Pre-purchase survey high damp readings and laminate flooring - oh my!

Kaleosaurus

Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster, hope one of you wise people might be able to advise us on what to do..

We're in the midst of purchasing a Victorian terraced house. Our building survey detected extremely high moisture readings (90%) on the ground floor internal wall between the kitchen (solid floor) and dining room (suspended timber floor). The floors are covered in laminate (which is glued) and wallpaper is woodchip. We cannot undertake an intrusive survey to take a look at the sub-floor area before we purchase the house, as the seller understandably would want us to restore any damaged laminate and wall decoration, however we want to get rid of both when we move in, so don't want to do that as it would just be wasteful. The subfloor area is inadequately ventilated and might have been damp for a very long time, so we are worried that there might be a lot of damage to the floor timbers (our surveyor mentioned the conditions would be right for rot, including dry rot, and this is what scares us the most!) But without being able to lift the laminate and look at it we just can't tell.

We are looking into including a retention clause into the contract to fund the potential replacement/restoration/treatment of any defective floor timbers, but we are finding it very difficult to obtain quotes for a worst case scenario from contractors when they cannot actually look at the sub-floor area. We would of course also look not fixing the cause of the dampness, but we think that might be less expensive than potentially having to replace a whole lot of floor timbers and treat for rot - thought we could be wrong about this?

Does anyone have any advice on how we could come up with a figure to retain, when we don't know what the issues might be? What type of business might be able to help us out? I understand that it's not possible to quote for work when you don't necessarily know what it might be, but we're just looking for a ballpark figure so that we can press on with the purchase and have some funds to draw on in case there is expensive damage to deal with.

I hope this makes sense.. Please let me know if any more info would be helpful, or if you think we are going about it in the wrong way!

AdrianC

Just think about what "90% moisture" means. Water would be literally RUNNING down that wall.

How is moisture getting to it? Condensation? A leak above? One thing's sure - it's unlikely to be somehow climbing up that wall from a poorly-ventilated subfloor.

Do the floorboards feel solid when you walk about on them? No signs of leaks under the kitchen sink? No damp smell anywhere or visible mould?

Kaleosaurus

I think it's 90% moisture in the plaster. Some of the wallpaper was bubbling and some of the skirting boards also looked crumbly. I didn't mention that the high moisture readings stopped at 1.5m, above that the plaster was dry. There was a variety of readings taken with 90% being the highest, but they were in a range of 25 - 90% from the floor up to 1.5m, so I guess it would be rising damp?

AdrianC

There's no such thing as "rising damp".

90% moisture in plaster is going to be running down the wall... Do you mean it was wettest near the floor, or at 1.5m?

The wallpaper was bubbling and the skirting board looks crumbly? Then there's a definite problem... But I presume you were aware that this is a bit of a project right from the very first viewing?

I wonder if there's a leaking pipe inside that wall.

Kaleosaurus

It was wettest near the floor. Our first line of investigation was trying to see if there might be a leak. We got a plumber to put a squeeze on the system and they noted a pressure drop on the mains, and said it was possible that the mains water pipe had a leak. The seller's insurers sent another plumber round who said it the drop in pressure was to do with a passing isolation valve, and ruled a leak out. 

The house definitely needs work, and we have budgeted for repairs on issues we can see and which have been brought to our attention in our survey. This is different as we cannot assess the extent of any damage to the floors before we buy the house, due to the laminate.

I would think that high levels of damp in a timber sub floor area and poor ventilation could lead to damage of the timbers, regardless of whether it is caused by 'rising damp' or a leak somewhere else. The thing we are trying to figure out is a worst-case scenario for restoring or treating potentially damaged floor timbers - finding the cause of the damp and fixing it is a separate thing which we will undertake once we've bought the house.

Kaleosaurus

I think in an ideal world we would be doing the investigations and finding out the cause of the damp pre-purchase, but understandably the seller does not want us to ruin any finishings, so a retention for repair to damaged floor and wall timbers is the best idea we have come up with to try to protect ourselves best we can in this situation.. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this is not the right course of action?

gwynlas

Homebuilding and Renovating website give estimates based in 120sq metres so you could get some idea but of course it depends on whether you feel competent to tackle the work yourselves. Trades would probably cost triple this allowiing for ripping out, disposal of waste plumbing. electrics etc but I'm sure someone like Doozergirl would give you better advice.

FreeBear

Kaleosaurus said: I would think that high levels of damp in a timber sub floor area and poor ventilation could lead to damage of the timbers,

You have noted that the skirting boards look crumbly - It would be a fair assumption that the floorboards & joists are also in a similar condition. Budget for a new floor throughout (joists & floorboards), and consider removing the solid floor in the kitchen. Going to be messy and expensive, but one done, you'll have a floor that will last another 100 years or more. That's assuming you also fix the source of the damp.

If the vendor doesn't want to play ball on pricing, I'm sure there are similar properties in the area worth considering.

Doozergirl

Do you have a link?  How much have you budgeted for renovations? 

Woodchip screams of plaster ready to fall off the wall.   

All fine if you know what to expect and it's covered in the budget... 

Kaleosaurus

We have £15k saved up for renovations. Hoping it will be enough to get the most important stuff done (and that we'll be able to figure out what the most important stuff is!) Link is here - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-78069916.html

We've had a CCTV drainage survey done which shows there is a crack in the drain under the bay, which will cost a few grand to fix, and might account for some of the damp. We've managed to negotiate the price down a bit and now qualify for using our help to buy ISAs, which is not easy to do in Bristol. With the housing market being the way it is and lenders pulling FTB-friendly mortgages we're just going to go for it and hope for the best - rent where we live is a lot so even if we can't get everything done immediately we'll still be saving in the long run. Still feeling some trepidation about how much work and upheaval we have ahead of us, but it will also be our own little damp artexed woodchipped granny's house from the 90s, and that means a lot!

Thanks for everyone's replies. This forum is very informative but can also be quite anxiety-fuelling when in the grip of anxiety!

FreeBear

You'll want to get the electrics checked over in the bathroom - The washing machine in there suggests there is a socket not far from the bath. Highly unlikely it would comply with electrical regs, either current or historic.