High damp readings in house we are in process of buying- advice needed

[Pinklady81]

Hello everyone
We are in the process of buying a Victorian property circa 1860. Had an independent level 2 survey done and high damp readings were found downstairs in both living and dining room, and signs of efflorescence on brickwork. The roof also could not be inspected as there was no roof hatch and the surveyor suspects drylining to be present. I do understand a property of this age will not come without problems how would you proceed? This is my dream house and I’m already reading through articles online but don’t want to move into a money pit.

Downstairs could be no damp proof course or a bridged/damaged damp proof course, you can get one injected, used to be pretty cheap to get done. Did they check if the damp was rising, ie higher near the floor and lower near the ceiling? Of course if it's been damp for a long time there may be damaged timbers and dry or wet rot, which can be very expensive to fix.

Surprising there is no access to the roof space, is it a low roof, so only very low attic space? Probably someone has covered over a hatch at sometime in the past.

Agree, ivy eats mortar! First job get rid of that, dehumidifier, good ventilation should sort it. I would be concerned that it might have got under the eaves though, would need checking and careful removal under the roof edge.

An old school builder told me years ago no such thing as rising damp, water obeys law of gravity like everything else.

Don't get damp proof injections. They just cover over rhe issues and can make things worse.
Looks like possibly a Georgian or victorian property. Victorian will have a slate damp proof course but Georgian probably won't have one at all.

Get rid of the ivy, then you will be able to see if the gutters are leaking. Do you have any pictures of the bottom of the wall where the damp is?

He's wrong capillary action causes water to rise up brickwork (that's why they use damp proof courses in the first place), you can tell it's rising damp because the capillary action isn't strong enough to take it all the way up the wall. We had a damaged damp proof course on one corner of our last house, fixing that fixed the damp, but unfortunately there was rot in the floor boards and joists in that corner, which had to be replaced, not a huge deal as it hadn't spread too far.

We used brickwise.homes when we were doing ours, where it gave us some basic information and price guide for damp. There is often a solution for damp from rising damp, condensation or just holes in wall giving penetrative damp. It was free and super helpful for us anyhow

If the house has been insulated and dry lined, with the wrong materials and there is no ventilation of the brickwork on the inside as a result, or thebricks have been repointed in cement especially near windows and doors you get cold bridging and damp builds up. Pvc windows without trickle vents make this worse.
Our Victorian house has draughty original sashes and I thank my lucky stars as we have occasional damp patches when gutters malfunction but they always dry out with the continuous ventilation!!!!

Chimney stacks are notorious places for damp but without Victorian coal fires ventilation is the only solution, airbricks in chimney, keep flue unsealed etc

If it's only downstairs it's unlikely to be gutters or the roof, you could look at any downpipes in the affected areas. Also try to see if the ivy is covering anything, like cracked brickwork.

It’s Thanks everyone the survey suggests it’s around chimney breasts in both rooms and window in kitchen not near the front of the house directly where the Ivy is

That ivy has likley damaged the brickworks mortar so I would factor re- pointing works

Old houses are a labour of love! I only learned after buying one that they need different care and materials to newer homes. There are lots of groups on social media who live for this stuff, like https://www.facebook.com/groups/youroldhouseuk/ You could ask there for detailed advice x

Around chimney breasts means the pointing or flashing around the chimney at roof level needs to be repaired

You might be able to see that from ground level

Agree
In lime mortar

we dont know now whether to go back to the vendor and propose suggested costs for the damp potential repointing, flashing , roof survey and see what they suggest ?However costs for this are very hard to pinpoint, has anyone got any other suggestions as we really do want the property ideally and reading lots of articles surveyors reports do like to cover all bases and be over zealous?

What % below the asking have you offered

We haven’t offered any reduction in price as yet the estate agent suggested that if we feel it is necessary to come back with a proposal but it’s the unknown of what to do

Wr have a house that is about the same age. We have had some repointing done (post ivy!) and I think it cost about £500 for the two storey elevation. Flashing is more difficult to give you an equivalent as ours is mainly 3 storey so needed the expense of scaffolding as well as the roof work for the chimney. It might be possible to use just ladders on the house in your pictures...or at least less scaffolding.

What I meant was
How much have you already offered for the house ie the price the sellers have accepted. What is the £% reduction

ie Seller wants £200,000 but accepts an offer of £190,000 that’s a % reduction of 5%
I ask this because if you’ve offered well below the asking a few areas of damp doesnt warrant a reduction. If you’ve offered the asking price it does

Ha ok house was £350k offer accepted at 340k

If you can get a survey and price for the works then you could ask to split the cost. Whether they take that or not us up to them

So £10k below approx 3%. That’s not far above the average drop of 2%

In which case I’d either
get a survey and ask to split the cost
or see if they’ll accept another 2% drop ie £7000.
It really depends if they’re in a chain and need to keep you as a buyer.

It doesnt hurt to ask for a price drop but in the grand scale of things the amount of damp you have in a building that age is not surprising. So be prepared for them not to accept a lower offer

Do get a specialist damp survey, if you do want the house it will at least let you know what you'll need to fix it and then you can work out how much you should ask to reduce by. Avoid surveys from 'damp proofing' companies, they are just out to make money selling fixes that won't solve the root cause!

Only worth it if you get a specialist surveyor like Heritage House, one who is nothing to do with any 'damp proofing' company.
Those meters are just junk. To find out if there is really damp you need to drill holes in the walls and test the drillings. Have a good read of Heritage House's website.

Yep, we had one of those done, came up with over 10K of tanking etc, not including all the replastering and decorating (and this was in 2019). I thought the report stank, it just didn't make sense. We bought the house regardless and when we got a proper specialist in (who drilled walls and tested properly) he found only one tiny area of damp which was solved by removing wallpaper and painting with breathable paint. It was mainly that the whole house needed better ventilation, removal of old gas fire which had been going full blast for years, stripping the old wallpaper, and decorating with appropriate paints. As we replaced windows, we had them put in with vents. Just little, incremental things. The walls were actually not damp at all, and tanking them would have caused structural trouble and actual damp. The whole house just needed to be allowed to breathe as it was intended to. When we let it, it dried out in a few months. Cost, my time stripping wallpaper, mostly. Be very wary of damp proofing companies. Very wary.

Silly question, but is it possible that it's not the walls that are damp. Is it possible the meter is reading the water in the ivy itself?!

Like if someone holds a glass of water against the outside of the house and then takes a reading from inside would it read that water as being a 'damp area'?!

If so then you may not need to do a single thing! Maybe if you buy a mid price water reader thing and then persuade the owners to let you take a reading of a particular area and then trim the ivy in that patch and then read it later that day?

@Hmmmnmmnits not a silly question but don’t know if damp coild be detected in other areas of the house due to the ivy? The areas where it’s been detected at chimney breasts and the kitchen which is at the back of the house