dodgy workmen- who to trust

Two workmen came round to look at it and were unanimous in declaring that our house was so old that the bricks could now moonlight as sponges- they were so porous and... full of water. As the rain water runs down the side of the house, it was being sucked in, which was where our damp problem was coming from.

What to do about the issue, unfortunately was not so clear. One wanted to tear the wall apart, treat the damp and then plaster the wall again. The other wanted to fix the hole and put an air brick in and just put a dehumidifier in the room for a few weeks.

We decided to do it ourselves. We bought the dehumidifier on ebay and managed to persuade the church member who plastered our living room to come and do the spare room and teach us how to do it myself next time- we don't like being beholden to workmen.