Archives for 2011

What the hell do these moisture meter readings actually mean? or, Have I got rising damp or not?

  Electrical Moisture meters for damp diagnosis – oh yes. A thing that raises an eyebrow amongst some independent surveyors is the way we so called ‘specialists’ seem happy to diagnose rising damp, or damp of any kind, using nothing more than our eyes and a conductivity moisture meter. “Ha; I can get a reading […]

Wet rot and X-ray vision, with wall tie corrosion thrown in too.

If want to know what we scurrilous damp, timber and wall tie specialists do all day, here’s a snapshot of a typical day in and around Leeds (apart from the tyre puncture, which meant one survey was dropped; I’d usually do at least four). I’ve chosen this day because it has a nice bit of […]

The Electrical moisture meter and salts – the pariahs of the damp surveyor?

The following is a guest post by Graham Coleman 0f Remedial Technical Services. Graham is a leading expert in the science of damp and timber preservation see about Graham I’m delighted to host this article – enjoy.   When one starts to trawl through articles and the Internet, it becomes very clear that to some, […]

Rubbing salt into the wounds

The following is a short article extracted from The RICS journal. I have only made it available on my blog for discussion by the linkedin damp diagnosis group members, following a request by our moderator Phil (we’ll be sharing a cell together if I get into trouble for it;) I will read it properly over […]

Why Yorkshire’s new houses and flats get damp and mouldy

  Modern buildings are often poorly ventilated and tenants end up complaining about damp and mould. It’s a real problem for Yorkshire’s landlords and homeowners, who can’t be expected to know how important ventilation is; it isn’t written on the door when they arrive. Most of my ‘damp’ surveys are the result of mould growth, […]

Copyright © 2010 Preservation Expert. Legal Stuff: All the advice and information in the posts on my blog is made in good faith and is based on my experience and knowledge at the time of writing. However, nobody is infallible and whilst I’m confident that most of what I write about preservation issues is accurate, there’s a good chance there’ll be an error or two somewhere. I do change my mind about stuff, as I gain more experience. In view of this you must make your own decisions on whether to follow any advice I write and think about this; I could be wrong. No responsibility will be accepted by the author for any losses anyone may suffer as a result of any mistake or for the consequence of any action you take as a result of reading this blog. If you do suffer a loss, resulting from anything I’ve written, a verbal heartfelt apology will be your only compensation.