999 damp reading in ground floor

Sage01

After 6months of looking and being sold stc, we've put an offer on a beautiful house, matching the asking price, paid for a L2 survey report and unfortunately its come back showing "unacceptably high damp readings in the solid construction ground, rising damp and penetration damp" 😩

Got off the phone to the surveyor, the penetration damp will be quick fix to the roof but thinks there's costly repairs for the other two:

The house slopes downwards as you come towards the front and rises to the rear garden, and no floor drainage around the house to collect water, he suspects water is travelling/ pooling into the house, house also flagged up as risk of surface water flooding, recommends french drainage or something similar

He suspects the ground floor is too far gone to just remove carpet and let it dry (uneven ground) and thinks will need to excavate and put down new concrete floor, in worse case scenario the whole ground floor (68m²)

Surveyor suspects in total it'll cost atleast £10k but suggesting to get either a damp specialist or floor specialist /builder for other opinions and costs for repair. Who should I contact out of the two? 

He said we have good reason to negotiate the price of the house. Dreading this despite knowing we're being reasonable here. All of our money is going into the house won't have anything apart from first mortgage payment and bills.

Thank you!

m0bov

Can you get a trusted builder to look at it? It does sound like you dodge a bullet. Part of the reason for getting a survey.

However a massive red flag if your buying a house and can only afford the first mortgage bill. Are you sure you have enough funds for the move?

FreeBear

Sage01 said: He suspects the ground floor is too far gone to just remove carpet and let it dry (uneven ground) and thinks will need to excavate and put down new concrete floor, in worse case scenario the whole ground floor (68m²)

How old is this property ?

If it is more than say 100 years old, concrete is likely to be inappropriate and cause more problems in the future.

Sage01

Hi both, thanks for the responses - hoping to contact some builders for quotes of the work now in the new year. 

The property is of 1960s construction.

stuart45

Early 60's probably won't have a DPM. In most houses it's not a problem, but with a high water table it can be.

FreeBear

stuart45 said:

Early 60's probably won't have a DPM. In most houses it's not a problem, but with a high water table it can be.

Won't have any insulation in the slab either. Digging out the concrete provides an ideal opportunity to add loads of insulation and install underfloor heating.

dinosaur66

cheapest way would be to french drain / fillet seal and tank it /then storm dry the bricks

then dpc course

but i have only done this on garages and outbuildings to make them waterproof-

need someone more knowledgable than myself / i am no more than a diy man

Alias_Omega

Very high chance of this property suffering from Sulphate Attack and having asbestos marley floor tiles/bitumen. If the floor needs to come out, they'll be 2x charges.; one for the asbestos and the building work.

Ive had floors replaced, prices can vary alot. Buyer beware.

Sage01

stuart45 said:

Early 60's probably won't have a DPM. In most houses it's not a problem, but with a high water table it can be.

Hi checked the surveyors report and it suggests there is possibly no damp membrane. What kind of figures do you think we'd be looking at for a 68 square meter re-do? 

Sage01

FreeBear said:

stuart45 said:

Early 60's probably won't have a DPM. In most houses it's not a problem, but with a high water table it can be.

Won't have any insulation in the slab either. Digging out the concrete provides an ideal opportunity to add loads of insulation and install underfloor heating.

That's a great idea, I'll have to look into this, any idea on rough pricing for this work would be greatly appreciated!

grumpy_codger

Ceramic sewage pipes often leak and are a source of extra damp around and under a house.