Damp proofingin Sloughwith a fixed price

Genuine rising damp shows a tide mark at a reasonably even height, salt bloom on the wall face, hollow plaster and skirtings that are soft at the back. Where the survey confirms it, treatment is an injected chemical damp proof course using an accredited Sovereign or Wykamol system, plus removal of salt-contaminated plaster and salt-retardant replastering.

On Slough's flatter, lower sites we pay particular attention to external levels and drainage before specifying anything. A patio or drive above the DPC, a blocked gully, or an undrained paved area can all produce identical symptoms, and correcting the drainage is both cheaper and more permanent than treating the wall.

Where a chemical DPC is right, the replastering is not optional. Hygroscopic salts in old plaster keep absorbing moisture from the air, so the wall still reads damp even after the rise has stopped.

Where groundwater is high, any below-ground or half-buried space needs proper structural waterproofing rather than a coating. That means cementitious tanking bonded to sound masonry, or a cavity drain membrane system with perimeter drainage discharging to a gravity drain or to a sump and pump.

Integral and converted garages are a common Slough job. They were typically built with no floor damp proof membrane, a slab lower than the house and an outer leaf designed to get wet, so converting one to a habitable room needs the floor and lower wall addressed together.

We detail junctions, penetrations and floor-to-wall returns as part of the accredited system, and size any pump for the water the space actually takes.

A large share of the mould complaints we see in Slough flats and estate housing are condensation rather than structural damp: black spotted growth in corners, on reveals and behind furniture, worst in winter, concentrated in kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.

The remedy is moisture control and ventilation: working extraction where moisture is produced, adequate background ventilation, and dealing with the coldest surfaces. We put that in writing even when it means less work for us, because an injected DPC will not fix it.

Where render or pointing has failed, water is delivered into the wall rather than shed off it. We cut out and repair or renew render, repoint in a mix appropriate to the masonry, replace spalled brick, and reinstate sill and drip details.

Where movement has cracked masonry, common at bay junctions, over openings and on long unrestrained runs, helical brick stitching bonds the crack across the joints so it stops reopening and stops acting as a water path.

Alongside Slough we cover Buckinghamshire and High Wycombe to the north, Middlesex and Harrow, West London and the wider London boroughs, Watford and Surrey.

Calls are answered Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm. If a sale or tenancy is waiting on the survey, tell us and we will be straight about the timescale.