Puddle in cellar

[WhirlwindHugs]

House we're considering buying - not our current house!

Obviously the cellar would need fixing as soon as possible, and we're not expecting it to be cheap - but can anyone recommend some really good reading around the matter? Google is throwing up lots of contradictory responses and would like to be prepared about the possible causes/costs etc before we do a survey.

[homeaway]

Water will always find the easiest way u come out. Either the water is coming from a source inside the house or it is coming from the outside up through the floor or walls. . Sometimes you have to do exploratory work to find out.

[PigletJohn]

Until you know what the cause is, you won't be able to work out the cost of fixing it.

It's possible to get the water analysed - if it contains, um, soap, it's from the drains; if it's chlorinated, it's from a waterpipe, if it contains leaf debris it's from the gutters; or it could be groundwater. My neighbour's cellar gets wet at high tide.

The water companies use labs who do this testing when they are working on leaks, I don't know how you'd arrange it otherwise, especially on a house you don't own. You should expect cellars to be damp, and you should assume that a proper fix will be expensive.