Damp - vendor/buyer survey

BeattieOG

Thanks everyone for the advice - really helpful. We'll ask to see the survey and I think, unless there is something major in there, let the buyer decide if he wants to sort it out or not.
Will post back to update for posterity!

BeattieOG

Hi everyone. Update - buyer sent his survey and it says

DPC is not at recommended 150 mm above ground.

Excessive dampness (tested via electronic moisture meter) on several walls - recommend damp survey and DPC injection

Water staining to ceiling of front bedroom

We have no signs of damp, and there was a DPC done about 6 years ago...

I will investigate the water staining to the ceiling as they are suggesting it may be a leak from the roof.

Would you get a damp survey (independent, not free!) for the rest for the buyer?

Doozergirl

This is ridiculous. They've literally told you the problem - the ground level is too high outside.

So take the ground level down and let the DPC do what it is supposed to do, instead of recommending another one that won't work either.

In absolutely despair at so-called property professionals these days. No one genuinely cares or actually seems to comprehend that if you were standing under the shower and wanted to stop getting wet, you'd step out of it and turn it off, not put a rain coat on.

The water staining on the ceiling isn't the DPC though. What's that?

G_M

Doozergirl wrote: »

This is ridiculous. They've literally told you the problem - the ground level is too high outside.

So take the ground level down and let the DPC do what it is supposed to do, instead of recommending another one that won't work either.

In absolutely despair at so-called property professionals these days. No one genuinely cares or actually seems to comprehend that if you were standing under the shower and wanted to stop getting wet, you'd step out of it and turn it off, not put a rain coat on.

The water staining on the ceiling isn't the DPC though. What's that?

Agree.
If the buyer spends a weekend digging a narrow trench (there's probably a Building Regs spec) around the outside of the wall to reduce the external ground level (or removes that rockery up against the wall/whatever) the wall will dry out and the existing dpc will do its job.


'stained' ceiling suggests a historic leak. Have you had roof repairs in the past?


I'd certainly not get a survey done myself. Yes, I'd allow the buyer to get one done but conditionalon it being a proper independant survey - not a freebie by a dp company that is just touting for business.

FreeBear

BeattieOG wrote: »

Excessive dampness (tested via electronic moisture meter) on several walls

Oh dear.... Those things are only good for measuring damp in untreated timber. On plaster, countless things will affect the reading - Salt, paint, even the type of plaster will all give false readings. The only way reliable measurements can be taken is by drilling in to the wall, taking some of the dust, and dropping the sample in a "carbide meter". Very, very few surveyors possess the equipment or the knowledge to use one correctly.

Albala

Doozergirl wrote: »

Albala, what are the symptoms in your house?

High 'damp readings' with one of those little meters with pins (surveyor and damp 'expert'). I gather that means very little.

Some peeling paper at low levels, mostly on exterior walls, (suspended floor) but little or no mould even under the worst bits, the paper is decades old and the dampish paper is exactly where you'd expect condensation to have been - the house has been inadequately ventilated for years, and has in the main room a very old gas fire which was apparently on all the time with all windows closed. Paper (spongy embossed stuff, with soft foamy stuff in the embossed bits) seems to be holding the damp more than the wall behind it, according to our little pin meter, for what that's worth.

Outer ground levels mostly 2 bricks below DPC, but we plan to remove the tarmac, gravel the drive, and put in French drains anyway.
Upper walls roughcast, seem perfectly sound, no problems at those levels. Lower levels, below about a metre, glazed bricks, which some moron has painted. Paint (two thin layers at least 15 years ago, possibly much longer) is peeling off. I plan to remove loose paint carefully with blunt scraper and keep doing it as more peels off- I don't want to damage the bricks. But if you have a suggestion there, I'd be interested. Where I have gently lifted the paint off, the brick is darker behind the paint, but immediately dries out and looks like the rest of the dry bricks.

Basic structure, late 20s early 30s cavity walls. We think, filled with insulation:(. We plan to dig some out and see if that's damp or not. Black ash mortar (surveyor).



We plan to remove all wallpaper and ventilate, and see what happens, but any other suggestions will be welcome. The place already smells fresher (and didn't really smell damp to start with).



The concern I have that may need dealing with sooner than I'd like is that kitchen/diner has had its external walls done weirdly. Kitchen (which is coming out) turns out to be merely chipboard with a gap to inner leaf of bricks behind cupboards and tiles. And in DR it has been 'boarded out' (the surveyor's term) with dot-and dab- you can see where one or two of the 'dabs' are because they have made cold spots on the wall. I'm unsure of the best course when we remove all that- wet plaster (lime or what?) or plasterboard on battens? The dot-and dab seems dry (but then, it would be) and the bits of chipboard we can see so far seem dry too. Under the sink where we can now see the inner brick leaf looks like it might not be 100% bone dry just on the bricks immediately around the mortar- but hard to tell. We are leaving that to see if it dries out when exposed. Could just be old staining, as it is also where an old long-gone water pipe had once been partially chiselled in....

Albala

FreeBear wrote: »

Oh dear.... Those things are only good for measuring damp in untreated timber. On plaster, countless things will affect the reading - Salt, paint, even the type of plaster will all give false readings. The only way reliable measurements can be taken is by drilling in to the wall, taking some of the dust, and dropping the sample in a "carbide meter". Very, very few surveyors possess the equipment or the knowledge to use one correctly.

And it's not easy to find one....any suggestions for one in the NW England would be welcome.

Doozergirl

Sounds like you know what you're doing.

If the dot and dab is just a cold patch and not genuine dampness then would you have space for a bit of insulated plasterboard?

snilloct1957

I have damp on the wall in my understairs cupboard, and there's not a lot I can do about it. It's a Victorian terrace with no DPC, but had injection done a few years ago. The internal brick walls were generally laid on the subsoil - no foundation - and over the years moisture has penetrated the brickwork and is working its way up the walls.

Albala

Doozergirl wrote: »

Sounds like you know what you're doing.

If the dot and dab is just a cold patch and not genuine dampness then would you have space for a bit of insulated plasterboard?

Possibly, yes. I'm not even bothered about losing a few inches on the room if it would produce a better solution. We'll only find out if the wall is damp when the dot and dab comes off, or if we take a small piece out and peek in.

Sparkies are in as of next week doing a rewire, all except the offending kitchen, and I'll have a chat with their plasterers (they said, why pay us electrician's rates to do plastering when TBH, we're terrible plasterers?':D).
And thanks for the vote of confidence! I think if we do all those things and we still have any problems, then will be the time to get a proper specialist in. There seems to be no point doing anything invasive or irreversible until we've done the obvious common sense stuff and seen if that sorts it. Either way, no way will I allow anyone to drill holes in the bricks and inject crap, or put in waterproof plaster, as the 'specialist' wanted to do! Our solutions may even cost more, but will at least not damage the fabric.



A mate has a Victorian house that had general dampness, and simply installing a forced ventilation system sorted it out. In many other cases I know of, people overheat their houses and just don't open windows from one year to another. We have at least some windows open pretty much all year round, and always overnight in the bedrooms. When we replace the windows, we'll have vented ones put in.