Mould

Preservation expert Damp diagnosis presentation at LHL Group’s York headquarters

It was off to the Chocolate Works in York last Wednesday. LHL director and building surveyor Matthew Ward invited me along to talk to the surveying team about damp diagnosis. This is part of LHL’s commitment to continuing professional development, designed to keep the surveying team on a constant learning curve. LHL Group’s York office […]

Damp. The (very), basic guide. Part 1

As a damp specialist I get asked about damp all the time.  So this post is the start of a short series of plain English articles for ‘normal’ people – not surveyors or other property professionals. To keep things simple, we need to think first about how to limit ourselves to damp which we all […]

Surveyors! Do you fancy taking part in a national study on condensation?

The Property Care Association and Graham Colman of Remedial technical services have some interesting research in progress. This is a study of the vapour pressure differentials inside randomly chosen homes around the UK, compared to external measurements. Condensation problems are common and seem to be growing. Those of us involved in condensation and mould control […]

Internal vertical DPM’s used in existing buildings to keep out damp; ventilate behind or not?

Using some form of vertical barrier to hide damp has been around for a long time.  Many walls in old schools and churches still retain the dado rails and match boarded linings at their base. Recently, dimpled profile membranes, made by Newton, Delta, Oldroyd and Platon have really expanded into this market. The method involves […]

Electrical Moisture meters in building surveys; unnecessary? or Essential?

Every surveyor I’ve ever met owns an electrical moisture meter. It makes me think; what did surveyors do before these arrived? The short answer is that they used their eyes. Were their survey reports wrong as a result?  I doubt it. So what is the point of these expensive and maligned gadgets? To answer this […]

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.