Victorian home - rear windows interior mould external staining?

lf89

Hi there,

My partner and I are in the process of buying a victorian mid-terrace. The home is in need of some real love but our primary concern is the rear windows where there looks to be considerable mould in one room, and alot of exterior staining on the windowsills and below.

Can anyone advise whether this might be a structural issue with the window frames, sealant problems, or just the kids never opening their windows with radiators on 24/7? 

We're well aware we've a tonne of DIY ahead of us and are likely replacing the radiators. We're just juggling whether it's worth replacing those back windows too or if its just an issue with the bed/curtain location and lack of airing the room. 

Appreciate any/all insight.

Thanks,
L

born_again

Looks like guttering leaking water in that area of the rear window, so may have got into cavity around window
Combine that with the curtains & bed right up to wall, meaning no air flow in the area. 

So might need plaster removing & window resealing. But main thing is sort guttering to stop leak.

FreeBear

born_again said:

Looks like guttering leaking water in that area of the rear window, so may have got into cavity around window

Solid brick walls, so no cavity. But I would concur - It looks like an issue with the guttering and/or roof.

As an aside - There should be a trickle vent on the inside of the window to hide that ugly row of holes at the top of the frame. Not a major expense to get one, and you then have the option to reduce the air flow (cold draught).

twopenny

Wow yes, never seen that pattern before.

But what strikes is the sunny gap between roof and guttering which will let water run down the wall and hang about around the sills . Would normally either have the guttering under the tiles or roof liner extending towards guttering.

I've seen the interior mould when viewing properties. Usually very elderly who've been virtually housebound and it's always in the bedroom. Furniture pressed agains't walls and of course they can't move it.

I see there's some dark staining from the gravel up in the last photo. That's because a load of gravel with no drainage is up against the wall. That's some easy diy if not fun to do. It needs to come up, probably a membrane under (or not) and it's trapping moisture against the wall in a shady area.

Could be a nice spot without the bin

lf89

Really helpful, thanks everyone. Sounds like the guttering/roof are things to look into for sure. We haven't had the survey yet so will make that a priority for it. We may just replace the windows anyway as they aren't the nicest and its an opportunity to re-seal etc. 

@twopenny thanks for the heads up re the gravel & drainage - will add it to our to-do list! 

flashg67

Just a as an aside, unless it's lime render, that render won't be doing the wall behind any favours - removal probably best, but at least make sure the render doesn't go all the way to the ground - I had damp caused this way on a couple of victorian terraces

lf89

flashg67 said:

Just a as an aside, unless it's lime render, that render won't be doing the wall behind any favours - removal probably best, but at least make sure the render doesn't go all the way to the ground - I had damp caused this way on a couple of victorian terraces

That's helpful to know, thank you. We reckon the rendering was done in 2008 and all other works seem to be on the low-end/cheap side, so if lime was more expensive I'd be skeptical if it was sadly. Another thing to consider! Cheers.

twopenny

I got chatting to a youngish couple who were chipping all the render off a large stone house.
It was obviously long and tedious but the end result was worth it.
Still thats a maybe for the future.

Agree, render should not go to the bottom. I had to be careful with my 20s house when i did a bit of patching but I could match that with the existing.

Mistral001

It looks like the external concrete window sills are not sheding the water away from the wall.  This could be caused by a missing "drip" in the sills.  This is a groove which runs along the underside of the sills and forms a barrier to prevent water running down the wall.  Also,the render might not be up to the task of preventing water pentetration.  Where is the  prevailing wind coming from?  If it is coming from the back of the house, driving rain will greatly increase the chances of water penetrating through even the best render and thus that could also be a big factor.

lf89

In terms of the concrete render, would this be something that we'd be able to take off ourselves without doing anything to the underlying brick after? I'm not sure we could financially manage all the internal stuff, plus re-rendering the whole back of the house. Especially as we want to extend in 5 years and would undo all of that work...

FreeBear

Removing render will be next to impossible without damage to the bricks. If you intend to put another coat of render on, damaged bricks won't be an issue. But be warned - If you remove/replace more than 25%, Building Control should be notified. they would probably want to see wall insulation added to improve the thermal efficiency of the building.

Insulating the external walls is (nearly) always a good thing as it will help to keep the place warm and reduce your energy bills.