Rising damp not picked up on full building survey

Cathb42

I got the keys for my new home a week ago and when I went into the property there were water stains above two of the skirting boards, down the sides of the chimney breast and above the fireplace. The chimney breast was damp and the upper bedroom chimney breast is also damp and stained. None of this was highlighted in the full building survey I had done. I got the surveyor back who said that there is rising damp but that it didn’t show up in September when the survey was done as we had such a hot summer. Does anyone know if this is really the case? Can all traces of rising damp disappear in a hot summer? Also, do I have any redress in this matter? The damp is really bad (I since discovered more of it in an internal wall) and I would not have bought the property if I’d known about it.

Slithery

Rising damp is a false diagnosis 99.9% of the time. I'd assume that the damp is coming in through the chimney instead of the floor.

antrobus

Cathb42 wrote: »

I got the keys for my new home a week ago and when I went into the property there were water stains above two of the skirting boards, down the sides of the chimney breast and above the fireplace. The chimney breast was damp and the upper bedroom chimney breast is also damp and stained....

Either your roof is leaking, or you need your chimney capped.

Get a roofer in to fix it.

martinthebandit

Slithery wrote: »

Rising damp is a false diagnosis 99.9% of the time. I'd assume that the damp is coming in through the chimney instead of the floor.

So would I, OP what sort of fire have you in the chimney? ....and how often is it used?

AdrianC

Every building erected in the last century or more has an effective damp-proof course.



Unless somebody's done a monumental pile of bodgery, the moisture's coming from elsewhere - either high external ground levels breaching the DPC, damaged rainwater goods (gutters/downpipes) spilling onto the external walls, or some other cause. For a chimney, it's almost certainly readily visible if somebody bothers to get up a ladder and have a look, and almost certainly fairly easily fixable.


Damp on a different internal wall is almost certainly a totally different cause - is something leaking? Or is it just condensation?

AnotherJoe

Where did you find such a genius "surveyor" whose suggested that water stains in the upstairs chimney breast as well as downstairs is from water at ground level ?
Rather than, say, I don't know, at a random guess, water coming in via the chimney ?

societys_child

. . above the fireplace. The chimney breast was damp and the upper bedroom chimney breast is also damp and stained

'Rising damp' can't rise that high . . :eek:

Doozergirl

Cathb42 wrote: »

I got the keys for my new home a week ago and when I went into the property there were water stains above two of the skirting boards, down the sides of the chimney breast and above the fireplace. The chimney breast was damp and the upper bedroom chimney breast is also damp and stained. None of this was highlighted in the full building survey I had done. I got the surveyor back who said that there is rising damp but that it didn’t show up in September when the survey was done as we had such a hot summer. Does anyone know if this is really the case? Can all traces of rising damp disappear in a hot summer? Also, do I have any redress in this matter? The damp is really bad (I since discovered more of it in an internal wall) and I would not have bought the property if I’d known about it.

What did the survey say about the roof?!

Rising damp doesn't fall from the sky.

supa34

I really don't see the benefit of these surveys as they never pick up on anything and cover themselves from any liability by claiming they couldn't go deep enough or couldn't tell.
It doesn't seem like damp to me due to it being on first floor. It looks like you need to cap the chimney as mentioned or get the roof looked it. Could be case of pointing up the chimney or have a look at teh lead around the chimney stack. Even a little bit of water can stain through the chimney. I would also look at getting the chimney swept.

Doozergirl

supa34 wrote: »

I really don't see the benefit of these surveys as they never pick up on anything and cover themselves from any liability by claiming they couldn't go deep enough or couldn't tell.
It doesn't seem like damp to me due to it being on first floor. It looks like you need to cap the chimney as mentioned or get the roof looked it. Could be case of pointing up the chimney or have a look at teh lead around the chimney stack. Even a little bit of water can stain through the chimney. I would also look at getting the chimney swept.

Surveys aren't really meant to be be a categorical diagnosis of everything. They do signpost to specialists. I think the problem is that people expect the survey 'to be it' rather than a working document to be referred to.

kingstreet

Doozergirl wrote: »

Surveys aren't really meant to be be a categorical diagnosis of everything. They do signpost to specialists. I think the problem is that people expect the survey 'to be it' rather than a working document to be referred to.

Yep.

You've seen the GP. Now you need a specialist.

Your surveyor has taken a high moisture reading and this is probably due to water leaking somewhere - chimney flashing, roof, external soil level bridging damp course, chimney needs capping, leaky rainwater goods.

A report by an independent damp & timber surveyor who does not carry out damp course and timber treatment work will probably get to the bottom of this quite quickly.

http://www.independentdampsurveyors.co.uk/