damp- council refusing to help, single skin wall

keystone

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.

The problem here is that if the council do it it will be like the mating of elephants - taking place at a high level, creating a great deal of noise and dust and taking two years to generate results. Their cost will be significantly higher than a private job (purely because of the way they work) and they will make their decision to do it or not based on their assessment of cost not what you or the OP might be able to get it done for.

Cheers

keystone

baldelectrician wrote: »

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?

I'm getting the impression that it didn't meet those standards in the first place (particularly with the Inspector saying "we should never have built this") and as said further up the thread the least line of resistance will probably be a rehouse in a much more comfortable property particularly with MP involvement. But then again I'm second guessing the council which is, perhaps, dangerous.

Cheers

wrightk

at least those minimum standards will add weight to the argument. hopefully i will receive some sort of reply soon,as mp said she will keep me posted on any correspondence.

baldelectrician

wrightk wrote: »

at least those minimum standards will add weight to the argument. hopefully i will receive some sort of reply soon,as mp said she will keep me posted on any correspondence.

These standards are from the Scottish Government website, Scotland has chosen to pass legislation requiring certain standards to be met before rental is started- or continued
There is legislation in England and Wales, but it isn't easily enforceable