Rising damp...

[AZZIK]

Have any of you guys done a kitchen extension? If there are now signs of rising damp, would I be covered under a guarantee? The builders provided a 12 month guarantee for workmanship, but isn't damp-coursing covered for longer? Any advice appreciated...

[Halo Jones]

As to if you are coved will depend on what has casued the damp, if you can prove that it is down to poor building quality you may have a chance, who is the gurantee with? if it is with the builder you have to get them to agree it's thier fault (good luck).

[stillooking]

Have any of you guys done a kitchen extension? If there are now signs of rising damp, would I be covered under a guarantee? The builders provided a 12 month guarantee for workmanship, but isn't damp-coursing covered for longer? Any advice appreciated...

When was it built?

[AZZIK]

When was it built?

Just 2 years ago. It is an newly created internal wall, but he says he has had a word with council planners bla bla and says it is water from your ground etc. But this wall was created by the builders.

[DimPrawn]

Oh the joy of British builders and their world class standards of service.

Reminds me of my wonderful, mostly useless ensuite bathroom they added.

Particularly the Polish guys they subcontracted the work to, who used all the wrong pipes, fittings and made the building regs inspector spit his coffee when he took a peek.

[stillooking]

Just 2 years ago. It is an newly created internal wall, but he says he has had a word with council planners bla bla and says it is water from your ground etc. But this wall was created by the builders.

There could be a simple answer to this problem, but quite a few reasons as to why/how it's occurred. Could be excessive ground water, but strong chance it's nothing to do with that. Without pointing the obvious out it sounds like you might be in for a bit of a challenge with the bldrs. So..

For expediency, if you're not a handy DIY 'er, get somebody who has some knowledge so that you can pursue it further.

One last thing, can you get under the floor to examine or is it a solid concrete floor?

There are different routes to claim redress, but can't suggest anything further until the problem is examined in detail.

[BrilloPad]

Oh the joy of British builders and their world class standards of service.

Reminds me of my wonderful, mostly useless ensuite bathroom they added.

Particularly the Polish guys they subcontracted the work to, who used all the wrong pipes, fittings and made the building regs inspector spit his coffee when he took a peek.

So how many bathrooms did that take you up to? Was it 8 or 9?

[Paddy]

Unlikely to be “rising damp” as this is debatable if it really exists.

Take a look at the following if possible:

DPC missing or floor DBC faulty.
Cavity blocked or bridged with cement. (sloppy work)
Copper pipes buried in concrete: The concrete will corrode copper if it has no protection. (cutting corners)
Broken drain pipe or sew pipe. (bodging the job)
Damaged or blocked gutters and down pipes.
Fault on a flat roof.
Condensation caused by the brick wall not having the correct insulation.
Condensation caused by the brick wall not enough ventilation.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Oh the joy of British builders and their world class standards of service.

This is a country where trditions die hard.

Sorry to see that you’ve had the British workman in the house. He’s a token of evil

Sherlock Holmes, 1893.

[Paddy]

The irony being that this sort of "work" is termed "jerry building".

"The derivation is unknown. What we do know is that the term has nothing to do with the UK slang term for German - Jerry/Gerry. This is of WWI origin and the citations above pre-date that. As always when a phrase's origin is unknown people like to guess, so here goes. It is possible that the term derives from the slang term jerrycummumble or jerrymumble. This was defined in the 1811 version of Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:"

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/211600.html