Damp under kitchen floor

[BovrilonToast]

I've just spoken to the surveyor for our new house and apparently there are very high damp readings on the kitchen floor. He's also said that there is a steel pipe running under the floor.

Now, it could be the mains pipe - which we could have replaced/diverted.

Has anyone one got any ideas what else it could be? Unlikely to the be stream under the house etc. as the house is at the top of a hill, and nowhere near any water courses!

Anyone got any ideas?

Is there an external door in your kitchen? Reason I ask is the seal under the threshold in my kitchen went and caused a bit of damp. I put new silicone in and it's now fine. Might be worth checking out? x

Yes - but nowhere near the damp unfortunately. It's so bad the tiles have lifted...

Thanks though!

It might depend what is underneath the floor and even houses on hills can have damp soil underneath. Is there any other pipework which might be leaking under the floor? How does the water used inn the sink, washing machine, or cloakroom etc exit to the outside drainage system? Does it go under the floor? This is not necessarily the mains pipe bringing the water into the house. It could be how the water leaves the house.

Soil under a house can also get damp because the owner has chopped down lots of trees that formerly "drank" the water. This excess water will then remain in the soil. Has the house got an effective damp proof membrane? Is the floor just laid on top of soil as can happen in very old houses? The surveyor can arrange to have trial holes dug around the kitchen to try and find out where it is most damp and why that might be happening. Obviously taking up the whole kitchen floor is not possible on a house you are buying. I doubt if this is a door seal.

This does sound like a water leak under the floor from your response above. The home owners can claim on their insurance if it is a big job.

Thanks Milly - that's really helpful. The house is 50's built and the kitchen is in an extension built in the 90's. I can see the damp course in the line of the brick work outside the kitchen - it could have failed I suppose?

Washing machine is not in the same room, and the dishwasher is on the back wall of the house, and I imagine exits without going under the floor (unless there's some crazy plumbing going on!) Bathrooms all all exit through the utility room along the side wall of the house...

Do you think this all points mains? It could be the heating pipes I suppose? They may go under the floor.

The worst damp won't necessarily be where the water comes from. mine wasn't. It pools on the lowest lying area of the floor x

If the dishwasher exits without going through the floor, you will see the drain pipe above garden level outside.

You might have a broken pipe underground outside that is allowing the water to collect around it and then seep back into the house. I really would ask the surveyor to get more investigation done to see if all the outside drains around the house are working and then try and work out what is under the kitchen floor. If the extension was built in the 1990's, does the vendor have the detailed plans for building regs? The local planning department might have them too and then you can see the drain layout. Can you trace the water main from the road into the house? It could be a porblem where the new water supply has been connected to the old water supply - i.e. from the 1950's kitchen to the new one.

Is the vendor prepared to claim on their insurance for the repairs and damage? Are they not bothered about this? It could be expensive.

I'm worried how long the insurance claim could take. I know it could be very expensive...

The vendor barely lives in the house - they have a second property that's now their main residence. The EA is trying to get hold of them to tell them about the leak...

The surveyor is getting the plans as a part of the survey, hopefully that should shed some light on it.

If it is the main, do you think having it replaced at the boundary would be the simplest solution?

Thanks again Milly

It will depend on its line from the road to the kitchen sink. I think the vendor might be able to start the claim and you can buy the house with the ongoing claim. You would have quite a big job to take up all the floors to see where the leak is. I would see what your surveyor says.

Ah - I didn't know they could start it and we could carry it on!

Are your cold water mains and central heating pipes in the floor? and is the floor underneath your tiles concrete?
The reason I ask this is because we have just moved back into our property after having a major water leak which was under our kitchen tiles also on the threshold of our kitchen, we only realised that something was wrong when we started to notice the paint on some of the walls near the skirting started to peel off, and more noticeably when we started to hear what sounded like the toilet system filling up after you flush it but the noise was constant.
We eventually pulled back some of the carpet in our lounge which had peeling paint and was next to the kitchen and our concrete floor was damp so we knew we had a leak some where we just had to locate it.
We had this one tile on the threshold where the grout was coming away from the tile, for the last 10 years we've been re-grouting around that tile, so finally we pulled it up and chiseled the concrete away to expose the pipes and the water was gushing out, it must of been leaking for a long time and only became more apparent when we heard the noise.
we were told that all the tiles would have to come up as that is the only way to dry the floor out, ours took 9 weeks and 17 de humidifiers and heaters, the final bill was nearly £40,000, must say our insurance company have been brilliant and haven't argued about anything, even put us in rented.
What I will say is that the water had travelled from one end of our property to the other through a bathroom, two bedrooms an en-suite, hall, it finds it own natural level, it took longer to dry one area that was a long way from the leak.

Your vendors would have to talk to their insurers about the insurers continuing the claim with you but DH is currently doing this with a property owned by a relative so I know it is possible. If this is costly to put right, then insurance will be the only way forward. Presumably the vendor is insured? Do you really want this house? It would be worrying me!

eggsandwich that sounds awful - hopefully you'll be sorted soon!

The surveyor has checked for damp in the other rooms and there's nothing showing up so fingers crossed it's not the whole ground floor!

Milly yes... I do! It's the perfect project for us - and in a great location.

If it is a project, then the price should reflect the problems. If this is your dream house, you will have to find a way around the problem to your satisfaction if walking away is not an option.

We've adjust the price according to what we could see and made sure the agent knew the offer was subject to survey! We weren't expecting a leak under the kitchen floor...

It's such a great project - nothing major like extending, it's a total refurbishment. Every room needs doing and we've got enough cash to do it. I'm ridiculously excited, I so hope it all goes to plan!