Most RICS surveys recommend the use of PCA members to undertake a ‘Timber and Damp Survey’
In the following sections and pages, you can learn just what this horrendous organisation actually is, and what it does. In summary, it diagnoses ‘damp’ that rarely exists. It sells chemicals that are never needed. It promotes ‘rising damp’ that has never been reproduced even in a laboratory. It uses ‘Damp Meters’ as its sole means of ‘diagnosing’ a problem despite ‘Damp Meters’ not measuring moisture. They measure conductivity.
The PCA – or Property Care Association – is a sales association for chemical salesmen. It has a long and unpleasant history, going back to the 1960’s. Over the years, the name has morphed into the current one, deemed more ‘public friendly’ that previous. It has a long and symbiotic association with RICS and UK Finance – formerly known as the Mortgage Lenders Association.
Its members are chemical companies, individuals, and contracting companies. It has morphed out of an earlier identity – the BWPDA (British Waterproofing and Damp Proofing Association). The (BWPDA) was formed in 1989 through the merger of the British Wood Preserving Association (established in 1930) and the British Chemical Dampcourse Association (established in 1977). Members can attend ‘courses’ where they are taught to sell chemicals and then given the ‘qualifications’ – CSSW, CSRT.
Its Board are owners of chemical companies. Looking into their backgrounds is to open a very unpleasant can of worms.
So in summary, when a RICS surveyor, who, to be a member of RICS, has to have a building survey degree – recommends an unqualified chemical salesman to do his job… you have to question the motives and intelligence of the RICS surveyor. A ‘professional’ recommending an uneducated, unqualified labourer? This practise is fully endorsed by RICS and UK Finance.
The original ‘damp’ meter was developed by Gerald Gobert – who ran Gallwey Chemical Co in Deptford, South London. In 1954, Protim Services Ltd was formed to sell timber ‘preservation’ chemicals.