Mortar on damp course

[Gem321]

The damp course (slate) on my house has been covered completely in mortar, should it be removed?

I have been told by a friend that it bridges and the slate should be visible, therefore there may be possible problems in the future.  The guys who did it say that it is ok and the slate should be covered. They pointed out that my neighbours house has mortar that covers the damp course.

 

Will it be ok to leave as it is or should I insist they re do it

[ProDave]

Are the walls bare or rendered?

 

I had bad "rising damp" in a previous 1930's house.  That was caused entirely by the render bridging over the slate DPC and the ground level being too high. And not helped at all by the fact the previous owner had tried to hide it by covering the wall with polystyrene tiles and wallpapering over those.

 

The problem was entirely solved by cutting the render back so it stopped just above the DPC and was terminated with a bell cast drip bead, and the DPC and brickwork below it was left exposed.

 

 

[Brickie]

Tough one to answer definitively. It could be argued that exposing the slate (which presumably is set back at least a couple of mm for it to have been pointed over) would leave a risk of rising damp by giving rain run off somewhere to sit and track up the wall through capillary action. You could possibly ask for that joint to be redone in a strong sharp sand/cement mix & waterproof additive,expect to pay again though. Btw,a slate dpc has almost certainly fractured here & there with the creep (settlement) of the building over time,hence why we use flexible material now. 

[Gem321]

Thanks for your relies. 

There isn't any damp but I don't want the possibility of damp occurring.  

The guys who did the work convinced me at the time that it was required (they were doing other work on my house).  The experience with them has not been good (embarrassed to say I feel I was missed sold the pointing and other work).  I was charged £500 to redo the mortar on a 3 bed semi. Does anyone know how much the cost is usually to re mortar the damp course as my son is saying I've been conned.   I'd like to give a realistic figure to the company who charged me this.

 

 

[Brickie]

So they just repointed the dpc? 

Hard to give a figure without seeing but personally speaking,if it’s more than one day for one man & includes materials & clearing up/disposal of waste it doesn’t sound too excessive.