Damp surveys and treatment for UK houses and flats

About Damp Specialist

Survey before a product is sold

Damp Specialist surveys and treats moisture in UK houses and flats: rising damp, penetrating damp, condensation, wet basements, mould fed by those defects, and the timber that has stayed wet. The first visit names the cause. Treatment is specified only for that cause. A chemical damp proof course is not the default, and anti-mould paint is not a repair.

The damp type is named from readings, not from a product list
Solid walls, cavity walls, cellars and wet timber on one survey
A written quote for the work the survey actually finds

Learn more

Our Services

Damp surveys and the repairs that follow them

Expert Damp Surveys & Diagnosis

Advanced moisture investigations that find the source before any treatment is specified.

Learn more

Rising Damp Specialist Treatment

Targeted treatment where groundwater is travelling up through masonry.

Learn more

Penetrating Damp Solutions

Rainwater getting through roofs, walls, pointing, and failed details.

Learn more

Condensation Management Systems

Humidity, cold surfaces and poor air change, treated as a building problem.

Learn more

Structural Drying Services

Controlled drying after leaks, floods, or a damp treatment that has left the fabric wet.

Learn more

Mould Investigation & Remediation

Find the moisture that is feeding the mould, then clean and treat the growth.

Learn more

Basement & Cellar Waterproofing

Below-ground rooms kept dry with a system matched to water pressure and use.

Learn more

Timber Preservation & Treatment

Wet rot and insect risk in timbers that have been kept damp.

Learn more

Chemical Damp Proof Course

A drilled damp proof course where rising damp has been confirmed in the wall.

Learn more

Salt-Resistant Replastering

Replaster after damp treatment so hygroscopic salts do not spoil the new finish.

Learn more

Cavity Wall Damp

Damp from bridged cavities, failed wall ties, or soaked insulation.

Learn more

Positive Input Ventilation

A loft or hallway unit that dilutes humid air when condensation is the diagnosis.

Learn more

Work Process

How a damp visit runs

1

Investigate first

We map the stain, take moisture readings, check salts where plaster has blown, and look outside at ground levels, gutters, pointing and the damp proof course line. The damp type is written down before any treatment.

2

Treat the path that is wet

Rising damp, rainwater, condensation, a bridged cavity or a wet cellar each get the repair that closes that path. A damp proof course is used only where groundwater is the cause.

3

Leave a record and a drying time

You get a treatment record and the guarantee that applies to the system installed. Plaster and paint wait until the readings say the wall is ready. Decorating a wet wall brings the mark back.

Reviews

Damp Specialist UK – Trusted by Property Professionals

485 Google reviews

"Exceptional specialist service that solved our complex moisture problems! The surveyor used advanced technology to identify issues other companies missed. The specialist treatment has been completely effective - outstanding professional expertise."

Christopher R.

★★★★★

"Amazing specialist diagnosis! They used thermal imaging to pinpoint exactly where moisture was entering our period property. The specialist treatment was completed perfectly and has completely eliminated our damp problems."

Victoria S.

★★★★★

"Such thorough specialist investigation! Not only did they solve our basement moisture issues, but they provided detailed technical explanations and ongoing specialist advice. The level of expertise was remarkable."

Jonathan M.

★★★★★

Read all reviews

FAQ

Damp questions

Ask about the damp you can see. We reply with the next practical step.

Contact us

Rising damp is groundwater in the masonry, usually with a tide mark and salts low on the wall. Penetrating damp is rainwater, often worse after wet weather and at any height, including ceilings and chimney breasts. Condensation is moist room air on a cold surface: streamed windows, mould in corners and behind furniture, worse in winter. A metre on the surface alone does not separate them. The survey uses readings, salts and the outside of the building.

The survey covers the wet rooms and the outside walls that serve them: moisture readings, a note of salts where plaster has failed, ground levels, gutters, pointing and the damp proof course line. Thermal imaging is used when the stain does not explain itself. You get a written damp type and what should happen next. It is a damp survey for treatment, not a valuation and not a full building survey.

The written quote moves with the length and thickness of wall, how much salt-damaged plaster has to come off, access and scaffolding, whether a cavity is bridged, how many wet rooms need extract, and whether a cellar has to be kept habitable. A survey of a flat is not priced like a cellar conversion. We do not publish a single package price because the damp type changes the work.

Wiping mould, running a bathroom extract and stopping clothes being dried in a sealed room can control condensation. Shop injection cream, tanking paint and waterproof emulsion do not stop rising damp or rain coming through failed pointing. If the damp type is uncertain, treat the diagnosis as the professional job. The wrong product leaves the wall wet and the new plaster fails.

After a damp proof course or a leak, masonry dries slowly. New salt-resistant plaster and paint wait for moisture readings, often months on a thick solid wall, sooner on a lightly wetted surface. Painting or skim-coating early traps moisture and the mark returns. The treatment record says when decoration is reasonable.

No, if the wall is still being wetted. Damp paint and anti-mould spray hide a stain or kill surface growth for a short time. They do not close a gutter, a bridged cavity, a missing extract or groundwater in the brick. Use them only after the source has been stopped and the wall is dry.

No. A low mark can be a path, a patio or render bridging the damp proof course, a leaking radiator pipe, or plaster that is holding old salts. Rising damp is confirmed when the readings and salts fit groundwater and the other paths have been ruled out. We do not inject a wall on the strength of a tide mark alone.

The damp proof course is a line in the wall that should sit above outside ground level. Soil, a new patio, render, a ramp or debris in a cavity can connect wet ground to the brick above that line. The stain looks like rising damp. The repair is often to lower the ground or clear the bridge, not to inject a second course.

A wet patch under a bathroom, beside a radiator, or that appears overnight from a sound ceiling is often a plumbing leak. We will say so. Stopping the pipe is plumber's work. We dry the masonry and replace failed plaster once the leak has been stopped. Structural drying does not include the pipe repair.

Where we install a treatment, the guarantee is the one written for that system, up to 30 years for installations that carry that term. It covers the system we fitted. It does not cover decoration, a gutter you still need to clear, a new patio that bridges the wall later, or a leak that started after we left.

Quote

Book a damp survey

Surveys for houses, flats, landlords and buyers
Treatment guarantees up to 30 years on the system we install
485 Google reviews from the work already completed

Send us a message

Who we help

Buildings we are asked to look at

Solid brick and stone walls

Cavity walls with rain stains

Basements and cellars

Flats with winter mould

Walls after a leak or flood

Period plaster with salts

Homebuyer reports that mention damp

Landlord damp and mould repairs

Tell us the construction if you know it. A solid wall with a tide mark, a cavity wall that stains after rain, and a flat with mould behind the wardrobe are not the same job, and the quote says which one we are pricing.

Damp Specialist Service

Survey before a product is sold