Damp survey insubstantial and unhelpful
The surveyor attended our property as requested. I gave him a history of the problem (water ingress from the area around the outside chimney) and described some of the actions we have taken to try to remedy the issue (new chimney cowl, flaunching redone, outside wall repointed). I then left him alone to conduct his physical examination, which seemed cursory considering the brief time he spent on it (he was under no time pressure from us and could have spent as long as he liked on it). His subsequent report offered only a single suggestion for a remedy - applying a water repellant to the outside wall. We have already tried this but to no avail, although he didn't know this as I had failed to mention it (he hadn't asked either). When I asked via email whether he had any other ideas, all he could suggest was checking the repellant we had used (brand name Bostik, still within its guarantee period and, in any event, not the original cause of the problem). We expressed our dissatisfaction with the service as we expected a qualified surveyor whose website bears a stamp from the Property Care Association to have the necessary skills to be able to better identify where and/or how rainwater is penetrating the wall and to come up with reasonable solutions. Instead, we have been left no further forward and out of pocket. We requested a partial refund but have been denied.