damp- council refusing to help, single skin wall

midnight_express

What sort of damp is it ? Have you tried a dehumidifier ?

wrightk

we run a dehumidifier 24/7 in there. Its a 'budget' one but was the best i could afford. it can only remove 1.5 litres a day but when its running all day it will fill up the tank full.

im not sure what kind of damp, other than its causing a lot of mould, unless we keep washing down with bleach daily obviously trying to heat, ventilate and dehumidify.

the inspector tested not only the bottom of the walls but the entire height and it was all showing 'red' on the probe. the ceiling wasnt though. just seems to be the walls

keystone

wrightk wrote: »

im sorry to everyone to appear to have a chip on my shoulder

OK. Whilst clearly born of frustration the "don't care" remark and playing the victim card were not helping your cause. Truce?

the ccouncil just dont give away 4, 5 bedroom propertys.

They might do now just to eradicate the noise generated by and the potential fallout from, a letter from an MP. :cool:

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.

Thats disgraceful. In view of this and the fact that the 3rd "bedroom" clearly should not have been usable as habitable accommodation if it had been me I think I would have refused to move in.

because the council just treat their tenants like scumbags. complain about something which they are obliged to fix?

Trouble is that if the place wasn't fit for purpose and you accepted it (yes even with the crap everywhere) by saying yes and moving in you probably automatically deemed it acceptable. If the third "bedroom" wasn't obviously usable as a bedroom when seen (sold as ......... and described as...... aside because thats a different issue) then I'm not sure how you see that they have an obligation to make it so. Am I making sense? Don't forget you are dealing with bureaucrats here.

'oh yeah lets just chuck them out'

I don't think their reply to your MP conveys that suggestion.

Cheers

keystone

wrightk wrote: »

we run a dehumidifier 24/7 in there. Its a 'budget' one but was the best i could afford. it can only remove 1.5 litres a day but when its running all day it will fill up the tank full.

At least that amount is coming from simple respiration. Somone posted a table on here the other day of humidity arising in a property daily from simple things like breathing, washing, bathing, showering, cooking etc but can't remember which thread it was on. Its a staggering amount.

the inspector tested not only the bottom of the walls but the entire height and it was all showing 'red' on the probe. the ceiling wasnt though. just seems to be the walls

Those silly probe things can and do gve wildly inaccurate results and as I understand it should not be relied upon.

Did they look at whether there is a gutter/roofing problem that is causing water to run down the exterior walls? If its floor to ceiling its clearly penetrating rather than rising assuming its coming in rather than being a condensation issue from the inside which it could easily be.

I have a feeling this property wants surveying properly in a calm cooperative way with all the emotion generated in the recent past taken out on both sides.

Cheers

wrightk

thanks for the advice. they didnt survey properly but i did mention to them the fact that the guttering downpipe which carries all the water from the roof simply carries it along the external walls where the bedroom is located. the level of the bedroom is also higher than the rest of the house by about 5 cm, and i can only think that when it rains heavily it is either settling around the walls or getting into the walls and running down into the bedroom.

we always ventilate the house but in this case the inspector told me not to open the windows in this particular bedroom as he said because it is single skin and the only single skin room, all the warm, damp air is being drawn into this bedroom as it is so cold and will further condensate, so for the moment at least im doing as he suggests and concentrating on trying to heat it and dehumidify. hopefully i am doing right?

when the inspector visited before i even explained the nature of the problem he told me 'we have always had a problem with this bedroom it should have never been built in the first place'. anyway i will await some further correspondence from mp

keystone

wrightk wrote: »

we always ventilate the house but in this case the inspector told me not to open the windows in this particular bedroom as he said because it is single skin and the only single skin room, all the warm, damp air is being drawn into this bedroom as it is so cold and will further condensate, so for the moment at least im doing as he suggests and concentrating on trying to heat it and dehumidify. hopefully i am doing right?

So he thinks its a condensation issue. Insulation might be a solution then but the roofing/guttering arrangements don't sound right.

when the inspector visited before i even explained the nature of the problem he told me 'we have always had a problem with this bedroom it should have never been built in the first place'. anyway i will await some further correspondence from mp

Oh dear. That sounds horribly like an admission that he would be or already has reported that the only proper way to solve is to knock it down and rebuild or just knock it down. The path of least resistance/cost is to demolish and turn it back into a two bed property I suspect having rehoused you.

I wouldn't hold your breath for anything further from your MP unless you badger. He/she probably considers his/her work done with the copy letter you have received.

Cheers

27col

Actually it is quite a simple problem to solve. I converted a double garage into a small flat for my son. The single skin outer wall had an internal stud wall built such that it formed a cavity. When the internal stud wall was insulated and plaster boarded the room became instantly usable. I did this work 20 years ago and there has never been the slightest sign of water penetration, in spite of being an exposed end wall. The method that I used was both cheap and quick to do and the Building Inspector was quite happy with the way that I did it.

wrightk

27col wrote: »

Actually it is quite a simple problem to solve. I converted a double garage into a small flat for my son. The single skin outer wall had an internal stud wall built such that it formed a cavity. When the internal stud wall was insulated and plaster boarded the room became instantly usable. I did this work 20 years ago and there has never been the slightest sign of water penetration, in spite of being an exposed end wall. The method that I used was both cheap and quick to do and the Building Inspector was quite happy with the way that I did it.

thanks, something to think about saving up for if i cant get anywhere

wrightk

keystone wrote: »

the roofing/guttering arrangements don't sound right.

its a very strange one. the downpipe takes all the water along the entire length of the external wall. the external wall itself is done with a pebbledash type render but sort of stops and squares off at the bottom allowing from what i can see the water to completely penetrate between the concrete base and where the external wall stops

oh and the roof has a felt material on it. ironically from what the inspector said anyway thats the only part of the room which is watertight

baldelectrician

Council (social) housing should be regulated- I presume you live in England / Wales as this doesn't meet the minimum tolerable standard for social housing

Can you force the council to take the required action?

From the info
Where houses are found to be in a state of disrepair or fail to meat the tolerable standard, there are a range of possible options for action, such as the threat of formal action, service of notice requiring the implementation of repair or improvement works, or even the imposition of a closing or demolition order on the property to prohibit its occupation.