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Epic!!!! Thank you so much!!!! My house has similar issues.

When I moved into my property the surveyor suspected damp on my exterior wall which is an end terraced house. The damp on the outside is causing damp on my inside wall. I have 3 half air bricks at the front of my house which are almost level with the block paving. And on the side of the house I have two full size air bricks which are about an inch lower then my block paving. And at the back of the house which has been extended with a cavity wall and not a solid wall like the front part of the house. It has 4 full size air bricks at the back which is level with the garden patio paving slabs. And on the side of the extension there are two full size air bricks with one air brick above the paving while the other is level with my garden patio paving slabs that lead up to my block paving on the side of my house. And because my house is built on a slight incline, the ground level at the front of the house is higher than the back of the house where the garden patio is. So, there is a slope from my garden to the front of my house which means the ground level is too high. When I first moved in the seller suggested Rentokil will inject rods into my wall to help dry the moisture away from my brickwork that’s underneath my render but it hasn’t worked. So, after all this time I’m going to have my ground level lowered on my driveway and path along the side of the house and part of the garden patio along the side of the house so it all lines up. And later on will lower my garden patio so it’s below the 4 large air bricks at the back of my house. And where I have the moisture problems on the side of my house I will install new air bricks that come in black so they won’t need painting. And I hope that will help with reducing damp on my sidewall. And next summer tackle the inside of the wall after using a chisel and hammer to take the bottom of the wall back to brick to dry it out before redecorating it. I have a question? The bottom plinth which is black where my air bricks are underneath my rendered wall above will I need to use a lime mortar cement? And not just ordinary cement?

Great information but how do I contact you ?

Great video. Could you raise the air bricks up a level? And maybe add more ?

We asked Square Conduct Services to help us after a recommendation from a friend. We were hoping to get help in regard to certain damp issues that came up in our survey. From the point of the first phone call Ivan went above and beyond. He clearly loves the topic and goes out of his way to teach people the principals of moisture and vapour permeability in older heritage properties. The service was great, luckily for us our issue was minor, although I can imagine the chemical injection damp crew may have tried to convince us to spend money on unnecessary works. The survey was great and also emphasised education, ensuring we understood what we were looking at. The report was thorough and informative, and has given us a baseline to work through when we look at our home improvements. Thanks Ivan - it was an absolute pleasure meeting you!

how does one contact this guy, i i have a similar issue would love to email him some pictures

Ivan's help has been invaluable. He has an in depth knowledge and understanding of how a building is put together - particularly old buildings - and the importance of caring for them correctly. After months spent seaking advice , it was wonderful to find Ivan who was able to offer a helpful analysis of the situation and a comprehensive report on remedying the problems with detailed instructions on the work to be carried out. Furthermore, his ongoing help and advice has been fantastic whilst I have been carrying out the works. He clearly is passionate about what he does and offers a wonderful service at a very reasonable price. Thank you Ivan, it is rare to find someone who cares about their customers and what they do as much as you!

I am a diy.i want to know how to break concrete floor

I have exactly same issue .

Are you available in the north west england

I'm not sure I'd replace cast iron air vents with plastic.

Where are you based, because our house is having a similar issue

Have a word with that idiot Roger from Skill Builders. He hasn't got a clue, just wants to inject crap into walls etc.

Hi i hope you are doing well i don't expect a reply being this video is do old but i am having a terrible problem with my chimney breast it is sealed up all the lower breast snd floor boards and soacking wet i had a roofer out who repointed my chimney breast then i had someone out who pulled up my flooring found the bricks and wood joists dry around the hearth then nocked out 5 bricks and cleared 2ft of soot and soil then left it to dry. It never did when it rains i cant see any water or hail making it to the bottom i seem stuck with a mess and don't know what to do. Any possible ideas 1930s 2 bed semi uk

I've just been on a painting project and noticed damp in a bay window area. Path outside is level with two air bricks and both vents have a build up of sludge in front of them. The lady has had a few expensive quotes and dry zone plugs drilled and installed! Ten year guarantee they said. Thanks for your help with this reference video. And part 2.

Can i ask the purpose of the pea gravel..? Does it stop rain somehow?

That's the mistake i made.. Painting one coat seal on the damp patches and it then spread even more. I've had to scrape the paint off back to plaster.

So should I just dig a trench 250mm deep by 250mm wide? I literally have the problem regarding the air bricks and damp course

As many others have said the whole damp issue can be a rabbit hole! I left Ivan a message on his website (I must admit I was worried I’d get no response with the last video being quite old) but then received a call the next day! He was really helpful, wasn’t trying to sell me any products or go with the expensive option just because - all he did was try talk me through the issue and how to try resolve it. I’ll have to come back once we have!

It was such a huge relief to find Ivan, he came recommended by others he had helped. His expert, sensible and honest advice on our damp problem was so appreciated, his on site visit and comprehensive report was incredibly reasonable and more than that he has been available for all my (at times no doubt silly) follow up queries and never complained (yet!). THANK YOU! Clem

I have a couple of air vents on my two up two down terraced house, they are about a foot off the floor but weirdly vent to no where as the inside wall is bricked and plastered. I have been in there, they are not venting a cavity or any such thing, literally a two brock thick wall with no gap in between them but at some point someone seems to have bricked them up on the inside then skimmed over them, many yrs ago mind but it explains the black mould and damp brickwork as there is sod all airflow beyond that. Such is the trouble with these old two up two downers especially with no central heating, very difficult to keep warm in winter so people would block up vents with all sorts to stop the draft but then you get yr condensation and damp issues being discovered 20yrs later.

Hi Ivan, my Dad forwarded me this video as i have done the exact same thing with my ground levels, unfortunately I have clay soil on my property and the water builds up in the trench with it taking around a day to drain away. Would you be able to give me any guidance please? i have a handful of problems to overcome and its becoming rather stressful. Cheers

We’ve bought our first house (a Victorian terrace) a few months ago and the survey highlighted some elevated moisture readings. We never had any issues but we decided to talk to Ivan and Square Conduct Services and asked them to conduct a small survey in order to stay on top of things. From the first moment Ivan has been extremely helpful and ready to help and explain how things work. He drove all the way to our town and spent a few hours investigating potential issues, giving advice and explaining to us very important things about our period property, how it’s built and how it should be maintained. I highly recommend Ivan and Square Conduct as their expertise, honesty and professional approach saved us from a lot of hassle and thousands of pounds spent for no reason. All the recommended actions are easy diy jobs that cost almost nothing and can be done within a weekend. It was a pleasure! I highly recommend their services!

To echo the comments below, I recently spoke to Ivan RE: damp/airflow issues in my property. He gave some fantastic advice, and really put my mind at ease. The previous owners had commissioned a 'specialist' report that was riddled with errors, which Ivan was able to highlight and explain. We now know what to do to make sure our property lasts another 100 years (hopefully!) Thanks again for your time Ivan - it's so rare to get straightforward advice from someone without a vested interest.

Ivan has been a godsend for us. As first time buyers, we were naive to damp problems and were told by multiple companies we needed very expensive works done to rectify our issues. We found Ivan as we wanted to ensure we were advised correctly and immediately he was so helpful. He spoke to me on the phone for a while initially just allaying my fears that our problems really weren't that bad and explaining the concepts relating to damp in buildings like ours clearly. He then came round to do his report where he was very thorough and gave us an opinion which is invaluable for getting the necessary works done properly. We feel so much better about the situation and are glad that Ivan will continue to support us when we get the works done. Thanks so much Ivan! Max and Rachel

Ivan is incredibly knowledgeable and was kind enough to help us after we received a confusing report from another vendor. Ivan is a straight shooter and we are very grateful for the time he took to look into our situation and for the helpful suggestions he offered! Thanks Ivan!

Just to say what a joy it was to find Ivan and be able to have a sensible, practical conversation about the issues I was facing with my house. I went from thinking my house was going to fall down around me to actually understanding what was happening, the reasons for it and the simple solutions that were not going to break the bank. He has been very helpful and clear throughout the process from first telephone contact to actually coming to my house to do a complete assessment of the issues with which I needed guidance. He was able to answer all the questions that I had even the ones that I thought were very silly. His skill is also using his experience to translate technical information to non-building experts like me. It was a pleasure. Very happy to recommend his services.

HI DOESNT THE WATER STAY IN THE. PEA SHINGAL. GULLY

Thank you, very helpful 👍👍👍

Great advice from Ivan. Genuine bloke, extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Highly recommend using his services 👍

Ivan was so helpful and helped to diagnose the issue causing damp in my walls after I'd been given a lot of bad advice elsewhere. Simple and common sense - there is an ingress of water, which needs to be stopped, no chemical solutions or witchcraft. He's given me a very clear report and guidance on solutions and I'm looking forward to implementing them and having a dry home!

Great to see some common sense amongst all of the misinformation in the damp industry. We've spoken to Ivan and he's surveyed two of our properties, the reports are extensive and Ivan's always at the end of the phone if we have any questions. Looking forward to finally getting these issues sorted once and for all!

Can’t recommend Ivan enough. He’s been amazing in diagnosing and proposing solutions to the ‘rising damp’ that my surveyor told me I had. From just a few photos he was able to identify the root cause and we were able to agree a plan to fix…

😊👍

What is amazing is that the floor joists shown which appear to be the house original have not rotted.

We learned a hard an expensive lesson in our house. The surface of the ground outside should be 6 inches (150mm) lower than the damp proof course.

Thanks so much Ivan - your videos and time on the phone have been a great help! Intelligent diagnosis and solving of issues rather than just patching over.

Excellent video thank you

If more people were like Ivan, the world would be a better place. I dug myself into a Google rabbit hole with worries about a crack in the render of my home... I sent Ivan some photos of the issue and a description and he took the time to talk it through over the phone with me, and reassured it was a fixable issue and nothing major. Made world of difference and hope to be able to work with his team to fix the issue.

Efflorescence there as well

This video was so helpful. I’ve been having damp problems in my property for years. After watching this video I reached out to this company who gave me some brilliant advice. I was very impressed. Thanks Ivan for your time 🙏🏽

I had Ivan round today to look at my damp issues. He is a damp genius and has saved me thousands of pounds by coming up with cheap/free solutions rather than making things even worse by getting damp proofing. Ivan spent hours throughly investigating the problem areas and talked me through everything clearly explaining what is happening. He will write up a thorough report but has explained what needs to be done.. which I'm happy to tackle myself, so all easy stuff! Ivan was a total gent and pleasure to have in the house. I'm so glad I stumbled across him on here! Very much recommended!

I contact Ivan about problems related to those described in his video. He got back promptly with plently of advice which will hopefully lead to getting damp problems sorted - many thanks!

Needing to understand the root cause of a damp problem we decided to contact Ivan at Square Contact Services for professional advice and he kindly agreed to visit us and give his assessment. After looking around the property inside and outside Ivan took the time to clearly explain his findings and identified a solution that made perfect sense. We are really pleased we decided to contact Ivan and are happy to recommend Square Conduct Services to anyone needing professional and impartial advice relating to damp.

I have a problem where the previous owner had put a concrete drive on top of the old drive and has caused problems with water getting in to the air bricks causing the joists to rot. Ivan replied to my emails with great advice. I spoke with Ivan on the phone as I was still worried about what route to take and he was great, he took his time to speak to me and give me great advice free of charge. He’s a very knowledgeable guy when it comes to damp issues. I hope I can rectify my problem with the advice given as it will save me £££ Many thanks Ivan, really appreciate it. Best regards Kaiser

After finding this video on a random google looking for advice for our flat, and then reading the positive comments about Ivan's help I got in touch with him myself. Ivan took the time to have an initial 30 minute call to go through our issues in some detail all free of charge with clear, helpful advice. There was zero pressure to go further with any paid services but we decided to book him to visit our property for a more in-depth survey (which even though paid was extremely reasonable). I cannot recommend his services more. Ivan really took the time to explain everything to me in detail so we would be equipped with the knowledge of what we needed to address and avoid getting conned by so-called damp 'specialists'. The level of service from Ivan went above and beyond and we now know some simple fixes we can get done by a general builder (most could even be DIY by someone with a bit more knowledge than us). So pleased I stumbled across this video and very grateful to Ivan for his excellent help!

Thanks so much for your visit and detailed report last week. We are going to implement your recommendations soon. Ivan is professional, helpful and great knowledge around damp issues. I highly recommend him if you have damp issue in your property. I will keep you posted on progress Ivan!

Unbelievable. The airblocks are below grade! I've never seen such a poor design. You have an actual drain into the house.

This video was an excellent resource to verify a similar issue with my own property. Ivan also provided me with great advice over email. Thanks again Ivan!

I guess you like Peter ward!