Damp on home report - buy or walk away?

marymac27

Hi all, resurrecting this thread in the hopes that some of you might see it as your advice would be hugely appreciated. I’ve had the damp survey back with a quote for £5,100 plus VAT. Fun.

They say they want to do DPC injections on pretty much most of the walls. Then they want to treat the area with the decayed skirting broads for dry rot. No really mention of cause, a mix of failed damp course and past leaks from bathroom and boiler. I’ll try and post some images now. Lemme know your thoughts if you have some time! Thanks!

marymac27

https://ibb.co/S0trTMM

marymac27

https://ibb.co/jWGSkZz
https://ibb.co/zxLpvgf
https://ibb.co/MsSVwmg
https://ibb.co/c8yQsRn
https://ibb.co/XCpNbyK

marymac27

I meant wet rot there!

FreeBear

marymac27 wrote: »

They say they want to do DPC injections on pretty much most of the walls. Then they want to treat the area with the decayed skirting broads for dry rot. No really mention of cause, a mix of failed damp course and past leaks from bathroom and boiler.

The [STRIKE]surveyor[/STRIKE] salesman has identified two probable causes of the damp. Leaks in the shower room and elevated levels outside. His supposition that the DPC has failed and requires some magical cream to be injected is fundamentally flawed. A DPC does not "fail" unless physically damaged or bridged. There is no evidence to suggest damage, which leaves the second.

If you go ahead with this purchase, reduce the soil levels outside, check the soil pipe doesn't leak, and strip the shower room out. Fix any plumbing issues, put in a decent floor & wall suitable for a wet room, job done - That said, if the building is of solid brick/stone construction, the shower room probably wants to have a ventilation gap between the wall and any tanked/tiled surface.

marymac27

Thanks Freebear for your thoughts. I’ve asked the company for some clarity on sources of damp but they just don’t know. I think definitely I will not be giving them over 5k without actually understanding the problem.

I think that yes the shower room needs redone, the shrubbery moved away from the gable end and general tlc and heat.

A thing that has confused me is that the damp company mentioned the lack of ventilation to the sub floor as if it was problem and when I asked if we could install air bricks they said it was a floating floor and didn’t need it. There’s so much contradiction in the report, it’s baffling!!

I’m going again to see if so will check out the problem areas myself and see if I can smell damp.

DeeMM

Hi marymac ... I've just discovered this thread whilst searching for damp and was wondering how you got on? I bought my house in 2016 and had a nightmare with so called damp experts [using protimeters which I believe are actually calibrated for timber not masonry!] telling me I needed expensive remedial work, huge amounts of plaster removing and chemical injections doing and so forth .... it was a nightmare. Not once did they ever try to identify the source of the damp. Most of the issues I had were sorted once I had the actual damp source identified [mostly just faulty/broken guttering] and appropriate repairs done. Luckily I persuaded the independent surveyor I used for the home report [it was a cash purchase so I didn't have to us a lender appointed surveyor] to come and take another look and use a thermal imaging device to prove that damp was NOT rife as suggested by the damp 'expert'.
I've since done a lot of research on damp and it seems the whole industry is non regulated and subject to a mountain of abuse by unscrupulous practice. It doesn't leave a lot of hope for us potential and existing homeowners I must say !

googler

There's no shortage of one-bed flats in Edinburgh. Unless there's something radically good about other aspects of this one, it's tempting to say leave it and look for another without such problems, maybe on first floor or above?

Doozergirl

googler wrote: »

There's no shortage of one-bed flats in Edinburgh. Unless there's something radically good about other aspects of this one, it's tempting to say leave it and look for another without such problems, maybe on first floor or above?

I suggest reading to the end of the thread.

You'd have learned something from it and also realised that it has just been resurrected by someone else.

marymac27

One bed flats within budget in Edinburgh not going at at least 15k above valuation (which you cannot include in your mortgage) are not easy to come by! Anyway I did buy the flat and am in. I ripped up the laminate flooring and discovered a leaking radiator that caused the damage and got a plumber who said the shower tiles were letting water in and damaging the wall. The flat has been hugely neglected with leaks going unfixed probably for many years (hence the rot). Hopefully some love and care will fix it. As far as the damp survey which suggested ripping out all of the walls and injecting DPC...I’m just ignoring that. If I see more damp I’ll find the source, fix and repair. 👍💪