buying an old farmhouse... with damp

dalifnei

Hi all, would be grateful for your advice.

We are looking at buying an old farmhouse. Surveyor says it has damp and to get a timber specialist. The timber specialist recommends some timber will need replacing in the floors in 2 rooms.

We are a bit scared of this, the floors feel fine and solid but he says he can't actually say as he'd need to dismantle half the place to find out.

The property is for sale at a good price, and we could afford to sort out the damp but not replace floor joists just now.

Although it seems ok... just how bad could it be? Should we walk away?

G_M

It could be nothing.

Or the hidden joists could be rotten through and bout to give way. I'm afraid my exray eyes can't see through the flooroards. Or indeed across the 500 miles seperating me from the property.

Either

* ask the seller so lift floorboards so you can look or
* ask the seller so lift floorboards so surveyor can look or
* ask the seller to reduce price just in case or
* walk away or
* set some contengency fund aside just in case

But perhaps more importantly, what is the source of the damp??? leaking pipe? Drains? Gutters? Roof? dpc? pointing?

No point replacing damp wood if water is going to continue to seep in from.... wherever and rot the brand new wood.......

dalifnei

Thx... I think its one of the unknowables. Even after spending a grand on a survey and timber specialist report! Basically all our money will go on sorting the damp! The floors feel strong, am hoping they're going to last maybe 3-5 years until we can afford to redo them... can't imagine they wouldn't but I have no real idea other than they feel fine

tea-bag

To me it sounds like you are thinking about a renovation on a limited budget they never work! Find out the problem FIRST!

AdrianC

If you're thinking of buying an old property, get used to jobs escalating rapidly, and get very used to not knowing what you're dealing with until you start dismantling. It's absolutely par for the course.

DigForVictory

We bought an old house for a song, and spent an operetta getting it reliably up to spec.

Affairs of the heart are one thing. Affairs of the mortgage retention, further submortgages and generally expecting cereal to include a drift of sand, grit, plaster etc are something else.

Years later, it's a glorious house, we love it & we no longer need the antidepressants. Just the managing-arthritics stuff.

Jeff_Djevdet

Get a more thorough survey or it’s a piece of string job I’m afraid. You need to know what you’re letting yourself in for.

Alchemilla

What is it built from?

Lots of old houses this way are cob and stone and a surveyor with a damp meter will always find damp.

DRP

dalifnei wrote: »

Hi all, would be grateful for your advice.

We are looking at buying an old farmhouse. Surveyor says it has damp and to get a timber specialist. The timber specialist recommends some timber will need replacing in the floors in 2 rooms.

We are a bit scared of this, the floors feel fine and solid but he says he can't actually say as he'd need to dismantle half the place to find out.

The property is for sale at a good price, and we could afford to sort out the damp but not replace floor joists just now.

Although it seems ok... just how bad could it be? Should we walk away?

I think that replacing some joists probably compares very well to getting some one in to 'sort out the damp'.

The former is fairly easy to do and won't cost a huge amount. The latter could involve a lot of money , and may not even address the fundamental cause of the damp (given the way damp companies operate, and the fact you don't know what's caused the problem).

Can you give us some more details on the type of build of the property, the areas affected etc?

AlexMac

dalifnei wrote: »

... an old farmhouse. Surveyor says it has damp and to get a timber specialist. The timber specialist recommends some timber will need replacing in the floors in 2 rooms... the floors feel fine and solid but he says he can't actually say as he'd need to dismantle half the place to find out. ... just how bad could it be? Should we walk away?

If you paid for the survey ask for a more precise report than "it has damp".

Almost every period building has damp; either (i) rising, (ii) penetrating/leaks or (iii) condensation/atmospheric; or a mix of all three. A bit of damp isn't itself a problem as long as you heat and ventilate, and as long as timber (like structural timbers or the ends of joists) isn't in prolonged contact with wet. And old buildings are incredibly forgiving and durable; I once bought a 100-year old house where wet rot caused by a leaking gutter and downpipe had persisted so long that the dreaded mycelium (fungus) of 'dry rot' were coursing along a skirting board and sucking out moisture so that the timber was cracked and crumbling. But having removed the source of the damp and dried it all out, I sought advice frrom a Timber and Damp specialist who confirmed that it had stabilised; so I only had to replace the skirting; a DIY job!

Your period country property will quite possibly have been built without a damp course, without air bricks to ventilate the sub-floor (assuming its a 'suspended' timber floor as you seem to imply), or because the wrong (modern cement) waterproof render has been applied to the (presumably solid?) outer walls preventing them from breathing, or because soil is piled up against outside walls or the gutters are running over etc...

But if you feel lucky, and if as you say there is no movement when you jump up and down, and are prepared to take on a period house, go for it, even if the vendor is reluctant for you to pull up carpets and a few floorboards before you offer.

If you do buy, lifting floorboards to have a poke at the joist-ends is a DIY job; and a few hundred quid of carpentry and a few days re-plastering is likely to solve most problems (albeit without the 25 year guarantee that an overpriced T&D specialist will give you). At worst, if all the timber is totally shot, you rip it out and consider a solid concrete floor (with a damp membrane and possibly insulation, or even under-floor heating) for a couple of thou...

Look at the SPAB website - https://www.spab.org.uk and articles at https://www.homebuilding.co.uk and be reassured that after a few years in a period building you'll be more savvy

But as GM says, we're not psychic, so it;s your call how much more investigation, diagnosis and costing you want to do before jumping in. As someone else says, an older building costs more to maintain and repair, but is hopefully worth it for the features and character