Last Tuesday and Wednesday I attended this two day course at PCA HQ in Huntingdon. Whilst I’ve been involved in a few flood repair jobs, I was keen to learn more, especially following the PCA flood remediation CPD I attended the other week, courtesy of The institute of specialist surveyors and engineers.see this post Some […]
Property Care Association Flood Remediation course July 2010
Effect of mortar type on wall tie corrosion

Most surveyors are well aware that black-ash mortar causes wall tie corrosion. However, there are not many opportunities to see this as clearly demonstrated as it is in my video. I was fortunate to be asked to survey a property in Gargrave, North Yorkshire today. The pre-war semi, is constructed in a combination of sand […]
Where do all these damp and timber treatment solutions come from? Can they be relied upon?

It’s all very well specialist damp-proofing contractors making promises, to solve damp problems and eliminate timber infestations. The thing is though, on what facts are these promises based on? To find out, I spent a couple of days at Safeguard Europe’s UK headquarters in Horsham Sussex. I found the semi-industrial unit on a none descript […]
Why are these basement conversions so bad? And, is there anything we can do about it?
Lately I have been looking at quite a few converted basements in and around Leeds. Many are in terraced housing, back-to-backs, and such. Conversions are attractive on these smaller dwellings, especially if the project adds an extra bedroom or two. Add student letting into the equation and there is a real financial benefit in squeezing […]
The Rising Damp myth is….a scandal; like yesterday’s MMR scare.

Rising damp is a myth, some say. Not many really think so; that would be stupid, but those who believe this nonsense seem to have the ear of the press and the ear of RIBA and RICS too. So instead of being drowned out by howls of derision from the those who really know about […]