irish_spread
Private Member
Yes
they are sponsored linkswhy is nearly every sponser on this forum advertising damp proofing.and injecting cream.some 1 got 2 be using them or they would not be there.
you have her ill do her sister 'cold'penetrating damp
I drilled a wall today and the dust from the drilling was very wet not dry, so the moisture was 3" into the mortar bed.
Hello Irish.
Of Hobgoblins I know nothing.
Your point about moisture meters or conductivity meters is one of language. When used in respect of dampness they are commonly referred to as moisture meters since that is their role. They are not calibrated for anything other than timber ( usually). In timber they are accurate. In other materials such as plasterboard, plaster and brick they are useful because they reveal things that cannot always be determined by use of the eye.
In plasterboard they would be useful for finding the wettest area which might be useful in determining the direction from which the moisture comes from. It is the intelligent use of moisture meters that makes them simple and cheap devices for everyday use. They are extremely good at plotting rising damp in wall plaster to the extent that the tide mark, that is the height to which rising damp has risen up a wall can be determined. It is possible to mark these these points with a pencil line to demonstrate the rising damp around a a room or building.
There is no argument about the misuse of them by damp-proof companies but often they simply want to rob the public by dishonesty.
If rising damp does not exist or it cannot be determined with a moisture meter ( or conductivity meter) a rational basis for discussion is to rebut these points with logical argument.
All the evidence supports s the existence of rising damp but it is accepted that dishonest people have used this phenomena to steal money from the public
Hello Irish.
Of Hobgoblins I know nothing.
All the evidence supports s the existence of rising damp but it is accepted that dishonest people have used this phenomena to steal money from the public
Flynnyman
Sorry mate more bullshit.
Regarding proof that rising damp exists. Damp is wetness or moisture generally of an undesirable nature, it must be because this is it says in an on-line dictionary. Rising we are familiar with as something which starts at a lower level and goes upwards in respect of the subject we are discussing. Rising damp or rising dampness by definition is moisture that rises upwards. However, as a side issue in my experience it moves sideways and downwards if the site situation provides unaffected dry plaster to the side or lower down the wall. This is because moisture will move to any dryer place, up, down or sideways.
I find it difficult to believe that if this subject is approached with an open mind, that the existence of rising dampness can be disputed since it falls within the experience of everyone: on the other hand scepticism is a key component of the scientific approach. My disadvantage is that a one-line denial by you requires a chapter of response from me, assuming you refuse to accept what follows.
If you were to suspend a piece of plasterboard carefully in water it will be observed that water rises up the pb above the surface of the water. The same is true for a lump of Carlite Browning. Since this simple experiment demonstrates that moisture rises in a building material it shows that rising damp/dampness exists and is something which we have practical experience of. If you wish to deny the existence of rising dampness a contrary view to this needs to be explained. If you can't be arsed with an experiment you could look on the Safeguard Chemicals web site where a time me lapse camera sequence shows a brick filling with water by water rising from a lower level. This is a visible demonstration of rising dampness - you may of course deny this and claim it is the result of cheating.
The two most prominent rising dampness deniers are the Lewisham council officer shown in the clip in this thread and Jeff Howell of the Sunday Telegraph. I am a fan of both of them for fighting the commercial abuse of damp-proofing companies. Jeff Howell accepts that rising damp in buildings exists but as a rare event. This leaves one prominent absolute denier- the Lewisham officer. In the clip he uses a carbide tester to sample the brick and tells us that 1.5% or some such figure is indicative of a wall without a significant moisture problem. This sort of comment is accurate insofar as it goes but is only part of the story. Some bricks have no ability to hold a significant amount of water such as an engineering bricks, but the mortar or plaster will often soak up up water such that it can be visibly seen.
In the north of England in my experience on interior walls in houses with stone flag floors where there is clearly no opportunity for penetrating dampness coming through exterior walls, rising dampness and the salts associated are or were a frequently seen. The presence of nitrates and chlorides are easily established. In my opinion the probe type moisture meter criticised by both Jeff and the council officer (LCO) were subject to a one-sided commentary. Protimeter in their guidance explicitly state how to use the device which is not in the manner of some surveyors and damp-proof company operators or of the description of usage given by Jeff Howell or the LCO. The Protimeter directs the operator to the highest levels of salt concentration in the plaster it is this, and the manner in which readings rapidly fall way all-away that provide the first clues to the presence of rising dampness. Confirmation is them by way of a salts test.
The carbide meter will suggest a low level of moisture in many bricks because the saturation moisture level of the brick is low i.e. it might be impossible for an engineering brick to hold 1% of its weight in absorbed water, however this does not stop rising damp to track upwards via the mortar and/or the wall plaster.
Interestingly I once helped an householder defend an action for refusing to pay a damp-proof company invoice. I claimed that the damp-proofing did not work. The company had drilled through the skirting board and had not removed any wall-plaster ( there is no exaggeration in this). In their defence they returned to the property asked me to indicate where the rising dampness was worst, they then drilled the bricks and did a few carbide tests in all cases the readings were less than 5% moisture. In the Small Claims court I argued on the basis of a probe type moisture meter indicating the highest levels of moisture and the presence of nitrates and chlorides in the wall plaster in the manner indicative of rising damp. Part of my argument in court was that a hard well baked brick will always show a low level of moisture but dampness was manifest in the wall plaster what was happening in the brick was of no concern to the householder. The registrar found in our favour.
I once surveyed a house where there was evidence of rising damp in a half brick thick wall between a kitchen and living room. The dampness extended about 600 mm up the wall. The kitchen was being fitted out (phase one of a refurb) and I was asked my opinion. I suggested a replacement to the existing dpc by way of chemical injection or the more costly provision of a new plastic one. The kitchen wall was rendered with a sand/cement/admix to one metre high. The client agreed to a dpc injected from the living room side in phase two. Once the kitchen was completed and decorated the client was so impressed with the builder and how dry the room was that they agreed there was no need for a dpc. In phase two the other sdie of the kitchen living wall was similarly rendered up to one metre. I was called back a few months later, it hadn't taken long for the damp in the wall to rise and show above one metre. The reason is clear previously moisture used to rise up the wall and evaporate out into the atmosphere of the room once this route was stopped by I guess an impermeable render, the damp shot up 300 mm in the course of a few months to exit above the new render with a long continuous wet mark to both rooms. Obviously this is a slightly unusual situation but it is an absolute demonstration of water rising up building materials.
steve