Discovered water damage after completion - any comebacks?

machofairy

After the completion of our new (old) house, we found that an area of the bathroom was completely damp and the floorboards has decayed. The damp surveyor said the adjoining room in that area also had high damp readings.

As a result,we will need the affected floorboards replaced and walls repaired. No idea if the joists are affected until they come and do the work.

This was not picked up by the surveyor when we offered on the house nor did we notice it as they had put a brand new layer of plasterboard over the affected area, and the wall on the adjoining room had furniture on it, so no damp reading was taken.

This problem was definitely not mentioned to us by the estate agent nor the vensor.

Is there any comeback on this or do we have to foot the repair bill ourselves? I suppose an insurance claim is not possible?

xycom1

Is it something that the survey should have picked up? If so, then your claim is against them surely?

clutton_2

caveat emptor - buyer beware - it is up to you and your experts to do your own due diligence. what sort of survey did you have ? if it was just the normal valuation survey, then you dont have any comeback on the surveyor.

Gorgeous_George

Can you not replace the floorboards yourself? It's hardly rocking horse science.

Damp in a bathroom is probably caused from the inside. The floorboards are probably damaged by leaky fittings or a badly installed shower. Damp is often caused by poor ventilation. I fitted a shower recently and installed an extractor fan above the shower. Many homes do not have a fan and the rooms are not designed to be saunas.

I certainly would not pay someone to replace a few floorboards. Remember to cure the source of the problem as well as the symptons.



GG

machofairy

Unfortunately, it is not just the floorboards that are affected.
Yes, its is from the shower... it's a cubicle whicj backs onto a wall, and the blards underneath and the wall has been affected. The wallpaper on the other side has some bubbling, so I got the damp repair people to come in to survey it. Also, the shower tray needs to be ripped out to replace the decayed (they have gone black) floorboards underneath ... all this is beyond what I can do, and that is assuming that no damage has been done to the joists underneath.

We did have a homebuyers report, but they did not pick it up, probably because the vendor put a new plasterboard over the bathroom floor and new vinyl over it .. which by the time of completion, 5 months later, had also gone black around the shower.