Just viewed property - accept bathroom issues?

shazchip

Hello!

I have just viewed a property which I want to buy - it's perfect for me in terms of location and size and price is ok too.

The only thing I have reservations about is the fact that both bathrooms are enclosed with no ventilation - it's a flat and none of the bathroom walls are on the outside. When I viewed it, as I had expected one of the bathrooms has a smell of damp. In addition, I can see on one wall near the side of the shower the paint is all brown and bubbled probably due to it getting wet (maybe leaking shower).

I am not sure whether these problems are easy/inexpensive to fix (I don't know much about DIY). I read up a bit about damp and it seems like if it's just caused by ventilation problems it should be easy to apply fungicide to ceiling/walls and then paint with specialist paint. I don't know whether I should just accept this problem as the rest of the property seems fine and it's otherwise actually pretty much what I want. Or am I going to regret it later if these problems just keep recurring? What would you do?! Just after some other opinions really as it's a big buy for me!

Thanks

HouseBuyer77

Lack of ventilation certainly does cause damp issues in bathrooms so that may be the case here. So to fix it, along with repainting/applying fungicide etc to fix the existing damp/mold problem you will need to sort the underlying issue, namely ventilation, to rid the bathroom of damp for good.

The bathooms are fully enclosed so no windows? Easy fix is just to ensure you leave the window open when running the shower/after shower though maybe not so pleasant in the winter. Really you want a decent ventilation fan, but where could it vent to? In a flat, unless it's top floor and you have loft access it will have to go out a wall, and if fully enclosed be routed via another room.

shazchip

Yep that's the thing, I wouldn't be able to just get a fan or something installed (didn't think of the option of routing it via another room, though, sounds expensive to have something like that put in).

(It's a middle floor flat)

I have never lived in a place with bathroom without windows, hence my uncertainty.. Could it become a massive problem (I could get a dehumidifier and leave doors open after shower etc) or will it be fine?

HouseBuyer77

Fundamentally you want the moisture out of the flat. Leaving the door open stops concentrating it in the bathroom but spreads it around the flat. You might get away with this as your flat is not hermetically sealed (i.e. moisture can escape) but you may just end up with damp problems all over and as you're spreading the moisture around these may take time to make themselves apparent.

A dehumidifier would help and may be sufficient to prevent problems as it pulls the moisture out of the air and you can chuck it down the drain. It does cost money to run though.

HouseBuyer77

Though having said it costs money to run I think a 200/300W one would do the job, so a quarter of a unit an hour (3ish p). Get one with a timer (or an external socket timer) and just leave it running in the bathroom after a shower for an hour or so (perhaps you can get away with 30 or even 15 minutes, you'd have to experiment). You won't have a socket in the bathroom so ideally there'd be a gap under the door you could run the cable through as it's probably better to keep the moisture contained.

Whatever you do don't ignore the problem, as it's clearly a problem now and the only solution is to remove moisture, via whatever means.

westv

Sounds like the original installation was a bit slapdash if no means of ventilation was installed.

jimbog

What do the neighbouring flats do?

jbainbridge

It does sound like you have looked carefully - are you sure there were no fans? Often they are there but people turn them off because of the noise.

It's possible you could live with it - but it will be a problem. Though as you say you could already smell damp in the bathroom. I think I would reluctant to take it on - let's face the bathroom is one room were it is difficult _not_ to create moisture!

Marvel1

I have the same issue in my property (how I never noticed when viewing, not the window but no fan!) , I have a dehumidifier right outside, I have mine to run 24/7 - it's full about 3/4 days.

dannim12345

Are you sure the bathrooms don't have a fan? If its reasonably modern or a modern conversion (with 2 bathrooms in a flat i'm guessing so...) it would have needed to have them to comply with building regs.

They might be turned off or blocked (with dust?) so not working as they should do.

bris

Can you not put a vent just below the bathroom floor level on the outside wall and a vent in a corner of the bathroom floor. This will draw a natural draft into the bathroom and you can close the vent when not using the shower.