Buying home - survey revealed patio and flowerbed at height of DPM

Obeone

Hi all,

I was after some advice a survey on the property we wanted to buy (5yr old new build) has reveled the patio they had built is too high. They have a very small gap filled with pebbles in between it and the house, however the patio and pebbles come to around the DPM, the pebbles slightly exceed. They scoop out the pebbles around the airbrick and claim it's fine. Inside there is no evidenc of damp that the surveyor found. However I have now got serious reservations that even if we take out the patio that there could be internal damage to the wall.

At the front of the property is also a flowerbed they put in where the soil is just over the bottom of the airbrick (very slightly).

Any advice appreciated, I'm now in two minds. Also worried as the kitchen cupboards are in front of part of that section of internal wall that there could well be rising damp behind them and we would just not know yet. Is there any way to find that out?

Thanks

BarelySentientAI

Obeone said:

Hi all,

I was after some advice a survey on the property we wanted to buy (5yr old new build) has reveled the patio they had built is too high. They have a very small gap filled with pebbles in between it and the house, however the patio and pebbles come to around the DPM, the pebbles slightly exceed. They scoop out the pebbles around the airbrick and claim it's fine. Inside there is no evidenc of damp that the surveyor found. However I have now got serious reservations that even if we take out the patio that there could be internal damage to the wall.

At the front of the property is also a flowerbed they put in where the soil is just over the bottom of the airbrick (very slightly).

Any advice appreciated, I'm now in two minds. Also worried as the kitchen cupboards are in front of part of that section of internal wall that there could well be rising damp behind them and we would just not know yet. Is there any way to find that out?

Thanks

There almost certainly isn't rising damp behind your kitchen cupboards or internal damage to the wall.  You even have a surveyor saying that there is no evidence of damp.

Don't stress, minor issue.

Albermarle

Damp in property I'm selling - got my own report - advice please — MoneySavingExpert Forum

stuart45

It's quite common on new builds to have a patio level with a patio door for wheelchair access. The walls are designed for this with a DPC tray, which goes from normal DPC level on the external skin to the top of the first course of blockwork. There should be weeps above DPC.

Obeone

Thank you, the report of the survey isn't invasive so how would they know if there is damp behing the cupboards or not as they wouldn't have tested there

stuart45

Obeone said:

Thank you, the report of the survey isn't invasive so how would they know if there is damp behing the cupboards or not as they wouldn't have tested there

They don't.

Obeone

thanks Stuart, this was installed by the current occupants rather than the builders, it is clearly visible no remediations were made to the DPM they admit this...they thought scooping out a bit of the pebbles around the air brick was sufficient

Doozergirl

There is nothing to worry about. 

All that needs to happen is that the levels need to come back below the DPC close to the house, so it's fine that the gravel is now below.  

You have a cavity wall, there will not be damp inside, but even if there was, it would simply dry out.  Damp doesn't just invent itself.   

There's no way I'd be pulling out over it, it's such a non issue.  It's just a small maintenance issue that costs nothing to fix other than a little time. 

Go buy your house 🙂