Damp on home report - buy or walk away?

walwyn1978

The paint on the skirting doesn’t have any discolouration or darkening which would be a sign of it being more likely wet rot, so it’s more likely to be dry. Obviously the professionals will tell you exactly.

marymac27

Ah ok. Thanks for letting me know. A real shame if it is but better to find out now.

markin

The soil looks far to high to me, It could just be the photo, Is it in contact at the end? It looks like the could be damp spot.

marymac27

I'm not sure if it's in contact. Thanks for your comments, will be confirmed by the survey what's going on but it's not looking good. I don't want to take on a flat with dry rot but will see...

Doozergirl

I don't think that is dry rot. Active dry rot looks far more exciting than that with white snowy coatings of fungus, and a visible 'root' or spider web appearance to it. It isn't dry, regardless of the name. It needs a source of water to survive. It makes no sense to say something is 'rot' and not 'damp' defies logic. Rot is caused by water where it shouldn't be. 'Damp' isn't some mysterious phenomenon, it's just a name for that water being where it shouldn't be.

If you want to see dry rot, there was quite a spectacular example on the In My Home board earlier this week.

I think it was wet rot, but either way, it looks pretty limited. If one side of the wall belongs to a bathroom, then that's the most obvious answer as to the cause of the leak.

Find the source, ensure it has stopped (it looks like it may have - is it actually wet? It looks dry. That does not make it dry rot, it makes it dried-out rot, which is a good thing). Strip back the rotten wood, ensure the area has dried out and replace the affected wood. I can't tell you how many times we've done it around bathrooms or wall plates from historic leaks.

The sub floor does look bone dry. Are there plenty air bricks serving that sub floor, front and back?

You just need to find the source or find out if has been fixed already by the vendor and that is the leftovers.

I don't think it's big deal at all. Doesn't need chemicals, doesn't need tanking or a DPC. A well ventilated subfloor is ideal for the period of house and should be left alone and not looked at by ANYONE that sells tanking or DPCs.

marymac27

Thanks so much for your thoughts Doozergirl. Very helpful! I was wondering if it was old leak from the bathroom because it does look like it was once wet and has now dried out.

Once I get the results of the survey I'll go in and have a proper look and check air bricks and see if the leak is still there. Hopefully it has been fixed but the vendor seems to have very little info on his flat as he rented it out to the same person for ten years, that person may have fixed the leak but didn't replace the skirting board, fingers crossed it's that!

Will let you know how I get on. Thanks again!

marymac27

https /ibb.co/VxYHRqr
https /ibb.co/vYxQcrB
https: //ibb.co/qY6Dq7f
https: //ibb.co/cxD9Jtr

Just thought I’d share the quote for the work to be done (the vendor got this done last month, after putting the flat on the market, I was sent this after putting in my offer but with nothing else, no information on what the actual cause of the problem is) as well as the comments from the home report about the damp and skirting boards. Any thoughts appreciated and thanks so much for all your input!! 😊😊😊

Doozergirl

https://ibb.co/VxYHRqr
https://ibb.co/vYxQcrB
https://ibb.co/qY6Dq7f
https://ibb.co/cxD9Jtr

Doozergirl

It makes me so angry!

The quote offers no explanation for the 'damp' other than talking about a central heating pipe. Why, if it's a leaking pipe, would you need to strip of all the plaster and tank the walls? You would stop the pipe from leaking, fullstop!

The survey itself tells you that the shower is leaking so again, why do you need expensive damp proofing when the solution is to stop the leak!

Offers no solid evidence of genuine further damp in the flat other than 'slight' readings, which is outrageous and plays you straight into the hands of these charlatans and allows the surveyor to wash their hands. Their metres aren't made to test plaster walls anyway - a 'slight' reading means nothing. I'd want actual evidence before I started smashing my house up!

Case in point "there is evidence of previous damp treatments". So it doesn't work? Shock horror. Proof that they that if there is a problem, it isn't solved by their treatments!

marymac27

Totally agree Doozergirl. It’s a very bizarre quote. Really good to have your insight on this. So worth finding out what is actually going on rather than paying thousands when there’s been no investigation into the actual source of the problem is. I’ll make sure to look into this properly before making any decisions! Thanks again.