Damp basement, desirable area - would you buy?

[Birthdayplan]

Hi all

would love some advice please.

I have an old victorian house in a v v desirable area. Houses rarely come up here as people tend not to move (large houses, catchment for best schools in the area, etc etc). I bought at a good price for the area, it was a bit tired and needed some work, and i was aware of issues with the basement as flagged by my extensive home survey before buying. Issues are that after heavy rain water pools in parts of the basement and it is v v damp however this is also common for the area due to the high water table, and city i live in. This didn’t put me off as the price was v good, as i say it is common here for this to happen, and ive since done a full renovation of the house to a good standard.

my question is - would this put you off buying? Some friends who don’t know the housing market here said this could potentially put off buyers but given the above, i’m not sure that it will?

i’ve checked with many including water company and contractors who have come to look and check and all say there isn’t much point doing anything (i.e tanking) due to the high water table being the problem rather than anything else. They also say i could be liable for neighbours having issues if a change to my basement causes issues elsewhere. So it’s put me off wanting to do anything apart from not keeping belongings down there and installing lots of air bricks for air flow.

i’d like to sell in the not too distant future so it does worry me! Apart from the basement the house is great.

Is it a basement, or a cellar? If the latter, I would not be that worried. If it’s a basement which is supposed to form part of the dwelling…..😳

you bought, though, someone else will buy it for the right price.

Is it a basement, or a cellar? If the latter, I would not be that worried

Same here.

Wow thanks for the quick replies! It’s an old coal cellar so not part of the house proper - as in not renovated or anything if that makes sense? So cold and damp, like most cellars in this city

Depends what your planning on using it for ?

Install two stage sump pumps and some kind of ventilation/ dehumidifier system and it be fine for storage/ freezer / occasional room. If you want to use it as a habitable room then like you say due to the high water table it will be more of a challenge.

If you present it as a cellar and not a basement, you will be managing expectations. Cellars usually are damp.

If you are in a place where cellars are common like Sheffield it won't be a problem.

@Refillfast i bought before it went to market luckily - i was very fortunate that i had a good relationship with the estate agent who was selling it, who knew i was buying. If it went to market it would have gone to a bidding war due to houses very very rarely coming for sale here and the desirability of the area.

We have a cellar and we were advised not to use a dehumidifier because as fast as the dehumidifier dries the room out, the damp is replaced from the wet surrounding earth. Ventilation is the best option.

@Diyextension - thank you- i don’t use it for anything and don’t intend to. I rarely if ever go down there for anything other than to check the gas meter. The house is already large and has plenty of storage etc without

@Polis thank you - but would people be concerned that occassionally water pools on the floor? I’m familiar with them being damp but wasn’t sure about the water, especially after comments by friends

Cellars are absolutely fine to be damp - they are subterranean holes, never intended for living in. I work with historic buildings and really if any buyers’ surveyor doesn’t know about this sort of thing then they shouldn’t be doing the job. So I’m sure it will be fine.

I would not buy anything with damp ever again having experienced it! So no. Water on the floor? Goodness that's a hard no from me. Has to evaporate somewhere.

thanks for all the replies everyone! I may have overexaggerated - when i say ‚pools’ i mean puddles. Small puddles which then drain away after a day or two back into the ground. I do live in the North so damp cold cellars are common here.

thank you @ForfarFourEastFifeFive that’s really reassuring! That was my sense of it too until i spoke to some friends!

i’ve also been advised not to use a dehumifidier and to just vent the space as much as possible which i’ve done

Well, we bought our current house after the seller disclosed that the cellar had had pooling water once. The reason we were fine about it? Our old Victorian house's coal cellar did exactly the same so we were pretty relaxed about it, and neither house felt damp.

You'll get some people who are spooked about it and some who don't care at all. What I would be is armed with information - possibly a surveyor's report explaining that this is common issue in the area due to the high water table.

Just read your latest reply and ours was exactly the same - a small puddle that drained away after a day or so - we noticed it usually happened if we had a period of extended heavy rain after an abnormally wet winter.

Agree with the others. If your basement floods then I'd walk away, if your cellar floods then it isn't an issue

Yes, that’s exactly how to handle it. Think how long your house has been standing, perfectly well, so far. They knew how to build to the conditions in those days.

You said yourself it didn't put you off because the price was good, the extent to which it'll bother a potential buyer will likely be determined by the price also.

When you sell, you are usually competing for buyers with similarly priced houses in the area. If they all have the same issue and are all still standing after all these years then it's probably fine.

It would absolutely put me off. Damp leads to mould, mould leads to all sorts of health problems. Sorry OP

Not if the damp is in a subterranean coal cellar, it doesn’t!

Pools of water in the basement is not desirable, where ever the house. Wouldn’t touch it, sorry.