DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi, I'm in the process of buying an old 3 bed house. We had a survey done and it turns out the render on the gable end wall has blown and its causing damp in the upstairs bedrooms.

I got a couple of local builders round to get an idea on cost, one hasn't replied and the other is quoting £5K ex VAT to "supply and erect scaffold, remove old render, fix any issues found once render is removed then 2 coats of lime based render" Does this sound like a fare price? and what if he finds nothing wrong with the wall? Seems like a lot of money for what could be not a lot of work.

Anybody got any views?

Cheers

Mike

sometimes rendering hides trouble it could be the cause of your damp problems it might be a simple case of cutting out a couple of bricks
remember when a house is valued having render on the walls people get suspicious what's it hiding have you thought about taking off?

Obviously depends where you are, but that sounds pretty fair to me. Lime will help wick out any moisture in the walls, and it's often more than twice the price of cement. We're having to have the entire 3-storey rear elevation repointed in lime after botched cement pointing decades ago, and it's an awful lot more than £5k+VAT...

Good luck!