Buying a house with bad damp?

squishypengu

Hi. I’m a FTB looking into buying a fixer upper. We recently viewed a Victorian semi detached house which has been repossessed so is at quite a good price, however as a result of the repo it’s been empty for 3 years. Unsurprisingly it’s in quite a state of disrepair and would need a lot of cleaning up, but has definite potential. However my biggest reservation is that the property is clearly suffering from a damp issue. The bottom front two rooms (front reception room/sitting room and dining room behind it) are particularly badly affected with very large visible damp patches covering most of the external gabled wall (both have fireplaces in that spot which are blocked up). There is a very strong smell of damp on entering the house. To our knowledge it has been on the market for the 3 years it’s been empty with no offers and the EA mentioned it was the gabled wall putting most people off. I personally have never dealt with damp and know nothing about it so am at a total loss - I don’t know whether I’m working myself up over something that would be a simple fix, or if it’s going to be a big issue not worth taking on. We are having a builder look at the property this week to see what they think, but I wanted to gather some other opinions also. Other than this issue I really love the house, but does it sound like it has potential or like we should run for the hills? Thanks in advance. 

hazyjo

To be on the market for 3 years suggests it was overpriced. I hope you get a good discount or they dropped the price significantly during that time.

What's the roof like? If that's been leaking, the damage may be more severe.

Martinaboven

Trust your gut

Doozergirl

Damp is a solvable problem but it needs to be done working with the original fabric of the building and not hiding it with modern 'damp proofing' methods.  If it's a wreck, then that's the best time to do it - when you're not having rip out anything decent to get to the bad bits. 

There's a few of us happy to offer advice on why the damp is there and the best ways to mend it, but we'd need photos, inside and out, with good context in the photos, whole walls, not just pictures of damp patches.  It's what's happening around it that helps diagnose it.  

If the problem is bad, the benefit should be that the source is obvious! 

Martinaboven

Let see the property we can give you expert advice.

AdrianC

Most damp comes from really obvious sources - high ground levels outside, knackered guttering or downpipes.
The place has been unheated for three years - that'll exacerbate problems via condensation.

Martinaboven

We need to see pictures could be easy fix like new roof as roof not been maintained could be leaking pipe or no heating which is an easy fix

Martinaboven

No heating on 

Unicorn_cottage

Whatever you do do not let a general builder or damp proofing company recommend anything like a injection system. It is a con. Have a read of the following. It is a great place to start. Managing damp problems in old buildings (heritage-house.org)
As others have said post through some pics as well so we can have a look.

FreeBear

Something that had been brought to my attention with blocked up fireplaces - If it has been bricked up and the fireplace left full of crud, the debris can really soak up water and cause quite a bit of damp. This vid was posted over on the PPUK forum recently - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT0PwyrxZvg

Most damp problems can be cured relatively cheaply without resorting to expensive "cures".

Unicorn_cottage

@FreeBear PPUK?