Condition ratings
Mortar joints are open near the ground. Has the survey diagnosed rising damp and rated it 3?
No. Open mortar joints near the ground have not diagnosed rising damp, and they have not automatically been rated 3. Open joints are missing or weathered mortar that the surveyor could see. Rising damp is a moisture mechanism. The two can appear in the same paragraph only if the surveyor actually links them. Until that link is written, keep the joints as a pointing defect.
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?
Open joints are gaps in the mortar, here low on the wall, where the pointing has weathered or fallen out. That is something a visual inspection can see, and it can be rating 2 if repointing is needed but is not serious or urgent, or rating 1 if the loss is so slight that no repair is currently needed. Rating 3 would mean the surveyor thinks the defect is serious, urgent, or both. None of those numbers is a diagnosis of rising damp. Rising damp would be a moisture finding, usually with a low tide mark, salts, or a meter pattern the surveyor is willing to name. Open joints do not supply that name by themselves.
If the report never uses the words rising damp, do not add them in the email to the agent, and do not put rating 3 on a damp row that does not exist. The what to do now note advises you about ratings that were given. It does not invoice the seller for a new damp-proof course because mortar is open. A meter reading, if one appears elsewhere, stays in its own sentence. Concealed mortar inside the wall is not guaranteed sound because the face joints are open, so a rating on the face is not a survey of the core. Ask whether they want the joints repointed, and whether they made any damp finding at all.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you diagnose rising damp, or only open joints?
- What rating, if any, did the pointing get?
- Is there a separate damp comment, or is damp simply not in this section?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the open joints as a pointing note.
- Do not write rising damp into your questions unless the report did.
- Ask what repair, if any, the surveyor attaches to those joints.
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
Can open joints low down still be rating 2 with no damp claim?
Yes. Rating 2 is a repair that is not serious or urgent. It does not require a damp diagnosis.
If a tide mark is also described, do the joints become the damp rating?
Only if the surveyor ties them. A tide mark is its own observation. Ask which element carries the number.