Damp bathroom in house we're about to sell. Pay to fix it or leave it?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Am going to sell my dads house ASAP and its just one problem after another at the minute.

The downstairs bathroom which is at the end of the house appears damp on the back wall. The wall is marked and the plaster has lifted up in places. Its a single story extension at the back. We've looked at the bricks and roof and it all looks fine, no cracks, no loose tiles, no missing mortar, gutter isn't blocked.

Got three options.

Sell it as it and take a hit price wise.

Get someone in to do some re plastering and paint it. Will cost quite a bit and not solve the problem and may still be picked up on a survey.

Get the problem sorted properly and then all of plastering, painting. Will cost even more and may cost more than its worth????

Its a small terrace and quite possibly will be bought by a student landlord type.

I think in your position it would depend how easy I thought it was going to be to sell. If you're confident you can shift the house, albeit taking a hit on price, I'd just get on and sell. If there's a risk that not fixing it will make it hard to sell and drag out the whole stressful process, I'd bite the bullet and get it fixed even if it doesn't on the face of it make financial sense.

It seems a waste to spend money doing up a room if the buyer is then going to re-do it anyway.

You could, even, use it as a plus-point. Last time we had a housing boom the only way some people could afford to get a house was to find a do-er-upper. It got to the ridiculous stage that so may people were chasing bargains that they ended up paying more for 'reduced house plus renovations' than a 'fully done house' cost. Persuade people that they are being lucky in finding a do-er-upper!

You could always market the property without the repairs and see how it goes, then re-think later if needs be. What does the EA recommend?

don't paint or plaster over it. Either fix it properly (which may cost more than you will get back) or leave it, it will come up on the survey as a problem and you can negotiate. But it would help if you had some idea - given all you have eliminated, is it a plumbing issue?

We haven't got as far as an EA yet?

I wouldn't call the house a doer-upper even with this. The rest of he house is gorgeous, Magnet kitchen, solid wooden floors, oak doors, new ensuite. Its just such a shame that there's this problem.

Thanks for your thoughts. I think the idea of finding out what the problem is is a good one. Then even if we don't fix it we can say to viewers what the problem is and how much it would cost to fix.

Its not a plumbing issue. Its quite high up on the wall, near the ceiling.

quite high up the wall you say?

sounds like either

• condensation (is there an extractor fan and is it working?)
• guttering/facia

both relatively easy to fix.

Sounds like condensation. If it is, it will be relatively easy to fix.

Is there an extractor?
Any type of heating in the room?

If you can fix the condensation it will just need the mould cleaning off, any bubbled bits of plaster off and re-done then a quick paint.

Also is there any insulation above the bathroom?

There's never any condensation that I've noticed. House has been empty for 18 months but heating has been left on low. Thermostat set at about 5 degrees. When house was lived in though it had the same problem. Never been any mould.

Don't know about insulation in the roof, wouldn't have thought so. The worst patch is just below the ceiling, plaster coming off and a weird orange stain. N then further down there's a couple more patches where the plaster is cracking.

Not sure if there's a radiator in there, think so. Not sure about extractor fan but like I say no one there in house having showers, etc.

The gutter outside looks ok but there's no fascia board. So its sort of concrete tiles on the roof. Roof slopes down to a gutter which looks ok. The gable end wall is the wall with the problem and this doesn't have a gutter as the roof slopes towards the side wall, so gutter on the side wall. The tiles overhand this gable end wall.

Someone at work said you can buy some sort of pre mixed plaster in a pot which you roller/scrape on and it pretty much self levels. Anyone heard of this and know what it is?

Orange stain is water leak, not condensation.

Is there a disused chimney nearby?

Orange stain is water leak, not condensation.

Is there a disused chimney nearby?

Orange stain is water leak, not condensation.

Is there a disused chimney nearby?

pigletjohn we have a damp patch in our house on the lower wall, our chimney breast has been removed, however next doors in in situ if there a chance it could be affecting our side?

a disused flue will get internal condensation if it does not have ventilation top and bottom. An airbrick will do. Staining from a chimney is more often brown, and is tarry so will come through ordinary redecoration. you can often smell the soot in it.

The OPs leak is above a bathroom, so it might be plumbing or roof.

I do wonder if it might be something to do with the roof even though we can't see anything.

There's no chimney or flue anywhere near it. I do think water must be getting in from outside.

if the orange is powdery and will wipe away with a dry cloth, it could be wood rot and possibly quite worrying.

Not sure if its powdery or not. Will check it next weekend when I'm going to clear the house .