Will try to keep this as concise as possible... I'm buying a small victorian terrace (it's Grade II listed). It hasn't been particularly well cared for and has what appears to be significant damp problems. It is solid floor construction with no cellar so there aren't any airbricks as there is nothing underneath. The Estate Agent was upfront that basically the sellers had been renting it and they can't continue to rent it in the current condition, but don't want to fork out the £5K or so required to sort the damp problem.
I currently live in a Victorian Terrace and had some damp problems diagnosed when we bought it by a damp surveying company only to find out later that rising damp etc is largely a load of bologne.
I made sure to hire an independent damp surveyor this time as I didn't want to be sold things we didn't need although in this instance it's clear that there are damp problems. So there are three main areas of concern to me.
- The front wall of the house has been diagnosed with "rising damp". I personally put this down to the fact that the front elevation has at some point been repointed with cement and also you can see the interior has been replastered with gypsom which can be seen because the wall paper is peeling off. I fully thought the surveyor would recommend repointing and replastering with lime, but she's actually recommended a damp proof course (DPC).
- There is damp on the chimney breast and alcoves around in the same room (it's the front lounge). She also diagnosed rising damp in this instance and has recommended a DPC. I have no idea what's causing this and I'm wondering what others might think on this in particular.
- At the back of the property there is moisture coming in at the back wall. My husband and I could see that this is caused because there is a gap in this place where the attached shed adjoins the property. She apparently couldn't access the back of the property because the gate was locked. I'm pretty annoyed to be honest, as it was definitely not locked as I've accessed it 3 times. The property is empty and the gate doesn't have a lock...
I think I'm just utterly confused because I wasn't expecting her to recommend a DPC as I thought the property needed to breath and that they were generally something that was mis-sold by damp companies. I'm going to ring her to discuss in further and also have a chat with the conservation team at the council because I know they do not particularly like chemically injected DPCs on these properties. I think no matter the problem, there will be considerable money needing spent to sort it, but I don't want to ruin the building with a DPC. I'd like to restore the property as sympathetically as possible. Looking for advice. Maybe @pigletjohn has some knowledge here! Happy to provide more photos and/or information. I'm not even quite sure what questions to ask the surveyor...