Would you buy a house with damp?

[zippy539]

To cut a long story short we've sold our flat and are now frantically looking for a house before ds starts school in August.

We've looked at loads but our favourite one is a double basement - the lower bit of which has a couple of visible damp patches plus a very damp aroma eminating from a bathroom. DH loves the place but is reluctant because of the damp. Is he right or over reacting? The estate agents have said that if the survey shows a problem we'll be able to negotiate downwards to compensate but DH is still reluctant. Does anyone have experience of damp patches? (in housing )

Okay, I know this is a bit ridiculous but does it look damp to you? I think the lower wall looks a bit dodgy plus the base of the pillar (rising damp?) Inside there are def two small damp patches in the sub-basement (the hall way on the bottom floor where the bedrooms are )In the picture of the outside of the flat, the bedrooms are under the grill things at pavement level.

\link{http://www.edinburghprimeproperty.com/property/PrintProperty.aspx?propertyID=628\damp flat?}

Plase don't be horrified at the price. I live in Edinburgh and the house prices are completely daft...

Do you mean outside? It will get damp outside wont it? You can't tell from the inside photos.

Ellaroo - that sounds horrific. Oh God. Maybe DH is right.

Gingerbear and Katymac - tanking is probably what needs done...

Lizs - it was our estate agent who said about the negotiating.. not sure what his estate agent's line is.

The problem is that the closing date is on Wed. We're in the Scottish system so there's a date and a time and everyone who's interested puts in their offer and the highest gets it. So I kind of have to decide soon... I just love the kitchen...

Oh bloody hell. I just want a house before August. If I don't get one ds will never go to school, never get an education... will be a damaged child borne to wandering nomad parents who chose the worst possible time in his school career to move house...

sorry haven't read thread, just op. sure get survey etc but why don't you get a damp company or two to have a look. if the damp is just in the bathroom they might not have an extractor fan. essentially you need to find out why there is damp in a property. is the roof leaking - quite expesnive to fix. is there coping missing - not so costly. is it lack of proper ventilation/fans missing in bathroom - not such a big deal.

if it's any of these they are fixable and you should be wanting to find out a) what damage the damp will have done (not much in our house) b) are these people slackers who haven't done other things properly (if they've made shortcuts you might want to give it a miss) c) if you think it's just one thing or a string of things and you want the house, get some money off to fix.

if it's rising damp (the stuff that comes from spores and spreads) walk away. my db is a builder and qualified spark and all his friends are roofers and in the building trade. they said rising damp is extremely rare, its usually repointing/roof/coping missing/ventilation.

get a damp company (a recommendation is best) and ask their advice. it cost £60 to get a damp co survey for our house and £100 for a chek of roof. our homebuyer survey covered subsidence so we saved about £500 off a normal structural survey. in our new house we paid for the structural and it directed us to get reports from experts in their field anyway. Also we paid for a drains camera. next time I wont get a structural survey.

Zippy539 - that looks absolutely amazing and I can quite see why you have fallen in love with it - I want it myself! However, am not an expect in damp, but if you think that pillar has damp you'd then have to be paying for/altering part of the building that belongs to someone else or is joint property ...or even having to campaign for them to contribute. I think it looks fantastic, but the difference between how amazing something looks in photos and the reality of trying to live in a damp house are two different things and I'd never even contemplate it again - particularly when you only own part of the building - if people aren't all wanting to sort the problem out you may be left to live with it permanantly.

Gingerbear - there are damp patches inside but our estate agent reckons the outside looks pretty damp too and bearing in mind the bedrooms are at that level (underneath the grills) that any outside damp would be significant inside too... Course, she might be wrong :)

walk away, zippy. this isn't the kind of thing you want to make a quick decision about.

it's summer. lots of houses coming on the market.

saw a bunch walking round the New Town today.

zippy
if you can manage it, see the episode of Colin and Justin's Million Pound Property Experiment where they bought that house in Newington that had damp.

But it turned out it had gone into dry rot.

Wanna know how much it cost to fix it?

Try nearly £60,000.

Yeah.

Yep I do. Before you buy you could have a free damp and timber survey done on it. They will give you a quote to put right. If they carry out the work they give you a 10 year guarantee if the problem comes back. You can use the quotation as a lever to bring the cost of the home down when you decide to go ahead on the sale. No big deal.

right now i've read the thread and it looks effing gorg. however i can't see any damp proof course (although i only know what it's looked like on my houses - sort of a concrete block aroudn the house). basements are a nightmare and prone to damp because they are under the ground so if the ground is the source then you have problems.

I would also be wary as it's been renovated it could have been a bit bodgit and leggit. I dont know about scotland and if you follow same building regs but Iwould be asking for certificates for everything. Particularly bathroom and showerroom but everything. sorry for having repeated stuff in last post.

If it were me i'd look for something old and cheap with good dimensions and then make it look like that. that way you know it's all done properly - although it is a nightmare waiting.

The other thing Zippy, is that it says it is newly renovated (have just had a look at photos again, completely gorgeous) - if the damp has come through fresh plaster that quickly surely that is worrying, no? Who knows what their renovations might have also managed to cover up more successfully.

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate your opinions.

Expat - I know you're an edinburgh lass with an appreciation of the f** ridiculous cost of housing in this city so appreciate your input. (Slightly ashamed that we're even looking at Fettes Row but it came up and we had a peek and fell in love). Part of the problem is that this one will stretch us to the limit without additional costs...

Ellaroo - you are so right about the communal aspect.. could be a nightmare...

manitz - great info, thanks. Esp about the rising damp.

Dampness always has a root cause.
You need to establish what the cause is and then how much it will cost to put right.
Don't bother with so called damp-proof experts - they are salesmen whose job it is to sell you completely pointless chemicals which do not solve the problem.
\link{http://www.askjeff.co.uk/content.php?id=3\This makes interesting reading and may point you in the right direction}
Has the flat been "done up" by a builder?
They may have done a flash job but not sorted out the underlying problem.

i don't like the bathroom. where's the power shower?

and 'shared garden'. nope.

oh, and the bloody council's making that all residents permit parking next year, for which they oversell permits.

£160/annum and no guaranteed space?

no way!

buy a normal house down the road off lower granton road for that.

Ellaroo - yeah, I'm worried about that too. The seller said that he redecorated in the lower basement three years ago but it looks more recent to me so I'm a bit suspicious. But he's a doctor so should be trustworthy - right?

LOL!

Oh, see if you can't watch the episode of 'Location, Location, Location' w/the couple in Glasgow.

Almost EXACT same scenario you describe, zippy. Only the ever wise Kirsty got a full structural survey and the extent of the damp was revealed.

It, too, was a garden/basement flat which has been 'recently rennovated'.

expatinscotland: don't drive so don't have any parking worries but do want somewhere kind of central or at least on a good bus route. Bathroom is a bit hinging but hoping that would knock some money off :) Know what you mean about shared garden. According to seller, only one elderly lady comes and sits in it sometimes. But she's probably some kind of psycho stalker lady so could be a nightmare! :)

Rowlers - thanks so much for the link. Ds is bawling so don't have time to look at it right now but will later. Thanks again.

zippy - the reason i described it is cos I'm not sure it's called rising damp but it's the spore thing (might be dry rot have no memory these days).

Fwiw i don't know edinburgh but had a flat in east london in an 'up and coming' area and it had loads of probs including buggered guttering which dripped onto my bricks and leaked through to the inside. cos it was leasehold it didn't ever get fixed cos you had to rely on mgmt co. however cos of the area anything wld sell so i didn't ever worry buying anything there because I knew you could sell a shed there. but you don't want hassle of retanking as even if you can resell you still have to live there...

Expat - can imagine Kirsty setting to work on damp. Funny, the other day I said to DH - 'we need Kirsty and Phil to sort us out'. I wish. I could do with manly Phil telling me exactly what to do....

My ILs live spitting distance from there - right at near the corner of Lower Granton Road and Ferry Rd., where it meets Inverleith Church - where my FIL works part time. So DH grew up in that area and knows it well.

There's a pocket of villas just off Ferry and thereabouts that are Victorian and going for far less.

My fav is Royston Terrace, Montague Terrace and thereabouts.

But really, there's a lot on offer in Inverleith.

This is nice, but it's got damp.

manitz - that's the thing. This flat is in quite a des res (which I think would be out of our reach if wasn't bloody damp) so I think it would re-sell unless it got completely out of control.
I'd just like to know whether the problem is fixable or whether 'once damp, always damp'. Ds has asthma so it's a bit of an issue (even though I would put a huge kitchen over my DS'S health... .

Thanks again for your input! :)

Personally, I would stay away from damp houses. There is a link between damp and asthma (and other respiratory infections) in children. DS was repeatedly get ear infections, tonsillitis, and colds. DD got bronchilitis and my mom got bronchitis. I did some research and found that these problems can be caused/aggravated by mould. We moved house 3 mnths ago and ds hasn't had a single ear infection or tonsillitis for 9wks. Yes, it was winter but ds was still getting these during spring and summer. Might be pure fluke but it was enough to get me out of there. Don't mean to be the prophet of doom but just something you might want to look into. Good luck finding your dream home.

Expat - I love Inverleith. I went to see a gorgeous house there today in Eildon Street but it was way out of our league. I think it's such a lovely area. Boo hiss.

Cherrs Cads- I know you're right. If I'm honest that is the big thing putting me off. :(

Got to go and sort out DS again. Sorry if don't reply immediately.