Timber/Damp Advice

chrissw

Hi guys,

After a bit of advice please, am in the process of buying a new house and the homebuyers report detected damp in the hallway, suggesting the hallway had been tiled on top of quarry tiles which would have been from the original build early 1900's which would have no damp course. The surveyor suggested an additional damp report be carried out.

When I mentioned this to the agent I found out the vendor had a report from a few months before. The property had been sold previously (but fell through because the buyer kept changing the completion date) the surveyors at the time had flagged damp so the vendor had a report carried out.

The vendors report suggested 2 of the walls in the hallway be replastered to 1m with damp treatment and dpc.

I visited the house with the seller there, I asked why he hadn't had the work done if he knew there was a problem. (He has renovated the house and changed the floor timbers in the living room because they were that rotten his foot when through) he knocked the walls and stated they were solid and showed no signs of damp so he doesn't feel they need doing. He was completely reasonable though and said after you get your report back give me a call and we'll sort it out. He also told me when the floor was laid a concrete screed was put down. He seems genuine and I have no reason to doubt him.

My report has come back and it's said much of the same, except to plaster more walls of the hallway so is double the price.

I hadn't read advice to get an independent to do the report so there is an argument that the quotes are for priced work, but I don't know what the best route to take is. I see the vendors point that the plaster isn't hanging off the wall and I don't want to appear unreasonable, but at the same time 4 experts have flagged damp and I have a young child so I don't want to ignore it.

Grateful for any advice and thank you for your time reading this!

ST1991

Up to you. We took out house purchase on being aware of the damp. Everyone told me you will get it in an old house... We had awful condensation damp in our new-build rented flat which was 100x worse than this.

Find out where the damp is coming from. Cracks in the rendering? Condenstion?
if you can't see/feel/smell it... it may not be that bad. Ours was AWFUL when we viewed(plaster soaking wet, wallpaper hanging off).
However, it has dried up so much since we moved in and aired the place out. it was rented, and the tenant never opened any windows for fear of spiders, had a non-condensing tumble dryer with no vent going outside, didn't open the window in the bathroom and had no extractor fan/dehumidifier and various other factors that are obvious to cause damp, or make damp worse. She lived there with 3 boys under 10... although no mould, the damp was awful and i can't believe nothing was done in the 7 years it was rented to that family. I guess that's the problem with renting to friends... (i wouldn't want to be her friend...)

Anyway... If the owner is willing to cover some of the cost of a new DPC, i would say that is pretty good!
if you are that worried, get an independent report done. it might cost you a few hundred, but will save you more than that should you have just got a quote from someone offering a 'free survey'.

At least you know it is a problem now, as opposed to moving in, taking the woodchip wallpaper off the walls and the plaster crumble filling up the room like a ballpit!

chrissw

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I ended up just discussing it with the Seller and have come to an agreement, He insists it's not a problem that needs addressing yet, but I may get a independent report done when I move in just incase. My father in law seems to think plugging with damp cream may do the job as the main offending wall backs on to the garage but we'll see!

G_M

Does the hall smell damp?
Is there water/condensation on the walls?
Is there any peeling wallpaper/paint?
If carpeted, is the carpet damp?
Can you see any mould?

Beyond an unreliable test with a [STRIKE]damp[/STRIKE] electrical conductivity meter, what evidence of damp is there?

Which of the reports was done by a truly independant damp expert, and which done by a salesman working for a damp proofing company?

chrissw

No, there are no visible signs of damp, no smell, the walls aren't wallpapered and the floor has been retiled in the last year (the seller says the tiles were put down ontop of a screed on top of existing concrete). Apparenlty it was detected around the plug sockets under the stairs with the meter, but the walls seem solid when you tap them.

My surveyor & the previous buyers surveyor flagged it, the seller had a report done and I did but they were both done by contractors not an independant. I was recommended the company I used, they charged me for it but it wasn't until I read into it after I realised I should have gone with an independant report.