Diagnosis first. Always.
Select Damp Services is based on Duke Street in Formby, covering Merseyside and West Lancashire. Every job — whether it's a survey, mould treatment, damp proofing or timber work — starts the same way: working out what's actually happening before anything gets recommended. See exactly why that approach is worth choosing.
What our work is grounded in
Not marketing badges — the actual standards and qualifications behind every survey and every piece of work we carry out.
Federation of Damp Certified Surveyor (FODCS)
City & Guilds Assured and CPD-certified training. Every survey is carried out personally to this standard.
BS 6576:2005+A1:2012
Code of practice for diagnosing rising damp in walls of buildings and installing chemical damp-proof courses.
PCA Codes of Practice
Investigation and Control of Dampness in Buildings (2017/2023), and of Wood Destroying Insects and Fungi (2016) — the Property Care Association's recognised diagnostic framework.
BRE 453 guidance
Building Research Establishment guidance on recognising wood rot and insect damage, used alongside every visual survey.
A survey, a written report, and a straight answer
A damp survey with us starts at £249, with no VAT added, and follows the Federation of Damp seven-step method: inspect, test, diagnose, then recommend — in that order, and never with the last step decided in advance. On site that means a moisture meter used as a screening tool rather than a verdict, a thermal camera to find where to look closer, a hygrometer, a borescope where a cavity or void needs seeing into, and calcium carbide or gravimetric testing where a reading needs confirming rather than assuming. Salt analysis for nitrates and chlorides settles the question that catches most people out, because salt contamination in old plaster produces readings that look exactly like rising damp on a wall holding no free water at all. The full method and every tool is set out openly, before you book.
You get a written report. Not a verbal opinion at the door, not a quotation dressed up as a diagnosis — a document stating what was found, what caused it, what we recommend and what we ruled out. If you are buying, selling or renting out a property, that written record is something you can put in front of a solicitor, a lender or a tenant — though each applies its own requirements.
What we don't do, and where we say no
We do not carry out basement waterproofing or structural tanking. That is a specialist discipline governed by its own British Standard, BS 8102:2022, and if your property needs it we will tell you during the survey and point you toward someone who does it properly. Our guide to basements and cellars explains the Type A, B and C systems honestly, including where our own scope ends.
We also decline work regularly. In post-1950 housing with cavity walls and an intact damp-proof course — which covers most of Kirkby, Aintree and a good deal of Maghull — genuine rising damp is uncommon, and we would rather say so than sell an injection that cannot help. Where the real problem turns out to be condensation, ventilation and humidity control is the answer, and it costs a fraction of a damp-proof course.
There is a fair question about a company that both surveys and carries out remedial work, and we answer it directly rather than avoiding it on our why choose us page.
Formby-based, across Merseyside and West Lancashire
We work from Duke Street in Formby across 22 towns, from Banks and Southport in the north to Bootle and Liverpool in the south, and inland to Ormskirk, Aughton and Burscough. The ground under those towns is not the same, and it changes what a survey should be looking for: free-draining dune sand along the coast at Formby, Ainsdale and Birkdale; drained peat at or below sea level around Crossens, Banks and Marshside, kept dry by Environment Agency pumping; glacial till and alluvium inland, which holds water far longer. Each town page sets out the ground conditions, housing stock and conservation constraints that apply there specifically, rather than repeating the same description with the name changed.
The principles behind every job
Diagnosis before treatment, always
A survey exists to find the real cause. If that's condensation or a maintenance defect rather than rising damp, that's what the report says — a chemical DPC only gets recommended where the evidence genuinely supports it. This is the same evidence-first process we follow on every job — see exactly how we carry out a survey.
Written reports, not verbal opinions
Every survey is documented in writing — what was found, what it means, and what (if anything) genuinely needs doing about it.
Honest about what we don't do
We don't offer basement waterproofing or tanking. If that's what a property needs, we say so directly and point you toward a specialist rather than stretching to cover it ourselves.
A moisture meter is a tool, not a diagnosis
Used alone, a moisture meter isn't designed to confirm rising damp in masonry — it's one part of a proper survey that also considers the visual pattern, height, and salt analysis where appropriate. It's a genuine, well-documented industry problem — read our full guide to damp misdiagnosis.