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WHAT
DO WE DO ?
Aldred
Limited as indicated above, provide our clients
with specialist surveys & architectural drawings. Details of our drawing
services are given later within this web site.
These specialist surveys require qualified knowledge usually outside the
scope of expertise of a general building surveyor.
ARE
WE A CONTRACTOR ?
No
we are an expert surveying and architectural drawing practice only.
WHY
EMPLOY A QUALIFIED INDEPENDENT SPECIALIST SURVEYOR ?
The
client may have been asked to obtain a specialist dampness, timber or wall
tie report, or may have noticed a problem themselves regarding these matters
or require advice on basement design. They may also be in dispute with a
contractor or other surveyor. Aldred
Limited provide specialist investigation of such matters and also
general building defects. We do not sell treatments, we are employed only
to give unbiased qualified expert advice. Our client base includes private
individuals, Housing Associations and Local Authorites. We survey and crucially
have many years experience in doing so, all types of properties, be they
domestic housing stock, commercial buildings, or those of special historic
interest. |
Wet Rot
or
Dry Rot ?
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WHY NOT ASK A DAMP / TIMBER
CONTRACTOR OFFERING A 'FREE' SURVEY ?
Contractors offering ‘free surveys’ have
to sell their treatment on the back of their advice, to make a profit, to
stay in business. In the same way you wouldn’t ask a double glazing
salesman if you needed new windows; asking somebody who is trying
to sell a damp proof course, woodworm spray, or wall ties, whether such
work either actually is necessary, or is truthfully the cause of the problem
is a system open to abuse.
Anyone can call themselves a ‘specialist’ contractor without
any qualifications. The majority of contractors remain unqualified. As such
they can only be insured to undertake actual work but cannot obtain insurance,
or indeed legal credibility to advise, or write reports that clients may
be relying upon when appraising property
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HOW COMMON IS DAMP PROOF COURSE FAILURE?
Although many damp proofing contractors would have
people believe otherwise, it is a fact that failure of an existing damp
proof course is rare.
Only 10% of all damp problems are
to do with rising dampness and these include ancient houses
never built with a damp proof course. This means
90% of unwanted dampness is nothing to do with failure of the damp proof
course and should be the last thing to be considered.
Rising dampness cannot be proven by electrical meters
alone.
Such meters are a useful tool only in helping identify areas
requiring further investigation. Contractors who state otherwise are misleading
their client.
To prove rising dampness would require laboratory
analysis of wall samples.
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Electrical meters cannot,
on their own, prove rising damp.
THIS METER IS SHOWING A HIGH READING SIMPLY BY PLACING A FINGER BETWEEN THE WALL PROBES !
My finger obviously hasn't rising damp yet people spend thousands of pounds on a new damp proof course just from a contractor finding such readings & the contractor guessing for their own profit rising damp is the cause.
In the vast majority of cases analysis of the FACTS, not guesses shows the TRUE reasons are anything but rising damp ! |
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