damp- council refusing to help, single skin wall

wrightk

how am i socially irresponsible? because i live in a council house? oh yeah i forgot that makes me a benefit scrounger and a leech

I work, i pay my taxes just like everyone else.just because i live in a council house that doesnt make me socially irresponsible. i just feel its unfair that they advertise it as a 3 bed, when something goes wrong with the bedroom they deny the 3rd bedrooms existence completely. yet i still have to pay (and not through benefits or subsidies) extra for a bedroom which the council denies exists despite various housing officers confirming it was advertised in this way.

perhaps they could use the extra money i have paid for the extra bedroom to fund it? and whats their other option, deny the problem exists, chuck us out and give it to some other poor unsuspecting victim.

Gloomendoom

wrightk wrote: »

perhaps they could use the extra money i have paid for the extra bedroom to fund it?

How much have you paid for the extra bedroom?

and whats their other option, deny the problem exists, chuck us out and give it to some other poor unsuspecting victim.

With respect, from what you have told us, they are not denying that the problem exists, they have acknowledged that there is a problem but that, unfortunately, there is no technical solution to it.

keystone

wrightk wrote: »

how am i socially irresponsible? because i live in a council house? oh yeah i forgot that makes me a benefit scrounger and a leech. I work, i pay my taxes just like everyone else.just because i live in a council house that doesnt make me socially irresponsible

Take it off your back and don't be childish. Its not that at all its its because you seem to expect the council to spend probably thousands of pounds on a problem that they cannot cheaply solve and don't give a rats that in doing so it will be depriving someone else of funds they desperately need. Your own words were "I don't care". Well as you pay your council tax then you damned well should tbh. What if their solution is a nice big 4 or 5 bedroom place?

I just feel its unfair that they advertise it as a 3 bed, when something goes wrong with the bedroom they deny the 3rd bedrooms existence completely. yet i still have to pay (and not through benefits or subsidies) extra for a bedroom which the council denies exists despite various housing officers confirming it was advertised in this way.

I agree but I've already said that.

perhaps they could use the extra money i have paid for the extra bedroom to fund it?

The extra rent you mean or did you mean a capital investment.

and whats their other option, deny the problem exists, chuck us out and give it to some other poor unsuspecting victim.

That chip on your shoulder is showing again.

Cheers

baldelectrician

I don't know where you are, but there is usually a minimum legally enforcable tolerable standard.

The bottom line is that the council have;

• (presumably) checked the house prior to letting out and failed in their duty to notice that it was not habitable
• Taken rent quite happily for a house and decided to wash their hands of their failings
• Surveyed the problem and found that it would cost money to bring it upto standard and decided to move the problem (your family) on

They could build a second skin of brick outside the house and insulate and damp proof the walls. This would be cheaper than knocking it down and rebuilding it.

wrightk

baldelectrician wrote: »

I don't know where you are, but there is usually a minimum legally enforcable tolerable standard.

The bottom line is that the council have;

• (presumably) checked the house prior to letting out and failed in their duty to notice that it was not habitable
• Taken rent quite happily for a house and decided to wash their hands of their failings
• Surveyed the problem and found that it would cost money to bring it upto standard and decided to move the problem (your family) on

They could build a second skin of brick outside the house and insulate and damp proof the walls. This would be cheaper than knocking it down and rebuilding it.

thanks for the advice. i have looked into this also and found that building a simple second layer of bricks inside or outside to form a cavity and insulate inbetween would be the cheapest option and obviously a membrane inbetween. this would not cost thousands

suisidevw

Unfortunately, with everything that comes with it, it certainly would cost thousands

wrightk

im sorry to everyone to appear to have a chip on my shoulder i have just had very bad experiences with the council in the past. we lost our rented property two christmas's ago. they very reluctantly accepted our homelessness application after threatening to make us intentionally homeless as we couldnt afford a deposit as our previous landlord pinched it (we eventually got it back) we were homeless over christmas and the council kept us in b+b type accomodation for nearly 8 months (which is wrong not just morally).

the ccouncil just dont give away 4, 5 bedroom propertys. we had to fight tooth and nail to get our autistic daughter her own bedroom. and even despite receiving advice from her paediatrician and other agencies about her and the definate need they tried everything they could to deny it.
we were desperate to move to this area as our family members live here and we need some extra support with our daughter because of her challenging behaviour and needs and we have just secured a place at a nursery with a 1 to 1 support for her at the local nursery.

when we moved into this place it was disgusting, faeces smeared everywhere and crawling with maggots everywhere. whilst i dont expect to move into a show home, faeces everywhere and maggots arent really a nice situation to put your kids in. i complained about it and its been ignored. consequently every spare penny i have i have put towards turning this house back into a home and making it safe.

so im sorry to seem like i have a chip on my shoulder but i probably have! because the council just treat their tenants like scumbags. complain about something which they are obliged to fix? 'oh yeah lets just chuck them out'

warmhands.coldheart

How big is the room? Do you know any good builders and if so would it be possible to get one in to have a look at it to propose and price for the work that would be required to remedy the problem? Maybe damp proofing and dry lining the inside of the wall of the room if it is big enough to accomodate the reduction in size. Not suggesting you do it, just if you had a solution and a price and it wasn't what you would deem to be to expensive, maybe you could use that as a counter arguement to their "no technical solution" available suggestion.

wrightk

thanks. the wall is already dry lined on the inside but screwed onto joists so i imagine if that was all unscrewed and a wall was built on the inside we would only lose a few inches at worst. the room isnt large but then it doesnt have wardrobes, chest of drawers etc in. just a bed and sensory equipment.

ill look into it. thanks

warmhands.coldheart

wrightk wrote: »

thanks. the wall is already dry lined on the inside but screwed onto joists so i imagine if that was all unscrewed and a wall was built on the inside we would only lose a few inches at worst. the room isnt large but then it doesnt have wardrobes, chest of drawers etc in. just a bed and sensory equipment.

ill look into it. thanks

If just literally dry lined with plasterboard with no damp proofing measures, then it won't stop damp. Could be just a case of removing old dry lining and re-placing with some insulated plasterboard like that from Kingspan or Extratherm or Marmox Board.