Perfect house but wet basement???

davidlp

Hello there,

found the perfect house but it has a basement.... visited on a rainy day and did see a damp puddle....

still want to go ahead and get it looked at by a professional so my question was can i use normal survayers or is there someone I can get to have a look who might be able to tell me a bit more about the basement issues, am I right in thinking they need to have a CSSW...Certificated Surveyor in Structural Waterproofing ( I googled that :T)

there is some kind of square hole in the basement wall that looks like it goes up to street level so dont no if thats related to the water on the foor.... cant post a pic as im a new user:(



if its something that could be perminantly fixed for 1-10k and we could get it a bit cheaper becuase of this that wouldent put me off and hopefully turn this into a decent space

DRP

davidlp wrote: »

Hello there,

found the perfect house but it has a basement.... visited on a rainy day and did see a damp puddle....

still want to go ahead and get it looked at by a professional so my question was can i use normal survayers or is there someone I can get to have a look who might be able to tell me a bit more about the basement issues, am I right in thinking they need to have a CSSW...Certificated Surveyor in Structural Waterproofing ( I googled that :T)

there is some kind of square hole in the basement wall that looks like it goes up to street level so dont no if thats related to the water on the foor.... cant post a pic as im a new user:(



if its something that could be perminantly fixed for 1-10k and we could get it a bit cheaper becuase of this that wouldent put me off and hopefully turn this into a decent space

if by 'normal surveyors', you mean a Homebuyers Report then I would imagine that a HR will get you is a very general warning comment on the risks of water ingress followed by a statement saying you need to get the professionals in to get a proper opinion.

sounds like you need an expert.

davidlp

Ok can anyone recommend anyone in the London/Essex areas that specialises in things like this...

Thank you for all your help

martinsurrey

if this has been an issue for a while, you will want a full structual survey.

2 things that shouldnt be mixed are water, and structual wood (ie the floor beams that support the ground floor).

solving the water may be easy, solving the damage 10+ years of water have done could be a whole lot more expensive.

andy.m_2

I would try to refrain from calling it your perfect house if it has such issues.
You dont want your heart stamping all over your head with this one, puddles inside is a serious problem that may have done years of very expensive damage.

Hardly a definition of perfect

bigmock

hi i am the thread starters girlfriend here is a picture of the cellar in question http://postimage.org/image/sv5zpthsx/

any thoughts as we know nothing about cellars?

martinsurrey

andy.m wrote: »

I would try to refrain from calling it your perfect house if it has such issues.
You dont want your heart stamping all over your head with this one, puddles inside is a serious problem that may have done years of very expensive damage.

Hardly a definition of perfect

sounds perfect for

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-decay_fungus

but I dont want to share a house with them!

davidlp

Ok its not perfect. if it didnt have this basement it would be.my mistake.

andy.m_2

I would run a mile, there are other perfect houses out there that don't have such issues.

Unless of course it is cheap, seriously cheap, in which case it is cheap because you have things to sort out urgently.

This is not just a case of a loose roof tile or getting the electrics checked.

bigmock

the thing is we dont know if the house has any issues yet yes of course its not a good sign that there is water on the floor but there is ventilation in there and aside from the picture the wood etc looked in ok condition

bigmock

alot of houses in sheffield have similar basements and they are fine