Damp proofing, fungicides and health

[DampAndRotten]

Hello all - I'm sorry for the long post!

Dp and I are in the process of buying a house. It's a victorian terrace which has been recently stripped back and refurbished (all the walls re plastered and painted white, amongst other things).

We have has a full survey which has highlighted a few problems, the main one of which is damp in a number of places. It seems that the damp proof course has basically failed but instead of sorting it out properly the vendors have just decorated over the top,repainting it white whenever more moisture comes through! The surveyor wasn't able to get a proper look at the floor joists but suggested that some of these may be rotten due to the damp and will need replacing and it will need a new damp proof course in some places. He has also recommend a further "damp survey".

We are FTBs and fairly clueless and just thought "fine, we'll ask for a discount on price and get it done" however I have just shown the survey to my mum and she has gone through the roof! (she was an environmental health officer 20yrs ago so knows her stuff although is maybe a bit out of date).
Her main concerns seem to be:
A) that no builders will want to look at the job as re-doing a shoddy job is much more difficult than working from scratch
B) (this is the big one) My DP has an chronic autoimmune disorder which has made him very unwell for a long period of time. He doesn't work and is at home most of the time. Mum is v concerned that the fungicides & pesticides used in the damp proofing will hang around in the air and be bad for his health. We don't have dcs but may well start ttc fairly soon so pregnancy /fungicides may be an issue also.

Can anyone advise me on this? Or is there an (impartial) book or website I can read? My mum is an intelligent woman so I don't want to ignore her but I do want to get a second opinion..

Thank you to anyone who has read this far!

Get an independent damp survey done (not one offered for free by companies who fix damp- it won't be unbiased). You need to figure out what the damp is being caused by- rising damp is actually quite rare. Get the diagnosis first, then look into the treatments.

I can't advise on the chemicals unfortunately.

damp is often caused by things such as leaking downpipes or the ground level outside breaching any damp proof course. There is a school of thought today that there is no benefit to be gained from 'damp proofing' old, particularly Victoria age, buildings. Old houses are built and need to breathe. First check the gutters and downpipes and make sure the outside path surfaces are not too high. I'm not sure I agree with point A) as builders are always taking on jobs which may not have been done well at some stage and re-doing them? Google rising damp on old properties as there is quite a lot of info out there.

first, kick your surveyor and tell him that you paid him to look at all this and you are not paying for a damp survey, that is his job with his little meter. The 'couldn't be arsed to move the furniture' doesn't wash.

if there is a damp proof course it needs to work - some older properties don't have them (bits of my house have no DPC) and then you need to consider bilbos points.

but TBH it sounds a bodged money pit and I recommend walking away. You'll have a choice of a damp house (which is a health risk) or moving out while the treatments/works are done if your husband is sensitive to the materials used. Once everything is dry the problem goes away so a future pregnancy isn't an issue, and children are no more at risk than adults.

Thanks all.

Special - to be fair to the surveyor it wasn't a question of moving furniture (there isn't any in the house) but making holes in the plaster and taking up floorboards which would need the vendor's permission (I wasn't very clear about that in my OP, sorry).

ok - slightly redeemed! Still, damp meters always make holes in the plaster...

but there are times in life when 'listen to your mum' may be very wise advice!