Buying house with reported rising damp?

Did the company that reported DPC failure also happen to offer DPC installation/repair services?

Get a report from a reputable, independent firm that has no vested interested.

The surveyors conducting surveys on behalf of lenders know very little about such things, which is why they always say things like, 'We recommend an expert in <insert field> checks it out.' They're covering their own arses.

We had a similar report done by buyers of our last house that told them there was damp and it needed checking out. We got an independent timber & damp specialist (he didn't do any sort of repair work), at our cost and he found no evidence of damp. He didn't have a good thing to say about any of the damp contractors.

It's a topic that has been discussed here several times.
 
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Thanks for all the advice, I managed to get a lower offer accepted to cover the cost of any potential repairs. The other damp company found there to be very little damp apart from where there was an overflowing gutter.

So all good :D
 
Sirrel Squirrel said:
Thanks for the advice, there's another damping company going in today to survey so will see if they come back with something similar.

When we looked at the house there weren't any obvious signs of damp but the Home Buyer's survey and first damp proofing guy found high levels of moisture in the same areas and both suggested rising damp/failure of the DPC.

The house was built in the 30s and generally in the area these are well built. The house has been extended so the concern is that the extension has caused these issues.
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Hi, I’ve stumbled across this old post while googling rising damp. Your problem in a 1930s house sounds so similar to what we’re going through. We’re in the process of buying a 1930s house which was originally a bungalow. Surveyors bought it as their home (ironically & annoyingly!) 10 years ago & extended it into an amazing house. The original frontage, which is at the opposite end of the property to the new extension has two areas of damp which were highlighted by our surveyor. He doesn’t think it’s a massive issue, he thinks it’s solved by putting a French drain, a narrow channel around the front of the house, so the water drains away from the drive. The drive is sloped towards the house & meets the house with no gap so this sounds plausible. The house had damp membrane injections 10years ago & there’s a 30 year guarantee & the company are going in next week to see if that’s failed. We’re just concerned to find out that the damp problem isn’t worse than this. It’s annoying as the vendors are surveyors and they knew about the damp so they could have sorted this before now. We’re due to exchange any day & now feel we’re holding up the chain while this is investigated!
I was interested to read your story & wondered what the outcome was?
 
Sirrel Squirrel said:
They aren't willing to fix it or accept a lower offer
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It's this attitude from the vendor that would put me off.

Unless the house is already being sold at a good value, or they've had plenty of interest from other buyers, then they should be footing the bill for their problem - either fixing it before selling, or accepting a lower offer.

Have you had a full structural survey done? Or just the basic one?

On an older house, and one of that value means the property much be fairly large, i'd personally want a full structural survey to confirm there aren't any hidden nasties.

EDIT: That'll teach me for not checking the date on an older bumped thread. Threads need an autolock after so many years of inactivity :D
 
Amazing, I'm just going through the same with my house now. We completed a few weeks ago with the building survey having flagged some damp issues in the dining and living room. We negotiated the purchase price by 5k to cover this (and a few other problems), and earlier in the week got a quote from a damp proof specialist (Kenwood, meant to be the biggest and best), for about 4k. Seems a lot to me! And from what I've read recently, this may well be fairly trumped up. They have 'diagnosed' that the DPC has been breached, but I'm now wondering if sorting out the chimney and a drain out front will actually solve it, and a good portion of the 'damp' showing up on meter readings is due to condensation too, which we can solve with ventilation and heating.

Have an independent damp surveyor coming round tonight to have a look for a cost of £100 to give an unbiased opinion.
 
Meh, two year thread bump but for the first time one I was quite interested to read. Thanks Linda Fish.
 
dl8860 said:
Wow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuoKhF31hL8
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Love that guy. I'm by no means 'anti-damp' I just think it gets diagnosed far too often and the damp companies who have an interest in selling their products are the ones doing the diagnosis using improper solutions to fix problems that should be tackled in other ways...rant over. Sorry.

Unfortunately the solution (french drain) being proposed in this case is probably worth doing. Chemical damp proofing really is **** idea (imo) it may stop damp entering in some areas but it doesn't solve the problem and they've already pointed to the fact the raised ground levels which fall in to the walls so a french drain which is an easy fix and looks alright would be worth doing. A days work and it's done (assuming it's not a really long wall).
 
DPC can be breached with crap in the cavity. An hours work could have that sorted.

I've done it several times on our house at various locations.
 
My last house was built in 1930's and was one of the first to have a DPC - we or the next door neighbours never had a damp problem - years on next door was purchased by a young couple and they set about doing extensions and refurb - One day he came round and asked if we or other neighbours had ever had water in lounge soaking carpets - No. - so he pulled up floor - put down membrane and put concrete floor in - When I went round to have a look I noticed he had took gutter off the roof over the porch - Dope !! I at the time was also building an extension and had just knocked through from pantry to new extended bit of pantry - The walls before damp course were 11" solid brick and DPM was tar smeared all over then external and internal walls were built up - What had happened was the water had come off his roof - splashed up walls and ran down to DPM - it then ran over the top of the tar and dripped into his lounge.

Also at that time there was a very good magazine on sale called "Old House Journal" which covered all aspects of old buildings and in their opinion rising damp did not happen - it was caused by something - They did a test using a trough with a brick pillar in and half filled with water - only the two bricks above the water got damp - above that was dry.
 
I'm aware this thread is a bit old, but just if anyone is curious. Damp proofing is a total wild west industry. 99% of the time it's poor ventilation or water ingress.
 
Had the independent damp surveyor last night, he identified the uncapped chimney, general poor ventilation (double glazing installed a few years ago) and a previous leaky drainpipe and reasons for why there was evidence of damp. No need at all for chemical injections, just cap the chimney, ventilate the property, and be diligent with upkeep of gutters, drainpipes and drains. Kenwood PLC (the damp specialists) quoted for £4,800, but following this independent surveyors suggestions it looks like it should only cost £4-500 for work aside from the chimney capping, which wasn't included in Kenwood's quote anyway.
 
Wow thanks guys! It’s a new minefield for us as we’ve had fairly new houses in the last 25 years, & going for an extended 1930s house is a big step for us! The damp is a worry but we think there must be a reasonable solution. I was aware how old this thread was but hope you don’t mind me asking, it looked so useful as there were so many variations on damp to enquire about!
 
Linda Fish said:
Wow thanks guys! It’s a new minefield for us as we’ve had fairly new houses in the last 25 years, & going for an extended 1930s house is a big step for us! The damp is a worry but we think there must be a reasonable solution. I was aware how old this thread was but hope you don’t mind me asking, it looked so useful as there were so many variations on damp to enquire about!
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Echoed. Very informative.
 
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