n order to provide an economic and effective remedy to building defects it
is essential to properly identify what the defect is. In many cases the owner or
occupier is aware only of the symptoms caused by the defect. They may note damp
or cracks for example, but in order to address the problem the cause of the
cracks or damp must be found.
Pathology is defined as "The scientific study of the nature of disease and
its causes, processes, development, and consequences." Building Pathology is
then "The scientific study of the nature of building failure and its causes,
processes, development, and consequences."
This analogy with medicine should help prospective clients to understand both
the importance of having the cause of defects diagnosed by someone with
appropriate qualifications and experience, and the difficulty in actually
diagnosing causes. When you visit your GP with a sore throat it may be a symptom
of a minor ailment which requires simple treatment or it may be a symptom of an
untreatable and terminal illness. Just as your GP may; advise a range of
investigations, try different treatments and monitor the response, etc., so a
surveyor may have to take a similar step by step approach.
Our normal approach is to undertake initial investigations provide and
initial report for a fixed fee. If it has been possible to identify the cause of
the problem our report will tell you what it is and tell you how to fix it. If
we have not been able to identify the cause our report will tell you what we
think the likely causes are and will provide a strategy for moving forward which
will normally involve either experimenting with different solutions or
undertaking further investigations.
