Help me! What is a high moisture content?

LuceLou

Please help!
I have just got a survey done on a property I am close to buying. The guy did a damp metre reading through the house and recorded levels of 25 to 30%. He concluded by saying that the property did not feel or look damp, but had a high moisture content.
Is this really bad? Could it be because the house has been unoccupied since before Chrimbo?
Could I just leave it and wait to see or do I need to dryline the walls?

Any advice or experience would be great

Cheers

sinnerboy

LuceLou wrote: »

Could it be because the house has been unoccupied since before Chrimbo?
Cheers

yes . houses not heated and ventilated suffer from condensation

if there is no other evidence of water damage the house may well be fine i.e. when occupied heated and ventilated the moisture level should drop .

BUT ask the surveyor to put it in context for you .

If its on older ( pre war ) building , then you may have a defective dpc

LuceLou

Thank you for that. Helps to ease the worry slightly!

Schooby

LuceLou wrote: »

Please help!
I have just got a survey done on a property I am close to buying. The guy did a damp metre reading through the house and recorded levels of 25 to 30%
Cheers

sort of depends what he was sticking his meter into! often you see surveyors sticking a resistance based moisture meter into masonry, they are normally calibrated to beech heart wood and the salts in normal masonry and any surface moisture will give a reading in the range you are talking about.

if it was a reading from masonry, it may be a minor condensation issue associated with not being occupied, it could alternativly be an historic problem that has been resolved with hygroscopic salts on the wall surface which will suck moisture out of the air ang give this sort of reading.

if the reading was taken with a resistance based moisture meter from timber a reading of 30% is serious and indicates chronic water penetration and serious risk of structural decay of may timber in the area.

For timber to reach these moisture contents (saturated) you would not have to be a surveyor to spot it you would probably smell it also.

So in summary after that rant sounds like he does not know how to use the tool.

sinnerboy

no ! no ! no !

there is nothing to suggest an incompetent surveyor . the op reports that overall the building did not appear damp

NO house can cope with being left unheated and un occupied and expect to remain free of condensation . that is the most probable expalanation

the staurated timber situation you describe would be clearly evident - to anyone

Schooby

you are right I have no basis from the details provided to suggest professional incompetance

however I worked on this stuff for years never experienced condensation leading to moisture contents anywhere close to this but came across many 'surveyors" sticking resistance based moisture meters into masonry, making them go beep and red light show, just before the sales pitch for the injected or other remedial damp proof course that they just happen to sell.

repeated experience of this makes one very cynical of these situations.

sinnerboy

I get you now schooby . OP - was this a damp specialist surveyor or an independant professional surveyor with no "product" to sell ?

If the latter , has he eased your mind , putting his readings in context for you ?

LuceLou

He was an independent surveyor and I'm looking into clarification. Thanks so much for the opinions and advice. I'm starting to get my head around it all! It's just scary and has made me think I should pull out altogether!

sinnerboy

don't do it on account of this alone

sinnerboy

what i mean is there is not one house in the land , new or old , where i ( and many others here ) could not produce a list of snags or defects on it

you MUST get the advice of the surveyor who saw the house but this dampness may vanish within days of the heating going back on

if you paid for a survey you must have some interest

no, i am not an estate agent and it makes no difference to me what you do
but walk away for the right reasons only

Schooby

Sinnerboy is bang on

dont let it stress you out sorry if my rant put you off

moral of the story is there are few houses that are completly dry, 90 per cent of issues of water penetration can be resolved easily and cheaply, there are however cowboys out there that will make out its a huge issue and convince you that you need to spend a loada cash to sort it, rarely the case, sounds like you are smart enough to seek good advice and not to take the first opinion you get without figuring it out.