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Damp issue

13 replies

Laburnam · 21/06/2020 15:57

Thinking of purchasing a downstairs flat in 1860s Stone built house.
It’s an end row of terraces with the other house’s entrances on first floor level. Went back to take measurements and the utility room was terribly damp. It pervaded the whole flat although all windows were open.
It isn’t coming from flat above but what is the first floor pathway to the house to the left of the property. Looking up there the house that is on the first level to the left brick work appears quite crumbly.
Obviously I have had a survey on the flat I’m in the process of buying but none of this flagged up as surveyor hasn’t even mentioned the utility room in the report
Any advice much appreciated

OP posts:
MrsMcCarthysfamousScones · 21/06/2020 18:36

Can you contact the surveyor and ask why this issue wasn’t included in the report?

We recently spent £3,000 on a damproof course and replaster for a small room if you were wondering about costs, but no clue about rectifying your issue. Is it worth speaking to the people in the property who’s path seems to be causing the problem?

@PigletJohn is generally brilliant at advising on property issues.

PigletJohn · 21/06/2020 19:00

in that position it is very likely a leaking waterpipe or drain.

I'd look at the waterpipe first.

Find the outside stopcock, which will be in a pit next to where the front gate used to be when the house was built, probably in a straight line to where the kitchen sink used to be when the house was built (or it might go under the side alley if there is one. And look for the indoor stopcock, where the pipe come out through the floor under where the kitchen sink used to be when the house was built.

Either or both of these might have been hidden under flowerbeds, paving slabs or concrete for your convenience. There might be a tap or watermeter in the pavement under a small iron or black plastic trapdoor.

Get a young person with good hearing to stand in the kitchen late at night when all is quiet, and turn off the outside one, then on again, and repeat. If they notice faint white noise stopping and starting, you have a leaking supply pipe.

If you have no young person you can buy an engineers stethoscope for a few pounds and press the tip against the cold pipe or tap. You may not notice the faint hiss of a leak, but you'll notice when it stops and starts.

Then look at the drains. There will be a soil pipe going into the ground, possibly cast iron; and a rainwater downpipe, possibly going into a gulley, and a gulley for the kitchen sink, possibly brown glazed pottery (clay)

All of these are probably cracked or broken and leaking in the ground. Clues are: Patched, repaired or cracked and sunken concrete, paving or ground around them; wild tomato plants; damp, rich soil with bright red worms in it.

Take some photos of all these suspects please.

PigletJohn · 21/06/2020 19:58

btw

if you invite a person who sells chemicak injections into the home, he will advise you to buy chemical injections.

One thing you can be sure of is that chemical injections don't cure building defects, or leaks, or broken drains, or blocked airbricks, or spilling gutters, or raised ground levels, or flooded land.

That doesn't leave much in the way of causes of damp.

Laburnam · 21/06/2020 21:34

Wow thank you so much for the in-depth knowledge I really appreciate your advice very much

OP posts:
Laburnam · 21/06/2020 21:39

Yes I need to contact the surveyor again and thank you for telling me how much it cost you to sort out your small room.
Bizarrely the owner divulged yesterday that when one of the houses further down the row turns off their stop cock, the property has no water.
This is a bit of a red flag as not ideal if tenants have no water. I’m due to exchange this Friday but definitely putting it on hold

OP posts:
BlessYourCottonSocks · 21/06/2020 21:45

@PigletJohn you are just who I want!

Can I slightly hijack thread to say my kitchen is full of damp. Victorian house and ground outside kitchen is approx 1ft higher than kitchen floor. Should digging that out be my first step?

Laburnam · 21/06/2020 21:54

If you can see the railing to the left at first floor level, the small window at ground level is the utility room

Damp issue
OP posts:
PigletJohn · 21/06/2020 22:31

@BlessYourCottonSocks

yes because it will probably be higher than the DPC (there probably is one)

in some cases, the pantry was deliberately built to have a damp stone floor so it would be cold, to improve food storage, and you would step down into it from the kitchen, or the housekeeper's room or the butler's room, depending on grandness of house. I had an Edwardian house built like that. That's no longer necessary.

There are two approaches:

If headroom is sufficient, you can put in a new floor higher than the old, to match the rest of the house. The cavity beneath can be well-ventilated with airbricks to keep it fairly dry. Or you can add a dpm and pour a new dry concrete floor (but the walls will need tanking as well.

Or, especially if the external ground level has been raised by a hundred years of idiots shovelling flowerbeds and paving against the wall, you can dig it all out, and either lower the back yard, or leave a trench that you can fill with cobbles or large pebbles (these do not support damp by capillarity) and lead the trench away so any water runs away from the house. The cobbles are so there is not an open trench for you to fall into. If the ground is porous you can just make a French Drain.

I think digging it out is the better option. You may well discover broken drains while you are digging (see earlier reply). I've never found a hundred-year-old clay gulley that wasn't broken and leaking, but I'm told there is one.

PigletJohn · 21/06/2020 22:34

@laburnam
If you can see the railing to the left at first floor level, the small window at ground level is the utility room

With a downpipe and a gulley beside it.

50p on a drain leak.

Laburnam · 21/06/2020 22:39

@PigletJohn
I have a picture of the property above the flat to the left, with the railing that runs along the row of terraces . I’m wondering if the water supply issues are connected with all this, when their stop cock is turned off. The said property is further down the row.
I’m debating now how big a job this could be and if it might be a deal breaker

OP posts:
Laburnam · 21/06/2020 22:42

A drain leak sounds a lot less scary, I will send you a pound if you’re right 🤣

OP posts:
MrsMoastyToasty · 21/06/2020 23:31

It's quite common for old Victorian properties to have a shared water supply. Back when they were built it was likely that there was only one tap inside the house for everything.
However today's consumption means that it won't be powerful to support the usage in a modern household and you may suffer fluctuations in pressure as neighbours turn their taps on and off.
The only sure way to overcome this is to separate your supply and get your own external stop tap. Your local water company will be able to advise.

BlessYourCottonSocks · 22/06/2020 20:48

@PigletJohn. You are a scholar and a gentleman. Or lady. Digging it will be, as a first step at least.

Thanks very much. Apologies OP for derailing slightly. Good luck with your damp.

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