Damp and moisture meters
A row of old injection holes runs along the skirting. Does that row prove the wall had rising damp, or only that someone once treated it?
Only that someone once treated it. A row of old injection holes along the skirting proves a damp-proofing injection was drilled there. It does not prove the wall had rising damp. The survey has recorded the holes. It has not recovered the old diagnosis, retested the wall as a rising-damp case, or decided the treatment was needed or successful. Holes are evidence of a job. They are not evidence that groundwater was the cause. The report should stay with what is still there: plugged holes, not a proved history of rising damp.
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?
Chemical injection is sold as a barrier in the mortar line, and the signature left behind is a row of filled holes at about skirting height. Firms drilled those patterns for several reasons, including misread condensation and bridged paths, not only for true rising damp. The plugs do not say which reason applied, and they do not say the wall is dry now. A home survey can map the row. It does not replay the old meter readings or the sales report that sat behind the drill.
Ask the surveyor whether any current damp comment is separate from the old holes. Ask the solicitor if a guarantee was handed over, and read the address and the date on it rather than assuming the holes are that paper. Do not tell a lender the house had rising damp because the skirtings were injected. If you need today's moisture explained, that is the stain, the ground level or the ventilation, not the historic plugs.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Are the holes recorded only as evidence of an old injection?
- Did you find anything that shows rising damp was the original cause?
- Is any damp you saw today written separately from those plugs?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the row as proof that someone once injected the wall.
- Do not read it as proof the wall had rising damp.
- Check any guarantee for its address and what it actually covers.
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 plugs look fresh, does that prove rising damp now?
No. Fresh plugs prove a recent drill, not the diagnosis. The survey has not shown rising damp from the age of the filler. Someone treated the wall. That is still the limit of what the holes say. That is as far as the recorded facts about the old injection holes can be taken.
Does a missing guarantee mean the injection failed?
No. A missing paper means you do not have the paper. It does not prove the treatment failed, and it does not prove rising damp either. The holes remain a record of a job, which is all the survey could see.