wood burner that runs most winter nights, so could well be difficult to restrict temp to just 15 degrees C. The wall that is most effected is an internal wall and not an outer facing wall. However below that wall is an old now filled in basement . I have a humidity sensor and although it is hard to get the old house to the constant 55%, it is not abhorrently moist, on average 60-65 save when wood-burner is running ,that naturally lowers it! All windows are opened daily and powerful extractors in bathroom and kitchen. The natural airflow of the house seems to take all the moist air into that room, and even before we had a wood burner installed the open fire place did not ventilate that room sufficiently to stop these condensations issues. When i investigated the walls in that room i took off the render. Obviously it was bone dry under the stain marks and i noticed at some stage 'wally' had drilled his holes along the bottom with the usual misdiagnosis of 'rising damp'. How on earth he could convince someone that 'rising damp' only strikes in Autumn and spring is beyond me. I think i need to reinforce my efforts on more ventilation in that room-or moreover,increasing the temp of the wall. Is the damp looking stains and patches and the white effervescent consistent with airborne moisture hitting cold walls as i diagnosed??

[@WarmDryHome]

Pretty much spot on - an dont forget salts will be there as a relic of many many years of deterioration - so you may have sorted the problem but still see symptoms of older issues. You're on exactly the right track though!

[@Scotsman19]

Hi, Peter. Just bought an old house built 1906, mixture of sandstone and imperial brick. We bought the house with 10k retention on the mortgage and it's due to the surveyor stating there is rising damp and woodworm. I've been watching your videos on here and I believe there's a bit of foul play going on. Damp companies have been in and quoted 10k, 7K and 6K through the estate agents. Looking for some advice

[@WarmDryHome]

If you email [e-mail] I'll do what I can - you are being conned - both by the damp wallys and by the fraudulent and incompetent surveyor that did the mortgage survey - usually Countrywide, E Surv, or similar. They are all in bed with the damp industry getting kick backs from selling useless chemicals. You won't have either rising damp or woodworm - beetle never needs chemicals - just dry it out - and rising damp doesnt exist - it is a coverall term for what is usually condensation within the brickwork, trapped by inappropriate materials. Obviously thats assuming there are no leaky gutters, downpipes, water pipes, high ground levels etc... And lack of ventilation... and so on...

[@KevinAmatt]

One solution would be periscope vents instead of lowering the ground

[@WarmDryHome]

Could do - but then the ground is still high, and penetrating damp can affect the joist ends.. it's always best to lower ground..

[@leeetchells7100]

Kevin Amatt periscope vents are not really suitable for 9 inch solid walls as there is no cavity to accommodate the duct.