Advice centre
Understanding the problem usually saves money. These articles explain what the evidence can and cannot establish, what the common mechanisms actually are, and where an inspection is genuinely needed — written by our own surveyors rather than assembled from elsewhere.
Start with the question you are asking. Each article links through to the investigation or the work that follows from it, so you can see what a real answer would involve.
Start here
The questions we are asked most often
How to identify different forms of damp
Rising damp, penetrating damp and condensation, and how the evidence differs between them.
What moisture meter readings can and cannot establish
Why a high reading is a reason to investigate rather than a diagnosis.
When damp-proofing treatment may be unnecessary
The cases where damp-proofing treatment is not the right answer at all.
What happens during a damp inspection
What the surveyor does, in what order, and what you receive afterwards.
How to reduce condensation
Practical steps that reduce condensation in an occupied home.
What to do when a property has damp concerns
How to turn "further investigation recommended" into a costed plan you can act on.
Diagnosis
How to identify different forms of damp
Damp is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Learning to read the pattern helps narrow the likely cause before anyone lifts a meter.
Read article →DiagnosisCondensation versus rising damp
These two are regularly confused, yet they behave very differently and need entirely different remedies.
Read article →DiagnosisWhat moisture meter readings can and cannot establish
A reading is a data point, not a diagnosis. Understanding the limits avoids unnecessary work.
Read article →DiagnosisSigns of rising damp, and what else they could be
The classic indicators, and the far more common problems that produce exactly the same appearance.
Read article →DiagnosisDamp at floor and wall junctions
The wall-to-floor junction is where several different mechanisms meet, which is why damp there is so often misdiagnosed.
Read article →Damp proofing
When a damp-proof course may be appropriate
A chemical damp-proof course has a genuine role, but only where rising damp is properly evidenced.
Read article →Damp proofingWhen damp-proofing treatment may be unnecessary
Several common situations look like rising damp but are resolved by simple building repairs.
Read article →Building defects
How defective gutters affect walls
Overflowing rainwater goods are one of the most common causes of internal damp patches.
Read article →Building defectsHow high external ground levels can contribute to damp
Where paving or soil sits above internal floor level, moisture has an easy route into the wall.
Read article →Building defectsWhy damp gets worse after heavy rain
Damp that follows the weather is telling you something useful. Here is how to read it, and what to look for.
Read article →Building defectsWhy chimney breasts get damp
Chimneys collect water from above, hold salts from decades of use and often lose their ventilation. All three show on the breast.
Read article →Timber
Why air bricks and subfloor airflow matter
Suspended timber floors depend on air moving freely beneath them. Blocking vents creates decay risk.
Read article →TimberCommon causes of wet rot
Wet rot follows water. Find the water and the decay stops progressing.
Read article →TimberIdentifying possible woodworm activity
Old holes are common in older properties. Distinguishing active attack from historic damage matters.
Read article →TimberDry rot versus wet rot
Two very different problems with similar names. The difference changes the investigation, the extent and the cost.
Read article →Reports and surveys
Understanding damp comments in a surveyor's report
Why survey wording about damp is so cautious, what it does and does not establish, and what to do with it.
Read article →Reports and surveysWhat to do when a property has damp concerns
A practical order of work when damp has been raised on a property you own or manage, from first look to a costed plan.
Read article →Reports and surveysWhen to get a specialist damp survey
The situations where a specialist inspection earns its fee, and the ones where it genuinely is not needed yet.
Read article →Our process
Airflow
Relative humidity and dew point explained
Two numbers decide whether your walls get wet. Neither of them means much without the other.
Read article →AirflowThermal bridging and cold spots explained
Mould in a corner, above a window or behind a wardrobe is usually a temperature problem wearing a moisture costume.
Read article →AirflowExtract ventilation and PIV: what each one does
Two common answers to a humid house, what each actually achieves, and when neither is the real fix.
Read article →Browse by subject
What each section covers
Damp and diagnosis
Telling the mechanisms apart: rising damp, penetrating damp, condensation, salts, leaks and bridging — and what the readings really show.
Condensation and mould
Humidity, dew point, cold surfaces, thermal bridging, airflow and why cleaning mould off a wall does not keep it away.
Reports and surveys
Building and condition survey comments, specialist damp assessments and what to establish before spending anything.
Timber
Dry rot, wet rot, woodworm, subfloor airflow and the moisture conditions that decide whether timber is at risk.
Below-ground damp protection
Why walls become wet at and just below ground level, what a localised application can and cannot do, and where a designed waterproofing system is the specialist's job rather than ours.
Repairs and reinstatement
Plaster, drying times, decoration and what to expect while remedial works are under way.
Next step
Not sure which inspection you need? Start with a few questions.
Tell us what you are seeing and we will set out what is likely, what is uncertain and which inspection would answer the question. Speak to us on 0333 335 6152 if you would rather talk it through.