London is a very old area of England. There are many thousands of old houses here, and all of them suffer similar problems - many, inevitably stem from the need to cram housing into small spaces - hence Basement Apartments. We see so many damp or wet, smelly basements - most of which are unneccessary. We do hundreds of damp surveys all over London - we have a London Damp specialist on the team who investigates damp basements, and looks into condensation and humidity issues in London properties. He uses a variety of equipment, and has never once found 'Rising Damp' in a property - most problems stem from high humidity as a result of small spaces, and lots of sources of moisture - fridges, showers, kitchens, people - all producing moisture which cannot escape the building. We help our clients improve the atmosphere by showing them how to introduce condensation control - humidity controlled extraction systems which are very scientific, and not expensive - simple solutions for damp problems in London property.
Heritage House undertake more and more work within London. Our Full Structural Building Surveys are much more detailed than any other survey companies are able to undertake. We use a variety of equipment that most Chartered Surveyors would never dream of using - Thermal Imaging Cameras, Thermo Hygrometers, Carbide testing kit - we carry a 'damp meter' - but only to show where walls have salts in them - NOT to measure damp. We work all over London - recently doing surveys in Kensington Palace Gardens, Chelsea, Westminster, as well as suburbs from north London to the far South East of London. When we are doing Structural Building Surveys in London, we also analyse the historical evolution of the building - it is only by understanding how the building has grown over time - what has been done to it - what work, what materials were used - that we can tell what might be wrong, and how to fix it. We assess the structure of the building, and then make recommendations for improving and maintaining it with appropriate materials to the Period. Our Structural Surveys will identify ways of repairing things like original sash windows, timber features, lime render, stucco and stonework. An interesting feature of any Structural Building Survey in London is its relationship to the war - we very often see bomb damaged houses - sections of brickwork that are different - different mortar, and lighter bricks - salvaged from bomb sites.
Building Surveys in London also tend to have their own set of drainage problems - very often we will recommend a CCTV survey of drains - one recent Structural survey in Chelsea found blocked drains - eventually the culprit was found - a very large dead rat which was totally jamming the pipework. Often the drains are old and cracked - leaking into the ground around the building. London is built on clay - so wet clay can have its own set of problems, which multiply as the clay dries out after the leak is found. Blocked and leaking drains in the London area can cause damp problems in ground floor and basement areas - moisture leaches through the walls and appears internally as salty deposits - forcing plasterwork off the walls. If you have a damp problem in a basement in London, call us and we will investigate - more than likely we'll arrange a drain survey, and probably want to improve the ventilation as well.
Contact us for information - we will put you in touch straight away.
