ILLUSTRATION: NICK ROBERTSON
Few things are as off-putting when you walk into a property as being greeted by a pervasive smell of damp. The psychological effect on prospective house buyers has yet to be scientifically quantified, but as estate agents know better than most, dubious aromas have a distinct tendency to discourage offers. So for anyone carrying out renovation work, discovering that there’s a damp problem can seriously affect the project’s bottom line. Unlike most other worrisome wafts however, when it comes to damp, the risk of offending peoples’ olfactory senses is likely to be the least of your worries. At worst it can be a symptom of structural defects linked to dry rot, wet rot or beetle infestation. However, damp doesn’t always advertise its presence, and can happily wreak long-term damage in hidden voids far beyond the reach of the average human nose. Which is why surveyors routinely occupy themselves by prodding internal surfaces with hand-held damp meters.