any builders out for for advice on damp in a terraced house please

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi was just wondering if there were any builders out there i could pick their brains please..

i went to see a terraced house to buy for an investment property...been empty for over a year..

on the whole most of the house is ok, mainly cosmetic..

neighbour wise, on one side the house is lovely well looked after etc, BUT on the other side the house is well un-habbitable, damp/wet etc.... looks as though it has just been left and no one has lived there for years... this has casued the 3 story terraced house we looked at to have pretty bad damp on the wall between the 2 properties...from the ceiling down to the basment where the kitchen is....the plaster has blown... and i think the wall behind is pretty damp.

so once all the old plaster is hacked off is there anything we could do ( if i bought the property) to stop the dampness coming through again, or is this going to be an on-going problem....i think i know what you are going to say, but thought i would ask...

This is why the property hasnt been sold.. and have been reduced down again...

would really appreciate your advice on this...

mickybro

Is there any leaking gutters or pipework that can be causing the damp?
Damp should only rise about a meter from floor level.
You could dry line the wall using

take off plaster
use a layer of visqueen plastic dampproof membrain not sure if I spelt that right
with tanalized slaters lathes 400mm ctrs over, screwed to the wall with stainless steel screws with plastic plugs then plasterboard over, leave a bit of the visqueen at the floor so that when the skirting is put on the visqueen can be cut back to it

hope that helps

COOLTRIKERCHICK

mickybro wrote: »

Is there any leaking gutters or pipework that can be causing the damp?
Damp should only rise about a meter from floor level.
You could dry line the wall using

take off plaster
use a layer of visqueen plastic dampproof membrain not sure if I spelt that right
with tanalized slaters lathes 400mm ctrs over, screwed to the wall with stainless steel screws with plastic plugs then plasterboard over, leave a bit of the visqueen at the floor so that when the skirting is put on the visqueen can be cut back to it

hope that helps

thanks mickybro...

we couldnt see the roof, and the damp walls etc are the centre of the wall from back to front iyswim....

we had a look through the next doors letter box and it is soaking in there, upper floor windows non- existant.. so prob the roof is not to clever...

i took some photos on our phone, not good ones but here they are

Plasterer

Pay for a survey or walk away.
Regards
P

baldelectrician

Looks like a run away fast house- unless you can buy next door. Then you have full control

DVardysShadow

As baldelectrician says. If next door is neglected then this house is always going to have problems.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

thank you plasterer, baldelectrician and DVardyShadow.

i have tossed and turned last night about this house.... and thank you for your advice... unless i could find the owners of the empty house and buy it for a £1:rotfl: then it will be a never ending nightmare... which is a pitty...

i think thats why it been reduced to 34k and still not sold...

Plasterer

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

thank you plasterer, baldelectrician and DVardyShadow.

i have tossed and turned last night about this house.... and thank you for your advice... unless i could find the owners of the empty house and buy it for a £1:rotfl: then it will be a never ending nightmare... which is a pitty...

i think thats why it been reduced to 34k and still not sold...

£34K for a three story house???? Where is it Haiti? at £34K I would deffenately try and find the owners next door. You could rent them both out and yield a nice little return.

diggerman123

is there a chimney between the properties ? this can sometimes be the cause . (missing flashing etc ) could also be a leak on cold water tank in attic.
the land registry can tell you who owns next door but not sure how much it is . £4 i think. definitely worth a look tho , sounds a bargain !

COOLTRIKERCHICK

diggerman123 wrote: »

is there a chimney between the properties ? this can sometimes be the cause . (missing flashing etc )

yes there is, this is the problem, well part of the problem,

i also got told last night, that as the terraced hosues are old it would have been build with mortar, not concrete, so will all the wet and dampness over a matter of time the wall in question will or might get un-safe..

Plasterer, this was my intention, the only reason why i went to see it because it was cheap:rotfl: hubby and i havent got any pensions or anything... and flip knows whats going to be happening by the time we retire... ( we are in our mid 40's:eek:)

my theory was buy something cheap.. so if prices do go pear shaped again, i am not going to lose much....if we decided to sell,

here are some more pics of hte inside of the house

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i was also a bit worried, as surely some builders would have snapped it up,

houses on the same street roughly about the same are going for approx 70k

it is in a semi rural/remote type of place, so not a well sort after area