High levels of damp on house

Hollylyon95

Hi everyone,

we've just purchased our first house however there are high levels of damp in a few of the rooms of the house which was picked up on the survey. You can see in the 3rd bedroom that there’s condensation on the wallpapers. Is moving in with damp a bad idea? The house is 110 years old and I think it still has the original roof!

greatcrested

Ah! They built roofs to last back then!

So have you identified the cause of the damp?

MaryNB

Was the house empty for a while before you moved in? Did you see the damp during the viewing?

Hollylyon95

greatcrested said:

Ah! They built roofs to last back then!

So have you identified the cause of the damp?

It looks as though on the roof looking at it that a few of the tiles aren’t as level as the back of the house and are slightly bowed, the surveyor also said the motor is crumbling in places and also said there were high damp levels at ground level on the 1st floor  

Hollylyon95

MaryNB said:

Was the house empty for a while before you moved in? Did you see the damp during the viewing?

We’ve not moved in yet we’re in the process of it now, the house has been empty a year now as the lady has moved in with someone else! I didn’t notice any damp particularly or smell anything 

Robby1988

A 110 year old house left empty, cold & unventilated for a year will have some damp to show for itself, get the place heated and get some fresh air about the place for a while & see what you are left with.

FreeBear

Robby1988 said: A 110 year old house left empty, cold & unventilated for a year will have some damp to show for itself, get the place heated and get some fresh air about the place for a while & see what you are left with.

Also worth buying a couple of hygrometers and running a dehumidifier in the worst affected rooms.

As the place dries out, go round the outside and fix any sources of problems - Elevated ground levels that are breaching the DPC, blocked air bricks, tired/leaking gutters & downpipes. Repoint brickwork where needed, but with a property of this age, use a pure lime mortar. It is most likely solid brick wall, so cement will be the last thing you'll be wanting to slap in.

Internally, consider using clay and lime based paints on the walls rather than modern synthetics, and please, don't use grey

RelievedSheff

As others have said the house has been left empty, unheated and unventilated for 12 months. It is bound to be showing signs of damp. Get the house properly heated and properly ventilated and it will start to dry out. This will take a long time though. To heat a house fully from stone cold takes a long time.

Dehunidifiers will help to speed up the drying out process but it will still take a long time, think in months not days or weeks.

Mardle

We had the same when we bought our house 6 years ago. It's a similar age to yours and had been empty for at least a year. As others have said heat and ventilation is the key to drying it out. We were advised to have the central heating on continuously 24/7 but turn the temperature of the water in the system down so that the radiators stayed warm. We had trickle extractor fans fitted in the downstairs wet room and kitchen. The kitchen one failed after almost a year and the electrician replaced it with a humidistat fan which kicks in if the humidity in the kitchen reaches just over 50%. You can get cheap humidity meters online which might not be 100% accurate but they should allow you to see the reading going down in the affected rooms.