Lectros/Electo-Osmosis - am I getting ripped off?

shaper13

Hi guys,

Advice appreciated. I have a 1930s cottage which has been fully refurbished. Unfortunately, a rising damp problem that we thought was confined to one room and which we thought could be dealt with is spreading to all the bedrooms.

Long story short, I'm looking at lectros/electro osmosis to solve the problem, had a guy down to survey the place and (well, what a shock) he agreed that it would be just the job. I'm planning on getting the system installed from the outside in, as I don't want to be ripping the place apart inside as it's just finished.

Anyway, the website says it's €35 per linear metre. I'm not precisely sure how far all round my house is but know for a fact it is less than 50 metres. So I thought I was looking at a price of around €1800 before VAT. Today I get a quote for €3,500 :eek:

Phoning the guy, he claims it's because he will need to use 70 metres of the titanium for the house as the walls are thick and a it has to be inserted at various points and a metre won't stretch a full metre. He also says there's extra because it is outside and there's extra work with the plaster, etc.

Has anyone else has this done, and do his excuses/claims ring through? I got him down to €2800 cash but I'm still not happy with it. Am I being ripped off or just paranoid? Another company I contacted today quoted €2,000 but I don't know their work and I do know this guy's.

Cheers
J

RKQ

"A metre length won't stretch a metre"... sounds strange. I'd assume a company offering this service would deal mainly with old buildings.
Old buildings tend to have wide walls usually 500mm - 600mm thick. So there costing should allow for this at €35 per metre.

Can you get another two quotes from similar companies?

Mellor

I imagine the point that a metre won't stretch a metre means that the line in the wall is waving left and right to cover the whole wall, so a metre of line, might only cover 800mm linear.

No6

Get some alternative quotes, are you including internal walls, theres no point in only doing the external walls with a lectros system. I had it installed in a job recently, we got two quotes and both were farily similar.:D

shaper13

No6 wrote: »

Get some alternative quotes, are you including internal walls, theres no point in only doing the external walls with a lectros system. I had it installed in a job recently, we got two quotes and both were farily similar.:D

I plan to. But does the claim about the wire/linear metre ring through for you then?

J

Schooby

there is no published evidence that these systems work at all. if you push the sales men on this they will tell you there is no evidence that they don't work, not good enough to justify the outlay in my opinion.

there are alot of considerations in looking at exactly what is going on look at surface water around the house, gutters overflowing and splashback, bridging of the wall DPC where ground levels have changed.

whatever the source try to address this, then you have the problem of getting the water out of the walls most of the damage is caused by salt efflorescene as it dries out and causes finishes to fail, think about preferential drying, leave fair faced brick/block or what ever the construction in a well ventilated floor void , behind a vented skirting detail behind a wainscotting detail or ventilated drylining to dado, picture rail or to ceiling level. crafty men have been solving these problems for centuries with out electro-osmosis or chemical injected systems, systems that are tried and tested for centuries are the most likely to work out for you.