Damp proofing in Maidstone? Get an independent survey first

Why the survey comes before damp proofing in Maidstone

Damp proofing is the answer to one specific fault, a missing or failed damp proof course, and that fault is far rarer in Maidstone than the quotes suggest. Before anyone drills a wall, somebody with nothing to sell should establish why it is wet. That is the whole of what we do. We carry out no treatment, so the survey is not a route to a sale.

The quotes we see most often in Maidstone are chemical injection and waterproof replastering on a ragstone or stock brick wall that is wet from a cement repoint, a raised path, or a gutter running down one corner. The injection does nothing about any of those. The sand and cement replaster then seals the inside face, the wall keeps taking water in and can only dry towards the room, and the damp reappears above the new plaster line a year or two later.

A short guide to damp proofing methods

Chemical injection puts a water repellent barrier into the base of a wall. Electro osmotic and other proprietary systems make similar claims by different means. Membranes and tanking hold or drain water on below ground walls. Breathable or salt resistant plasters deal with what years of damp leave behind. They are tools, and the skill is in knowing which, if any, the wall needs.

Old Maidstone walls built in Kentish ragstone or soft brick were never meant to be sealed. They take a little water and lose it again, and many damp problems in them start the day somebody stopped them losing it. The right damp proofing for such a wall is often the work that lets it breathe again.

Maidstone walls, and what they actually need

A Maidstone ragstone wall wants lime: lime pointing outside, lime plaster inside, and the ground kept below the floor line so it can breathe. A Victorian terrace wants its original slate damp proof course uncovered, its gutters running and its airbricks open. A 1960s house usually wants better ventilation more than anything sold as damp proofing.

The Medway runs through the middle of the town, joined by the Len from the east and the Loose stream from the south, and the ground falls steeply to all three. Riverside streets and anything built on the old wharves sit low, with cellars and solid floors close to the water table. The higher ground at Penenden Heath, Shepway and Park Wood drains quickly, which moves the problem to surface water running at the uphill side of a house. The ragstone beds that gave the town its building stone lie close under much of the south side, and clays appear on the lower slopes.

• Raking out cement pointing on ragstone and repointing in lime, where the cement is trapping water
• Lowering yards, paths and flower beds to at least two brick courses below the damp proof course
• Clearing gutters, hoppers and downpipes, especially on the steep streets above the river
• Lime or breathable plaster on solid walls, never cement based tanking above ground

The signs of a damp proofing job worth paying for

• The contractor can tell you the cause in a sentence and show you the evidence
• The quote mentions what is happening outside the Maidstone house, not only inside
• Plaster removal is limited to where salts actually are, with a height that matches the readings
• Materials are named and suit the wall, rather than a standard system applied to every house
• The guarantee is insurance backed or otherwise protected, and states exactly what it covers
• Nobody pressed you to sign on the day

Questions to put to anyone quoting

• Why is this wall wet, and what is the evidence?
• Have you checked the ground level, gutters and pointing outside, and what did you find?
• Would the damp stop if those were fixed, and how do you know it would not?
• Why this height of replastering, and why this material?
• What exactly does the guarantee cover if the damp comes back in this Maidstone house?
• Can I have the survey in writing before I decide?

When a damp proof course is the right answer

Genuine rising damp exists, and when the survey finds it the report specifies the remedy plainly. The test is not a meter reading but a pattern: damp highest at the base of the wall, falling with height, present on walls with no external fault, and present in summer as well as winter. In Maidstone we find that pattern on a minority of the walls we are asked about.

Our survey fees are published on the prices page and fixed before we visit. Set against a damp proofing job on a Maidstone house, which typically runs to several times that once plaster removal and making good are included, the survey is small. When it shows that a wall needs a gutter repair rather than an injected course, it pays for itself several times over.

A Maidstone mortgage valuation or homebuyer report will often note "damp readings" on a ragstone or solid brick wall and recommend a specialist. That specialist is usually a treatment firm offering a free survey. An independent survey before exchange tells you whether the readings mean anything, what the real cause is, and roughly what fixing it involves, which is what you need to negotiate on price or walk away.

What you do with the report is up to you. Most people fix the outside faults first, which are usually the cheapest, and give the wall a season to dry. Some take the specification to two or three Maidstone contractors. Some send it back to the firm that quoted, which often changes the quote.

For the full picture of what a survey here involves, see damp surveys in Maidstone.

Around Maidstone

Town centre and the riverside

Georgian and Victorian buildings over shops, converted warehouses and flats close to the Medway. Cellars are common, and so are flats above shops where a defective parapet gutter feeds water down a party wall two floors before it shows.

Bearsted and Thurnham

Older village cottages around the green, larger inter war and post war houses beyond. The period houses have solid walls and suspended timber floors, and the most common faults are blocked airbricks and garden beds built up against the walls.

Loose, Coxheath and the south

Ragstone cottages along the Loose valley, many listed, and twentieth century housing up on the ridge. Down in the valley the stream and the springs keep the ground wet, and lime based repairs matter far more than any injection.

Damp proofing questions in Maidstone

Nearby

• Damp proofing in Aylesford
• Damp proofing in East Malling
• Damp proofing in Kings Hill
• Damp proofing in Chatham

Book a survey before you pay for damp proofing

Holding a damp proofing quote? Book a survey and we will tell you whether it matches what is actually wrong with your Maidstone home.

Book a Survey or call 07386 225526