Damp and moisture meters
Harling has come away in sheets on the gable and the stone behind is wet. What has fallen off, and what injection of the stone has that not ordered?
Harling has fallen off in sheets, and that loss has not ordered an injection of the stone. On the gable the coat has come away, and the stone behind is wet. What fell off is the harling, the rendered skin, not a piece of the wall’s structure by that fact alone. Wet stone is what the survey could see once the sheets had gone. The inspection recorded a lost coat and a wet face. It did not specify a chemical damp-proof injection, and it did not test the stone for a treatment.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Harling is a thrown coat. In sheets on the ground, or hanging off the gable, it has debonded. The stone behind can be wet because rain has just hit a newly bare face, because the coat had been trapping water, or for another reason the single visit cannot separate. Injection is a particular damp treatment sold for moisture rising in masonry. Nothing in a fallen sheet specifies that product, that spacing, or that the stone should be drilled. The survey did not order it. Wet stone is a condition.
Ask a renderer who understands harling whether the coat can be reinstated, and keep any damp specialist’s proposal as a separate instruction. Tell the solicitor the survey has not specified an injection. Do not read wet stone as an order to pump a cream into the gable. The report says what has fallen off. It does not say what should be injected.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where has the harling come off, and how wet was the stone behind it?
- Did you order an injection, or only record the lost coat and the wet face?
- What of the remaining harling still sounded attached?
What are the typical next steps?
- Record fallen harling and wet stone, not an injection order.
- Ask a harling specialist about the coat before you buy a damp treatment.
- Keep any injection proposal off this survey page.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the stone dries by the weekend, was it only rain?
The survey cannot say. It saw wet stone where the harling had come away in sheets, on one visit. Drying later would be a new observation this report does not contain. Even dry stone would not order, or cancel, an injection the inspection never specified. The finding stays the lost coat and the wet face that was seen.
Does hollow harling beside the sheets need the same injection?
Hollow harling is a coat that may be loose. It is not an instruction to inject the stone, and the survey has not given one. The sheets that have already fallen show debonded harling and wet stone. Nearby hollows are a further note about the coat. They do not become a damp-proofing specification.