Selling house with "supposed" damp problem

Katy80

Hi there,
I hope someone can help!
We are in the process of selling our house and the buyers have had a homebuyers survey done. This brought up no evidence of damp (well none was written on their report) However, the surveyor said he wasn't a timber expert so the buyers would need to get one out. He came, found no evidence of wood rot etc BUT amazingly found a problem with damp on one wall downstairs. He wasn't even asked to look at the damp!

Anyway this guy is clearly not independent and he said that it was a rising damp problem and has given a quote of what needs doing - not cheap! However, there is not one bit of evidence to suggest this whatsoever. No mould, no damp no peeling paintwork/ plaster etc...also we have a chemical damproof installed.
(Guarantee possibly fairly useless however and won't even be useable if it isn't a rising damp problem. Argh)

The buyers went back to the homebuyers surveyor who said, yes he did find damp in this place, but it was nothing to worry about - condensation probable or the salt crystals coming through from years before when there was a damp problem. But he suggested they get someone else out to confirm but be wary of course.

Sorry this is so long - basically I'm wondering if anyone can help with suggestions at all. Th buyers want us to get another survey done - I would only think this worthwhile if it's completely independent - but this will cost £120 - do we really have to go down this route??? Any other ideas?

May thanks!

floyd

Did the second guy do a core test (would be clear as there would be a small bore hole in your wall) or just use a damp meter on the wall?
Damp meters will give a positive result in most houses as there is always a level of condensation on the surface of walls. Core tests on the other hand analise the moisture content of the brick internally and will therefore detect rising damp accurately. We got ours done by a company called Anchor Tie UK in Liverpool (they have only found true rising damp in 5 properties in more than 12 years).
It is in the buyers best interests to check this out so I can't see why they should complain about paying £120 themselves to get the survey done. I can't offer any alternative but is it worth losing a sale for the sake of £120 if the buyers insist you pay for the survey?
It also sounds to me like the timber guy is trying it on

Woody69_2

I would say to them as far as you are concerned there is no problem, the surveyer hasn't put it in his report, you have no evidence of damp and have a damproof installed. If they want to pay for another survey it is up to them but you are not going to pay for it or indeed knock any money off the price anyway for those reasons.
How expensive was the quote, I was quoted £500 for damp to a wall a few years ago.

Doozergirl

I wouldn't pay it.

If you truly had 'rising damp', believe me, you'd see it! There's is a highish damp reading which their own surveyor didn't think much of and therefore if they want to address the non-existant problem, then they should deal with it at their own cost. Not yours.

davebelushi

floyd wrote: »

Core tests on the other hand analise the moisture content of the brick internally and will therefore detect rising damp accurately. We got ours done by a company called Anchor Tie UK in Liverpool (they have only found true rising damp in 5 properties in more than 12 years).

A calcium carbide test could still be misdiagnosed as interstitial condensation can occur and give a high moisture reading. The only true way of accurately diagnosing true rising damp is by a combination of calcium carbide tests and salt analysis of the substrate. These tests will cost money though. 'Anchor Tie' have only found Rising Damp in 5 properties in 12 years! How are they still trading... Sounds like a line to me.

floyd

davebelushi wrote: »

'Anchor Tie' have only found Rising Damp in 5 properties in 12 years! How are they still trading... Sounds like a line to me.

You still have to pay them lots to come out and tell you that you don't have damp

Didn't know that about the test though, cheers for that

davebelushi

no problem floyd.

TBH i am forever informing clients that they do not need a DPC, I may contact this company to see if they're recruiting You'd be surprised how many still insist on having one installed anyway. I blame the 'Home Buyers' surveyors as I'm yet to come across one who knows the 1st thing about damp problems. I've had surveyors say to me whilst holding a moisture meter to a wall "look, the wall has 100% moisture"..... if a wall had a 100% moisture content it would have a stream running out of it!...
idiots.

fhmman

Im finding this very interesting. Im looking at it from the other view point though.

Im a buyer and just had my survey back to me. It points out various points of dampness on the walls and rising damp on exteror back and front walls.

Im going back to the seller to say there is damp and see hwat he says. Im also getting an independent company to go in and take a look.

I have however spent the lasty couple of hours on the net researching "rising Damp" and seen that 9 out of 10 times its misdiagnosed!! I dont knwo what to beleive.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

When we bought our house two years ago,(which is over 120 years old).We only managed to get it as the previous buyer dropped out.They were told on their survey that there was damp in six places that needed a damp course.
We had a friend who works with old properties and he found that only one area needed treating.The rest was condensation.
Two years down the line we have had no problems,our damp did infact turn out to be surface condensation,as the old lady who lived here had the windows nailed down and kept all the doors to every room closed.Daily ventilation solved the problem.
When we had the worry about what to believe about our damp problem I was told by everyone that has had true rising damp problems that if it was rising damp,I would of known it.

Doozergirl

Unless you can see or smell the damp, I think it's worth living in the house for a while before you decide to do anything. All older houses come back with high damp readings and I wonder how many genuinely suffer.

We put a damp proof course in all our properties as a matter of course as it's cheap when you're having to replaster anyway, but I've rarely come across real problems that haven't been caused by dodgy guttering, leaky pipes, lack of ventilation or earth piled against walls bridging the original damp proof course. None of those need to be dealt with by a damp expert unless rot has set in.

Rising damp is quite shocking when you see it!

Ishtar

There was a damp corner in our house that only became evident after we had lived here for 6 months - it had been successfully hidden behind wallpaper and a TV had been stuck in front of it. Anyhow, we asked a builder to look at it - he did say it was rising damp - but it turned out that the cavity had been breached by fallen masonry...most likely when the property was built (over 30 years ago!!). He removed this - probably only took him an hour or so - and it cost us £150. We were lucky in this case...could have cost much more to put right.

If I were in your buyers situation I think I would at least ask for a 50% contribution to the cost of an additional survey, if not the whole amount. As others have said, is it worth losing the sale for the sake of £120?

D.