The line-up
Is it actually rising damp?
spoiler: usually not
Nine questions about what you can see. At the end you get a named suspect, what is actually happening, the cheapest thing to try first, what it typically costs, and whether you need us at all.
Of the 12 things this tool can identify, 9 of them aren't our work. That is not modesty — damp gets blamed on rising damp far more often than it is rising damp, and the person holding the moisture meter usually has a commercial reason not to mention it.
Question 1 of 8
Where is it?
No email address, no phone number, no sales call. You get the full answer whether or not you ever speak to us.
What it asks, and why
Nothing is hidden behind the tool. These are the questions a competent person asks before they even get the ladder out.
01Where is it?
- Inside, low on a wall
- Outside, on brickwork
- A concrete floor or slab
- Under the house
- A garage, retaining or basement wall
- A rendered wall
02How far up the wall does it go?
Genuine rising damp stops where evaporation catches up with the water climbing. In practice that is usually under a metre.
- Under 300 mm
- 300 mm to about 1.2 m
- 1.2 m to 1.8 m
- Above head height, or up to the ceiling
- No clear top — it comes in patches
03What is the top edge like?
This is the single most useful thing you can tell us.
- A fairly level line running right across
- Blotchy, no real line at all
- Actually worse higher up than lower down
- It follows a pipe, a fixture or a corner
04When is it worst?
- Much the same all year round
- Within a day or two of heavy rain
- Winter, overnight, cold mornings
- Humid summer weather
- It started after landscaping, paving or a renovation
05What is actually on the surface?
- White fluffy bloom that brushes off
- A hard white crust
- Black spots or speckles
- Nothing — just dark, cold and damp
- Paint bubbling, or render sounding hollow
- Mortar turning to sand
06Outside, at the bottom of that wall...
Go and look. This question resolves more cases than any other.
- Garden bed or mulch pushed up against it
- Paving or concrete right up to it
- Soil is clearly above the brick or damp course line
- A clear gap — 150 mm or more of bare brick
- Not sure, or I can't see it
07Roughly when was it built?
- Before 1920
- 1920 to 1950
- 1950 to 1980
- 1980 to 2015
- Since 2015
08What is the wall or floor made of?
- Solid brick
- Cavity double brick
- Brick veneer
- Slab on ground
- High-set timber Queenslander
- Rendered block or besser
- Not sure
09Anything on the other side of that wall, or just outside it?
- A bathroom, shower or laundry
- An air conditioner condensate line
- A downpipe or gutter
- Irrigation or a sprinkler
- A retaining wall, or higher ground
- None of those