What is the title of the person I need?

Enner100

Enner100

Enner100

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I was a member here years ago. Due to fogetting my usernname and email adress I signed up with I have had to create a new account.

I have tried 4 different building forums and have not got the answer I need. I hope I can get it here.


I am after advice on who needs to come out and inspect the block of flats that I live in. I have lived here for 12 years and never had a problem with mould or damp. The flats are 2 stories high. There are 4 x 1 bedroom flats and 1 x 2 bedroom flat on each floor. I live on the ground floor.

I am currently in dispute with my housing association. My housing officer is coming out Thursday and I want to talk like I know what I am going on about. I have never worked in the building industry.

I had a mould problem in my hallway around where my front door is on the plaster/walls. I used a mould remover spray to get rid of it but it came back. I then called the housing repairs. A guy came out and had a look. He said I needed a mould wash. We also spotted a damp issue in my bedroom on the wall. The mould wash and damp repairs was done about 3 weeks ago. I can already see the mould coming back in the hallway.

When the guy came out to do the damp and mould works a new problem had started. Part of my wooden floor near the bathroom had become raised due to damp. This resulted in my bathroom door not being able to shut. I expected the guy to say we need to look into why your wooden floor has raised. He never, his reply was we need to get a carpenter out to shorten your bathroom door so it can shut again. Laughable.

I got onto the housing and asked for another damp specialist to come out. He also admitted my wooden floor has raised. Again, his solution was not let’s look at why your wooden floor is raised. He also said we can send a carpenter out to shorten your door.

I have spoken to my neighbour in the flat next to mine. She has a problem with damp in her living room and is coming up through the carpet. Parts of her carpet are visibly damp. Her living room is the opposite side to my part of the block of flats.

I want the housing to do a full inspection of my block of flats and find out why me and at least one other neighbour has mould and damp issues.

What is the title of somebody who needs to come out and fully inspect our whole block of flats structurally? Construction engineer? Building engineer? Something else?
 
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I have a housing office coming out to my flat on Thursday. I really need to know the title of whoever needs to come out and inspect the whole block of flats for building/constuction problems. For example lets say the title is constuction engineer. I want to be able to say to my housing officer on Thursday a construction engineer needs to come out and inspect the whole block of flats to try and find out why the mould and damp is happening. I don't want him to say there is no such thing as a construction engneer. That is why I am looking for the title of whoever needs to come out and inpsect the whole buliding.

Ok, if I was buying a house who would I get to come out to inpsect the whole house to make sure there was nothing wrong constructualy with the house and make sure I wasn't about to buy a house with construction/building problems? What would his or her title be?
 
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Contact Environmental Health and ask them to inspect the mould.

Edit: or tell your landlord this is what you’re going to do.
 
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Thekwango said:
Contact Environmental Health and ask them to inspect the mould.

Edit: or tell your landlord this is what you’re going to do.
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Thanks for your advice. I want to give my housing association a chance to fix this issue.

Can't anybody tell me the title of whoever needs to come out and inspect the whole block of flats? Surely it is a very simple question to answer if you work in the building game?
 
There are "Damp Specialists" that do damp investigations listed on Checkatrade.

Things you can do yourself though is check for leaks (plumbing and roof/windows/drainage etc) and then check you are suitably ventilating.

If you aren't ventilating, then no amount of building work will fix the problem unless you hold your breath.

Edit: ah, ground floor, yes you can get a decent builder round and they can check it's constructed properly, but will most likely require investigatory removal of materials to inspect.
 
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An independent damp surveyor is probably what you need. You should be able to find one through the RICS website that isn't a complete cowboy
 
This thread will probably get moved to Home & Garden section, but might also get locked as I don't think duplicate accounts are allowed. You might have forgotten your old user name but I highly doubt you can forget a current or previous email address (I've been online for 25 years and remember my old addies), so I would message one of the moderators to get your old account back. I had to do that recently when I stupidly forgot to save my backup codes.

On the damp issue, I would get a £100 dehumidifier asap to stop from even more damage occurring, to tide time over while you're awaiting for official help.
 
Fubsy said:
There are "Damp Specialists" that do damp investigations listed on Checkatrade.

Things you can do yourself though is check for leaks (plumbing and roof/windows/drainage etc) and then check you are suitably ventilating.

If you aren't ventilating, then no amount of building work will fix the problem unless you hold your breath.
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I feel like I am writing in Chinese.

I know there are damp specialist out there. This is the housing assocations problem not mine. No way I am i paying someobdy to come out.

I have lived in the flat for 12 years. My nieghbour has lived in her flat for 30 years. We have never had a mould or damp issue until recently. For that reason I say it can't suddently be a ventilation issue. The damp issue is coming from undernath our floors.

All I want to do is tell the housing officer on Thursday the the whole block of flats needs to be fully structurally checked. In order to do that I need to know the title of the person who would come out and check the whole block of flats structurally.
 
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Enner100 said:
I feel like I am writing in Chinese.

I know there are damp specialist out there. This is the housing assocations problem not mine. No way I am i paying someobdy to come out.

I have lived in the flat for 12 years. My nieghbour has lived in her flat for 30 years. We have never had a mould or damp issue until recently. For that reason I say it can't suddently be a ventilation issue. The damp issue is coming from undernath our floors.

All I want to do is tell the housing officer on Thursday the the whole block of flats needs to be fully structurally checked. In order to do that I need to know the title of the person who would come out and check the whole block of flats structurally.
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You should lose the attitude if you want people to continue offering advice and help :rolleyes:
 
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Over the years we've used thes guys outside of Nottingham for damp surveys/reports


If you're in the Midlands possibly hertitage damp solutions.

For condition surveys and or building problems, including damp you need an RICS Building Surveyor to come and produce a building condition report.
 
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Enner100 said:
I want the housing to do a full inspection of my block of flats and find out why me and at least one other neighbour has mould and damp issues.
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Your mould issue is likely to be caused by a water ingress. The fact is you have the mould on the walls, and this is already unacceptable. The fact that it hasn't been there for 12 years and is now appearing, is indicative of a water leak developing. The solution is not to wash off the mould, the solution is to rectify the fundamental issue. There is obviously an issue with the building. If you had access to a thermal imaging camera like this one:

www.fluke.com

Fluke TiS20+ Thermal Imaging Camera | Fluke

An ideal thermal imaging camera for HVAC, mechanical and electrical inspections, the Fluke TiS20+ infrared camera is 2-meter drop tested, IP54 water/dust resistant, and has a 16+ hour battery.
www.fluke.com www.fluke.com

You would be able to point it at the walls and see the cold spots caused by the leak.

So, it's not like you need a survey done, you already know there is a serious problem. Mould is a serious issue for health. So, you should be kicking up a fuss saying they need to fix the fault in the building. Who they get to survey and fix it is up to them.
 
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Thekwango said:
Well Mr Cheerful lasted long :cry:
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