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Letting in water!

Not sure if any of you guys can help me here, but any advise would be so appreciated.

We have a 2 bed 1930's semi detached house thats is literally streaming water!
When the weather is very cold or heavy rain the hall wall (outside wall) literally has water all over dripping down, its saturated all over, the wallpaper is now starting to come off, the lounge wall and bedroom above (again outside wall) is similar but not as wet, has mold growing at an alarming rate:eek:
The open dining/kitchen literally gushes water after cooking, off that the tiny utility is is dripping water too and is soooo mouldy it makes me feel nauseous, i feel if we dont get help soon we will drown! (LOL)

ALL windows in the house stream water in very cold weather and they are upvc double glazed.

Does anybody know what is causing this and more importantly how it can be fixed and at what cost.

There are no air vents except two that i can see at the front of the house ground level, but these are partially blocked, could this be a cause? Or partially?

Please please advise this is starting to really get me down as the house always smells damp (cry).
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Comments

  • latecomer
    latecomer Posts: 4,331 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Get the air vents cleared as soon as possible, they are there for a reason.

    Have you had the roof checked? Have you checked that the roof space is dry?

    Do you have and use extractors in the bathroom/kitchen?

    Does your neighbour have the same problem?
  • trogg
    trogg Posts: 107 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    you're not using lpg heaters are you ?

    they give off a lot of water.

    just a thought.
  • latecomer wrote: »
    Get the air vents cleared as soon as possible, they are there for a reason.

    Have you had the roof checked? Have you checked that the roof space is dry?

    Do you have and use extractors in the bathroom/kitchen?

    Does your neighbour have the same problem?

    latecomer the vents at the front are partly covered by the drive, its block paved edge right up to the front of the house.

    The roof was taken off and cleaned several years before we bought it, the loft space is fine and dry i use it for storage.

    There is no extractor in the bathroom, but i open window when showering or bathing till the steam has gone. The kitchen we have an extractor above the oven we use, also open door and window when not raining.

    I notice neighbour on the attached side gt a bit of condensation, but ours literally saturated ot sure if she has any other damp problems like us, but i will ask her when i next see her, The other side is empty at the moment, but again a tiny bit of water on the windows nothing like ours.

    Would really appreciate any advise you may have.
  • trogg i dont think so, we have a combination boiler with radiators, central heating.
  • Airwolf1
    Airwolf1 Posts: 1,266 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Keep the house aired, heating on but windows open a bit. You can get stuff from B & Q and the lieks to paint on the external wall, which gives it a clear membrane coating which may help prevent rain getting in.

    Without really seeing the property it is hard to suggest a cause for your problems.
    My suggestion and/or advice is my own and it is up to you if you follow it, please check the advice given before acting on it.
  • latecomer
    latecomer Posts: 4,331 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    latecomer the vents at the front are partly covered by the drive, its block paved edge right up to the front of the house.


    Get them uncovered or add additional vents. By restricting/blocking the air flow under the house you are risking it becoming damp which could be part of the problem.

    Actually thinking about it, was the level of the drive raised when it was block paved? I'm wondering whether you might have bridged the damp proof course?
  • Thankyou Airwolf for the suggestions that is very helpful and something i will do from now on, i am also thinking of buying a dehumidifer.

    Latecomer again thankyou also, the house next door sits lower than mine (attached side) by at least a foot i would say, you can clearly see her vents and the black brickwork, my house you can only see half the vents and only 1 i think black course work above.
    When we bought it there was a grassed area one half and some stones other half, we had the block paving done, but i think somehow and for some reason the ground must have already been considerably raised to the front, i dont think the block paving would have raised it by a foot, of course i think this may be causing problems to the front bayed area of the house, but the hallway i would say is far worse, thats obviously down the side of the house and i would say apart from when we are cooking it is the worst wall in the house, before we bought this house we had a 6 year old house, i wish i could turn back the clock and still be there, old houses are a real pain (cry).
  • Airwolf1
    Airwolf1 Posts: 1,266 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    latecomer wrote: »
    Get them uncovered or add additional vents. By restricting/blocking the air flow under the house you are risking it becoming damp which could be part of the problem.

    Actually thinking about it, was the level of the drive raised when it was block paved? I'm wondering whether you might have bridged the damp proof course?

    I was thinking that the dpc had been bridged, but without really seeing it, it is hard to say.

    Did this problem happen before the paving work was done? Was it as bad or has it got worse since?
    My suggestion and/or advice is my own and it is up to you if you follow it, please check the advice given before acting on it.
  • Airwolf1 wrote: »
    I was thinking that the dpc had been bridged, but without really seeing it, it is hard to say.

    Did this problem happen before the paving work was done? Was it as bad or has it got worse since?

    Thankyou so much, i really appreciate your trying to help, the front bay i think has gotten worse, but in truth i dont know for sure, we bought 3 years ago and didnt have a survey carried out and trust me i do regret that now! However all the rooms had been newly decorated, all blown vinyl type heavy wallpapers, so its possible the problem was already there and the owners covered it up by redecorating, we noticed last year the bay was very wet and all the paper mouldy been here two years at this point, we removed and bleached the walls and have just left as its covered by our sofa, never really noticed the hall wall either until this year, but kitchen and small utility has always been the same.

    I just cant understand how our ground is so much higher than next doors, all round our house is a good foot or more higher:cool:

    Our neighbours house has a good 2 or 3 rows of bricks before the vents even start, then a layer or two on top.

    Ours the vents are half covered by the drive as i said with one or two layers of bricks, black ones i mean.
    Also a little way up from this all around the house are small round circles, looks like it has been drilled into, we thought was damproofing or cavity wall insulation or something?

    Hubby seems to think its a bad case of condensation, but i am worried it is something far more serious and something we wont have the money to rectify (groan)
  • latecomer
    latecomer Posts: 4,331 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Can you get access to under the floors to see where the damp proof course is relative to the air vent or can you see if on your neighbours house?
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