Discovered damp after buying our first house

jordan88

Hi, we bought out first house last August and have started renovating. It's an old house so we knew it had to be done, but we have just discovered damp walls that were buried under artex, then cement upon plaster which has turned to sand. Literally when we chisel into the walls, apart from the cement being difficult to remove, the plaster is like sand and now we are back to bare brick, some of the mortar between the bricks is also falling out like sand. I am just wondering due to the extent of the damp, should this not have came up in the survey that had been carried out? Can we report back to the conveyancer that we used or do we have any leg to stand on? Any advice appreciated, Thank you

Doozergirl

If you only found a problem by breaking away at the walls then the surveyor was never going to find it.

If you had to break away the artex then you're basically in the same position.

Is it actually damp feeling? Look for what might be causing the problem. What is immediately outside that wall? Where is the damp proof course? Do you have solid or suspended floors? If suspended, do you have plenty of clear air bricks?

Photos, please, if you want further advice. It is likely to save you money.

jordan88

Hi, thanks for your reply. So yes it's a suspended floor in the living area where we have found the damp, and the wooden beams are rotten away and full of woodworm, the floor will have to be replaced. The air bricks are clear, no apparent cause of the damp, (it's an interior wall ) all we can think of is a drainage problem that may run unnderneath? but would this not have been found at time of the drainage survey? Thanks for your advice! much appreciated.

Doozergirl

Time to get some floorboards up and your head in the space under them!

G_M

jordan88 wrote: »

......should this not have came up in the survey that had been carried out? Can we report back to the conveyancer that we used or do we have any leg to stand on? Any advice appreciated, Thank you

Doozergirl has given you some starting pointers on the issues.


Impossible to comment definitively on liability of the surveyor without
a) seeing the survey report (or quoted relevant parts) and
b) full details of the issue
but as doozergirl says, a surveyor can only report what he can see......


The conveyancer has no liablity.


I doubt you have 'a leg to stand on' if by that you mean can you claim off someone else.


Bottom line is it's clearly an old property requiring considerable work and you knew this from the start. If the 'work' is somewhat more than you hoped, well, that's not unusual!

jordan88

They have been up and we have been under. Can't pin point a cause, but we have removed lots of rubble and sand that was dumped underneath the floor boards, so it's well cleared underneath now for air to circulate, hopefully it starts to dry out.

Doozergirl

Sounds like a potential suspect!

jordan88

As I said it's our first house, so just a little disappointing finding the damp, not looking to claim of anyone, just looking for further advice, that's all! I imagine we aren't the first and won't be the last to find damp walls after buying a property. Thank you for your adice- we will keep trying to see can we get to the bottom of the cause and go from there.

FreeBear

jordan88 wrote: »

the plaster is like sand and now we are back to bare brick, some of the mortar between the bricks is also falling out like sand.

Sounds very much like lime mortar & plaster typical of older properties. How old is the building and are the external walls solid brick or cavity ?

If solid brick construction, chipping off the cement was a wise move and you should follow this up with repointing & plastering in lime. Be aware that now that you have taken the plaster back to bare brick, building control will probably want you to insulate the walls - https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/18/external_walls/2
When you remove the floor, the regs will probably require insulation to be added there also.

I also have a wall suffering from damp issues - The root cause was cowboy builders failing to clear their crap out of the cavity when adding an extension. I'll need to remove some bricks which should be easy enough as most of them are bedded in with lime mortar. Three bricks at a time, clear out the cavity, and rebed with lime (NHL3.5).

jordan88

Thanks for the info, will check out that link. It's a solid brick house , built in the 1930's.