Letting in water!

catherine66

latecomer wrote: »

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?

Latecomer i thought the top row of black bricks was the dampcourse? Sorry if that sounds stupid
I wouldnt be able to lift the floor to take a look we have laminated flooring all through the ground floor.
But if the black bricks is not the damp course then i think you could very well be right about the damp course being bridged, that would mean digging up the drive to the front and all way round to the back of the house then? oh my what a thought:eek: is there an easier way?

latecomer

There are various different methods of damp proofing and the black bricks (which are a different material to standard ones) should be fine. Sorry I didn't read you post correctly the first time. This site has some good info on damp proof courses:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/dpc01.htm

It says there should be a minimum distance between the ground and DPC.

Are there any other obvious big differences between your house and your neighours?

Airwolf1

catherine - would you not be able to ask a chartered surveyor in your area to pop out and advise you? We generally charge £80 per hour, just to give you an idea of what it may cost.

MX5huggy

I think you need some professonal advice because without this you may spend 1000's fixing the wrong thing!!

Have a look at http://www.channel4.com/4homes/diy-self-build/diy-build-advice/a-z-of-diy-building-guides/how-to-spot-and-deal-with-damp-08-05-27_p_2.html

I think you may have a combination of problems. DPC bridged, venting blocked (there should be vents in the frount for venting under the floor and back which are oftern blocked by extensions), uPVC widows that have sealed the building too well, pointing or rendering failing.

How many of you is there living in the house?

dougk_2

certainly having no or very little ventilation won't help, i would suggest is when you are at home open some windows slightly and see if things improve. Yes I realise you will loose some heat but the damaged caused by condensation and damp far outweighs the cost of the problem getting worse. Its not very green in having to have lots of building work carried out!

catherine66

latecomer wrote: »

There are various different methods of damp proofing and the black bricks (which are a different material to standard ones) should be fine. Sorry I didn't read you post correctly the first time. This site has some good info on damp proof courses:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/dpc01.htm

It says there should be a minimum distance between the ground and DPC.

Are there any other obvious big differences between your house and your neighours?

Latecomer again thankyou for trying to help and for the link, i will take a look, i can see no difference at all other than the fact our house/ground sit a minimum of a foot above the neighbours, si still havent had chance to speak to her as she works late.

catherine66

Airwolf1 wrote: »

catherine - would you not be able to ask a chartered surveyor in your area to pop out and advise you? We generally charge £80 per hour, just to give you an idea of what it may cost.

Airwolf thankyou too, i did read about this suggestion on another thread and think its a wise idea.
At the moment though my hubby has been informed there is a high likeyhood he will be made redundant in march, we simply do not have the money for any major work to the property and in truth things may become that dire that we no longer have a house to even worry about, so if i was to call a surveyor out only to find there was major issues as deep down after talking to you guys here i now suspect there is, there is not a thing we can do about it.

If things are ok for us come march i will certanily take this good advise and save for any work they recommend.

catherine66

MX5huggy wrote: »

I think you need some professonal advice because without this you may spend 1000's fixing the wrong thing!!

Have a look at http://www.channel4.com/4homes/diy-self-build/diy-build-advice/a-z-of-diy-building-guides/how-to-spot-and-deal-with-damp-08-05-27_p_2.html

I think you may have a combination of problems. DPC bridged, venting blocked (there should be vents in the frount for venting under the floor and back which are oftern blocked by extensions), uPVC widows that have sealed the building too well, pointing or rendering failing.

How many of you is there living in the house?

:eek: now thats scary and it sounds expensive (groan) but thankyou also for your suggestions i truly appreciate all of the advise and suggestions you guys have taken the time to write here.
But to be honest MX5 huggy i am expecting there to be a combination of problems and not as hubby keeps suggesting a bad case of condensation (lol), i guess i was hoping or rather praying to come on here and for you all to say yes your hubbys right! Stop breathing for 2 minutes a few times aday and all will be well:rotfl: its about the only thing i can afford to do to rectify it at the moment (lol).

There are 3 of us live in the house.

catherine66

dougk wrote: »

certainly having no or very little ventilation won't help, i would suggest is when you are at home open some windows slightly and see if things improve. Yes I realise you will loose some heat but the damaged caused by condensation and damp far outweighs the cost of the problem getting worse. Its not very green in having to have lots of building work carried out!

dougk, thankyou thats very helpful, i found other threads suggesting the same thing and i have done exactly that today, i have the windows locked open a tiny bit and will also look into buying a dehumidifer as soon as i have the availabe cash.

tinkywiky

I have an Ariston Mini Combination Boiler (3 Years old) and have no issues with central heating. But, the hot water temperature seem to vary considerably. Some times it is very hot and suddenly turns to cold. I had engineers from NPower, British Gas and local ones looked at this but, so far nobody is able to fix this or give me a good reason. The last one from Npower told me the cold water may be getting in through a mixer tap. So, I did check it with a plumber and was told there are no issues. I am in square one again!

This happens specifically when you open and close the hot water tap intermittently, if you leave it open for long time (Like filling a bath), though it varies in temperature it is not as bad as normal operation. I have been having this for a while and I am not able to take a shower at all. Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-AK