They have said it needs injections and the render cutting up above dpl... it might be a good thing if the mortgage lender retains some of the mortgage...because then we can just say they wont give us the full amount to the seller..and no way are we going to be able to afford the retention and the money for the works to be done...apparently they said there where signs that its had chemical injections in the past and they wont to do them areas again because that is where the damp is showing apparently...
Render? It has render?
Do you know what the construction is under the render? Is it stone with lime mortar? Or bricks with lime mortar? Lime is breathable. After WW2 there was a fad of rendering every house with concrete. Concrete is not breathable. If you have lime mortar based external walls wrapped in concrete render any water in the walls will not be able to get out of the concrete and as such will 'get out' inside the house (this is penetrating damp and you'll eventually see wet patches on your internal walls). If you see a really old house with render make sure the render is made out of lime or avoid it. If it's concrete render over lime mortar really the best solution is to take the render off, which considering the age of the house would mean that a lot of the bricks underneath would get damaged in the process, especially if they're damp. This could potentially be very expensive to put right.
Rising damp is a con.
Old houses suffer problems with damp nowadays because we 'modernise' them. Old houses originally had drafty windows and drafty doors and had a chimney with a fire going in the middle of the house. So all the cold air would be drawn in through the windows and doors and pulled up through the chimney causing really good ventilation and no damp problems. Any water from the ground or from rain hitting the side of the house would leave the walls due to lime being very breathable and the choice for pointing in those days.
If you then whack a load of concrete render over the walls, put well fitted doors and double glazing on your windows and block up the chimney. You've now got no airflow. Old houses need good ventilation in the bathrooms + kitchen and if you dry laundry indoors in the room you dry your laundry too. On top of that, leave the exterior walls 'naked', or if you insist on putting render over it, insist that it's a lime based render so the walls can breath.
Externally make sure that the ground level at the edge of the property is below the damp proof course. Old houses have a slate layer, some have air bricks and a suspended floor (victorian) make sure any soil/gravel etc is not higher than this. On top of this ensure your gutters and drains aren't leaking.
Good luck.
