to ask what you'd do? condensation or damp, no one seems to know, no savings left and insurance won't help! really really depressed and need help!

[Fairylea]

We have lived in our house 3 years now. Homebuyer survey was fine. All good.

We have 2 dc.

As winter set in we noticed our bedroom light was fuzzing and going on and off even when switched off. On close inspection there was water slowly dripping from the rose.

We turned the trip switch off and duly called out several roofers and a loft insulation and damp specialist.

Everyone has told us different things. One roofer said roof needed repointing (£1200). One told us birds had got in and made holes. One said we have a metal bar running along inside the roof above our bedroom and the coldness of this was causing condensation in the light.

The loft specialist spent ages checking everything and said it was just condensation and our roof wasn't ventilated at all. He recommended vents at £240 which we did as this was also recommended on our survey so we thought it would be worth a try.

We asked for more roofers to quote but none came back to us (we are in south Norfolk.. rural).
We left it a few weeks for things to dry out incase that was it and got an electrician to replace our light fitting and check the others. He said all the others were fine.

Ours has been fine for a couple of weeks now and today we noticed its leaking again!

We now have no upstairs lights again. We don't know what to do. We don't feel we have anyone we can trust to tell us what's wrong and all the roofers keep saying different things. All were recommended and have trade qualifications.

We have no savings left due to a difficult time with other things going wrong (washing machine and oven broke all in one week and mum was poorly and spent a lot on hospital trips and visiting etc).... it would need a remortgage or loan or cc to fix anything.

What do we do ? I'm actually quite scared we have a massive massive problem somewhere and no one is picking up on it.

We do have condensation around the windows but we wipe this and use a tumble drier and ventilate by opening windows everyday.

My dds room had terrible black mould so we got rid of this and bleached everything.

But it's only our room with the water in light problem.

We can't get in the roof ourselves as the access is over high stairs and even if we could we wouldn't know what to look for.

Do we try and sell ... if we even could ? We would need to fix morally anyway.

I'm so so stressed.

What do we do ? Get more quotes obviously..... IF anyone will come out to us ????!!

Have read the posts - but hope here I don't go over old ground

Have you thought of getting a dehumidifier? Could you get one for your room and one for your dd's room (the black mold isn't good and I would have thought a sure sign of condensation but could be wrong)

Is there any way you can get in the loft to look at this light fitting from that side?

Can you move the light fitting position in the room? Or even take out the light fitting and place in a couple of table lamps for now? But you need to still keep a check on this water in the loft.

I would be wary on putting in loft insulation as that could then get damp and cause more problems?

I would place down a couple of unrolled piece of wall paper in the loft and check each day - to see which are wet or damp

Cant imagine the leak is due to condensation-there would have to be a helluva lot of it for it to drip through the light fitting.
Its a pity you dont live near me-DH is fab at things like this.

If the black mould in your daughters room is all over the wall (ie above a few feet up in a ground floor room) my understanding is it will be either penetrating or condensation damp. Penetrating is where it is coming in from an external source such as leaking roof or damp from water going down outside of the wall due to something like a damage pipe etc.

So you can look for obvious sources to ascertain that.

If there is a problem with the roof it will probably be making the air more damp which is causing condensation damp.

It's hard to eliminate without sorting the source but I can offer a few suggestions to minimise it until you can deal with the cause.

• don't dry things on radiators it adds to the moisture levels
• open windows where possible
• use your heating it increases the amount of water the air can hold
• make sure you allow as much space for air to circulate. Even a gap of a couple of inches is better than items right against the wall.

The trouble with mould is its tricky to get rid of and you're likely
To leave a spore which is all is needed for it to multiply. But you can fight back. Wicks do an anti mould spray. It's vicious stuff so you can't have someone in the room for a day after but if you're ruffling with recurring mould it might help? Alternatively or additionally places like b and q r wicks do paint with an anti mould formula in them. They won't stop it, especially if the condensation continues, but they might help and although they involve buying something we aren't talking re mortgaging amounts.

Sorry I can't help with the cause of the increased water in the air, but hopefully this gives you a few ideas to work with.

If I were in your position though I'd go up and check like
Others suggest and if there was nothing obvious I'd consider looking or
Someone locally who deals with disrepair in rented
Properties and be prepared to pay for them
To do an inspection. They know what they are talking about. Your local lettings agent/housing authority/council might be able to recommend someone.

If it has happened for the first time this year then i don't think its condensation. Unless anything else has changed? New windows?
Get someone local to recommend a builder.
Get in that loft and start tracing the source of the water.

Borrow a big ladder off a neighbour and ask if they have similar problems.

Don't move house over a leak but do deal with it before it causes more damage.

We are in a very similar position in our house! I've been stressing all day about it-you don't live in a town beginning with P do you??

I am in Norfolk and my family are bizarrely all architects, I can ask them for any ideas or the name of a surveyor or someone they would recommend if that would help? Am off to bed now and back to work tomorrow but do pm me if I can help in any way.

FairyLea - ask MN to move this to Property, or post a message there asking PigletJohn for help and linking to this thread.

We have a similar problem. Our loft is dripping with water. We think it's due to blocked air flow. Must get it fixed before it comes crashing through our ceiling. Good luck with fixing yours. Can't believe the insurance company won't come out. Surely if the water is coming through your ceiling then there's a leak and they need to fix it? Isn't that what they're there for? Make sure you switch insurers when your renewal is due.

My dd's room had developed some damp cos of condensation on the window, we bought a dehumidifier and it has really worked wonders, so just for the condensation but I'd get one of those.

Thank you very much for all your advice.

We live in a town beginning with D. :)

I have been on the phone to the home insurance people today and after much debating they are going to send a buildings surveyor round tomorrow.... ! :)

Even if it turns out we can't claim anything through them for whatever reason I am hopeful they might be able to tell us what is actually wrong. I really hope so anyway. Gulp.

I will update with the result !

Thank you all again.

I've had a real problem with condensation in my house in the past and I think it's due to lack proper ventilation being put in when the house was built in 1970.

My ExP refused to let me have the heating on pretty much ever - I'd wake in the morning and the digital thermometer in my bedroom would say 6 degrees INSIDE. I'm no expert but I think this, and probably many years of a lack of proper heating and ventilation caused the external walls to get cold and damp. Condensation formed on the walls (particularly north facing - is your daughter's room north facing?) and mould grew.

My brother bought me for christmas a few years ago a little gadget that tells you the temperature inside, outside and the humidity in the room. This gave me readings that I didn't understand and so I looked them up online. Various websites advised in the UK you want your relative humidity inside between 45% and 50%. The humidity in my bedroom was about 67% and there was condensation forming on the windows and running down.

My research suggested that my house had got to a dampness level where just leaving it with windows open was never going to dry it out sufficiently. The only way to do it was to blast up the heating quite high for about a week (I read it was worth the investment in the long run as once dry your heating costs will be cheaper anyway). I read up about all the things you can do to reduce condensation - keeping bathroom door shut, opening windows, keeping kitchen door shut when cooking, not drying clothes on radiators or inside at all when possible, keeping lids on boiling water etc. It doesn't sound like much but my little humidity gadget was showing me what a difference it made!

I decided that I'd invest in a dehumidifier as well. I got a proper motorised one - about £175 but I thought it might be a good investment. The first few times I used it, it collected buckets and buckets out of the air. I was shocked. I've had it a few weeks now and it's calming down. Things seem more dry, the mould hasn't started growing back, the windows don't seem to mist up over night so much and when I put the dehumidifier on (I don't have it on all the time) it seems to take longer to fill up.

I'm no expert and so I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do but those are my experiences - I needed to carry out a big "dry out the house" operation to start getting anywhere. I would concentrate on the dampness in the loft which potentially could be condensation. It's easy to think condensation couldn't produce so much water but it really can if there's a large area to consider.

Thanks.

Well the surveyor has been.

Apparently the whole roof needs retiling and refelting.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Is there no way the insurance would cover this?

So, are they now going to pay?

If not get back to the homebuyer survey company and ask why this was not picked up in their survey. Get some advice re: if SHOULD have be picked up on that survey and tell them time to cough up = let's face it if you knew you would not have bought the house at that price would you? If they should have assessed it and found the issue didn't then they can now pay. Might be a long process.

Nope insurance are saying no way. Not storm damage etc. It's occurred over a period of time.

My survey ... well I asked the surveyor and he said it could have occurred in as little as 3 years. I have had a go at the survey people and they said they inspected the condition at the time and it was okay!

So we don't have a leg to stand on!

I have been on trustatrade etc and rang several roofers to come and give us a quote. Over the phone they have said we are looking at about 3k which we just don't have :(

So looks like using a credit card ... applied for one with longest term on purchases at 0% interest.

Bowls of salt will help with the immediate problem of condensation and water leaking until you can get the roof fixed.

Oh God you poor things!

Insurance companies don't fix wear and tear, I'm amazed people think they do.

A home buyers survey is just the one you get done for mortgage purposes, right? Ime they just look to see if the house is there and can be sold if you default on your mortgage I think.

Would a loan be a better deal than a CC? Not a payday loan type thing obviously.

Thank you .. I will try the salt bowl idea.

We are looking into all loan ideas etc. I am gutted as we had no debt and I wasn't planning to return to work (currently on maternity leave) but now it looks like I might have to just to pay the debt back :( :(

I have even considered ringing mortgage people and seeing if we could take a payment break or whatever... I'm scrambled in my thoughts I'm so stressed but maybe someone knows what I'm talking about.

Yep was a home buyer survey.

I've certainly learnt my lesson. Won't get anything less than a full structural survey in future for any house buys. We never even considered one as the roof looks relatively ok. Sigh.

I am so so depressed. :(

Sorry. I'm ranting on.

Poor you. Awful.

I would just say don't jump to believe this surveyor over and above the survey you had done on your home originally. I had a homebuyer survey and it was reasonably thorough - at least as thorough I would have thought as your guy who came out to have a look. Presumably he didn't actually climb up on the roof and evaluate it?

Condensation can come on suddenly where previously it's been fine - this happened to my sister and what they thought was a leak (dripping) turned out to be condensation in the flat they had lived in for 5 years.

I would think the dehumidifier route first and crank the heating up would be a good one. And if still no resolution, then the mortgage break?

If the surveyor they sent round was a RICS qualified Chartered Building Surveyor (either MRICS or FRICS letters after his name) then you have probably been given the the best profesinal opinion howerev uncomfortable that opinion sounds.

There are coating systems that can be cheaper than stripping and retiling but are not a permanent solution.

If you PM me some photographs (of the roof only so they don't identify your house) I can ask my tame roofing expert to comment.

homebuyers surveyors do not go in attic unless there is a proper ladder, they use binoculars from ground to look for missing tiles, slates

insurance will not cover as this is maintenance only would pay if it hadd blown away in storm

you must ventilate and heat house properly condensation reuqires heat and ventilationyou can not keep a house at below 14-16C long term and not have problems, frost stat stops pipes bursting does not stop wet/ dry rot etc

Thanks our heating is set to 22-23 permanently except at night....

The original homebuyer survey did go into loft which makes it even more confusing!

I will see if I can take some photos.

Fairy, we had a really bad roof problem, and went to the mortgage company for help. They gave us a 15k loan so we could get it sorted. The mortgage payments went up by about £100 a month but has enabled our house to go on the market. It would be in their best interest for you to maintain the house to a saleable condition.

Please please try not to panic. What you need to do is think logically, and just spend time observing. it isn't rocket science and google is your friend.

Remember, that water runs down hill. So, get up into the loft with a torch - especially when it is raining, clear the insulation from around the light, and watch what happens. Is the light rose the lowest point? Where is the water coming from? You can then trace the leak back to where it is coming from.

As for condensation? The majority of houses are not ventilated enough. Airbricks are, like, £5. A bag of mix is about the same. H can easily bang out the bricks in the wall in the child's room and in the loft space, and fit the airbricks on either side, doing the mortar himself. A tin of paint? £10.

YOU CAN FIX THIS! Don't stress. Know exactly what you are talking about, and then you can talk to the tradesman without handing all your power over to them.

Personally, I think the roof is leaking. Look at the roof above the light fitting, again, especially when it is raining. Do you have a valley, or a box gutter?