Damp Issue - First Time Buyer

mixablemixer

Hi,

I am looking to buy my first house and had a homebuyers survey conducted. One of the issues identified is:

"We tested the internal face of walls for dampness...to determine the level of moisture content present. Higher than normal readings were noted right-side walls, possibly due to blocked cavities and/or insufficient damp proof course"

This was classified as a category 2 on the survey.

The thing is I'm not really sure what to do next about the issue. Has anyone had the same problem and what is the next step - do I need a damp expert to look at the property first or do I need to negotiate a lower price?

Any help would be much appreciated.

FreeBear

mixablemixer wrote: »

The thing is I'm not really sure what to do next about the issue. Has anyone had the same problem and what is the next step - do I need a damp expert to look at the property first or do I need to negotiate a lower price?

Have a look at the exterior of the property. Are the gutters & downpipes in good order ?
Is the pointing in good condition, or if it is rendered, are there any cracks ?

Talk to the surveyor and see if he has any further comments on the subject - Highly unlikely that it is "insufficient DPC". Do not have one of these "free" damp & timber reports. It will invariably find a whole list of scary problems backed up by highly questionable "meter readings" and recommend several thousands of "remedial" work. This work will come with a worthless guarantee, and be rest assured, you will be repeating the same exercise in 10-15 years.

Davesnave

It's a meter reading, that's all. What do your eyes tell you?



Surveyors love their meters, (best used for measuring the water content of firewood) because they allow some sort of quantification, but taken on their own, such measures are meaningless.


The matter wasn't awarded a 3 so it's something to factor into ongoing maintenance, or maybe it's just an indication of current conditions, like if the house isn't occupied, or if people in it dry their washing indoors, use too little heating and so on. Or it might be failing rendering, bad guttering or ground that's too high outside.


There's many possible reasons, but you need to do the detective work, because just about every damp surveyor in the phone book will be linked to a company selling 'damp proofing' which might not be needed at all.


If you want to follow up with an unbiased expert opinion, you'll need to find an independent damp and wood surveyor and pay them.


And I don't think I'd negotiate on a 2 if I was the owner.