Rising damp...or not?

[punkypossum]

And no, not the TV programme unfortunately...

Anybody know anything about it? My housebuying saga is continuing, after house 1 fell through and various other hiccups, I'm now on house no 2. The survey came back and reported damp on 1 internal wall (kitchen to lounge), asking me to instruct a damp-proofing specialist to assess the extent of the damp. All external walls etc are fine and there is a damp-proofing course in place.

The estate agent recommended a company called Permaguard, who came out to assess it, the report came back on Friday, and although I've not seen the written version yet, the estate agent has told me that they have diagnosed rising damp and quoted £1000 to put this right.

There is no damp visible on the wall to the naked eye, however, it's where the seller keeps her washing machine which has apparently leaked recently. Considering we are talking one wall only, the quote seemed pretty high to me (I might be wrong), so I did some research on rising damp on the web and it appears that it is very often misdiagnosed and that the damp meters used by most surveyors only work on timber and are inaccurate on anything else. Also, it appears that instructing a damp-proofing company tends to result in more work being quoted than actually needs doing - especially if it's the one recommended by the estate agent. The £1,000 still seem to be excessive, especially after looking at prices for damp-proofing a whole house!

Then I came across this site:

http://www.ukdamp.co.uk/diagnosing.asp?pageID=diagnosing

Which appears to confirm what I have read somewhere else (they are a member of the pca and trustmark, so sound legitimate). They charge for their surveys, but then deduct the money from any work that needs carrying out.

What do you think? Is it worth paying £125 or £200 (not sure which quote would apply to me) to save money in the long run? Has anybody dealt with them before?

The chances of the seller carrying any of the cost is rather slim, as I already got several thousand of the asking price and there is no retainer on the mortgage despite the damp problem.

I could really use the £1,000 for something else, but don't want to fork out £200 only to end up having to pay the same amount anyway...

Any damp experts on here? Any suggestions?

This house-buying business is doing my head in!!!

 

[PatrickPending]

Give it a try and negotiate a deduction - worked for me -even if they only meet you half way........

 

[Globalti]

This is just the usual bollocks you get when buying a house and various sharks try to extract money from you. If there's no retainer off the mortgage go ahead, buy the house if the neighbours are not noisy scum (much more important than a possibility of damp) and then see how the wall seems after you've aired the house out for a few weeks.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

get a local firm in. i'm registered with wykamol to do electrical osmosis dpc. £1000 for one wall is very expensive. you should be looking at £300 to £400 IF the wall needs re plastering. if the wall is not too badly contaminated with salts, you may get away with just the skirtings being removed, osmosis installed, skirting put back on. this may cost £200 to £300. you'll also get issued a certificate as well. google osmosis dpc and find a local firm. hope this helps.

 

[yello]

I know you're not keen on my opinions pp, sorry.

If you're concerned about spending an extra £1000 (let alone £200 for a report) in the process of buying a house then, in all honesty, your budget is too tight. £1000 is nothing on the scale of things.

Rising damp? Well, there's a can of worms in itself. Many would say that genuine cases of rising damp are actually rather rare. Damp, no doubt, but rising damp not so. Damp can be caused my all manner of things, and sometimes cured quite inexpensively, but companies make good money out of diagnosing and curing 'rising' damp.

But you could always walk away. Is there anything particularly special about this place? Could you look for another property perhaps?

This house-buying business is doing my head in!!!

Then don't do it! You have to be honest with yourself. What is it you want to achieve by buying? Can you really afford it? It can saddle you with long term debt, not to mention additional short term expenditure hurdles (re-wiring, new boiler, etc etc etc). Renting, for all the 'wasted money' arguments it attracts, can be cheaper and certainly less hassle.

I know you didn't want me to throw these questions at you (again!) when all you asked about is rising damp but house purchase can be a mistake. I just don't want you to make a mistake.

 

[summerdays]

I can't offer much help other than to say when our washing machine leaked we did get some dampness on the wall immediately next to it as it took a while to realise there was a small leak (err we didn't nothing about it - its covered by the washing machine).

 

[Mr Pig]

Most damp issues can be done DIY. From what you've said it doesn't sound like rising damp to me but obviously it's impossible to be sure without seeing it. I wouldn't pay £1000 to fix it though, no chance. I'd investigate the issue myself later, you should be able to sort it out.

 

[Archie_tect]

PP,

Is the damp a deal- breaker for you if you don't resolve the damp before you purchase? If not then move in , do nothing for 6 months and see if it dries out -plaster salts can give false 'damp' readings and there may be no damp at all or it could be still drying out after the washer leak. Or it could be condensation saturating the plaster behind the washer/dryer over many years use. Is there a tell tale line of plaster dust or bubbling paintwork on the wall like a tide mark which indicates salts from the plaster being drawn up the wall?

AS it's an internal wall and the rest are OK I'm very skeptical about it being rising damp at all....best leave it, ventilate the room well to dry any condensation around the wall/floor area and check for any persistent pipe or joint or tap leaks which may be causing the 'damp'

Is the damp a deal- breaker as far as your mortgage lender's concerned? If they will only lend you money if you agree to have a damp-proof course [DPC] installed then so be it, get a quote from 3 local firms [ask around for who to go to- you may need a guarantee for the lender but they aren't worth the paper they're written on!].

Before agreeing, challenge the lender with information you have and suggest that you leave the damp for 6 months before taking any action on it at all. If they require a written promise from you to deal with it later then you have nothing to lose by waiting.

If you don't have to have a DPC fitted before moving in, don't!

Hope this helps.

 

[HelenD123]

Punky - that quote is way over the top. I've just had a damp proof fitted on one wall of my dining room and living room plus relaying and damp proofing one of the fire places for £1000. That was the full works, taking the plaster off back to the brickwork, injecting the damp proof course and replastering with specialist plaster.

I'd lived with the damp for 7 years without a problem and only got it fixed when I redecorated and could see damp, greasy looking marks around the bottom foot of the walls. If you think yours is caused by the washing machine I'd give it chance to dry out before spending any money on it.

 

[punkypossum]

Thanks for your advice guys!

Yello, you got me wrong, the £1,000 is not a deal breaker, however, it does seem a bit excessive, so if I could save the money or spend a bit less, I'd rather do that than be ripped off. Especially after reading around and finding all these horror stories about rising damp not actually being rising damp at all. Just wondered if it was worth paying out for a report from this other company and if anybody had heard about them!

I do really like this house, and as the mortgage company are happy to release the money despite the damp issue and knowing that I can get it fixed (even if it might be £1000 in the worst case scenario) I'm happy to go ahead with it...Especially as the survey results overall are pretty good apart from this one issue.

As for it doing my head in, it's more the fact that everytime I think things are going smoothly, something else crops up, not that I don't want to buy a house....

 

[Archie_tect]

Every purchase has problems along the way but it's very stressful at the time... almost as bad as delivering bread!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

never ever pay for a dpc report. get at least 3 firms to quote. they have a specialist meter with 2 prongs. this will tell them / you if it's rising damp or condensation. you don't need to be there, they will happily pick up the keys / arrange with current owners. just because it's an internal wall doesn't mean it's not rising damp. if it's in contact with the ground, damp can rise up to 1m above the highest point of the ground. it's limited to this height due to gravity being stronger than capillary action.

 

[Archie_tect]

never ever pay for a dpc report. get at least 3 firms to quote. they have a specialist meter with 2 prongs. this will tell them / you if it's rising damp or condensation. you don't need to be there, they will happily pick up the keys / arrange with current owners. just because it's an internal wall doesn't mean it's not rising damp. if it's in contact with the ground, damp can rise up to 1m above the highest point of the ground. it's limited to this height due to gravity being stronger than capillary action.

Quite possibly Shaun, but don't rush it PP- let it dry out [if it doesn't then you'll have a clearer idea!]

 

[punkypossum]

The reason I'm considering paying for the report is that after much trawling of the web, it appears that if you get a free quote from a company doing dpc's, they will inevitably tell you that you need it. Whereas this uk damp place seem to test the actual bricks (which according to quite a few websites seems to be the only really accurate way of assessing it), but they have no hidden interest to sell me anything, so I suppose in a way paying for their report is a bit like getting an independent expert in, rather than somebody already biased one way. That's why I'm thinking it might be worth paying for it, especially as this company is registered with PCA etc, so does not appear to be a bunch of cowboys...

Just not sure what's for the best, leaving it for a bit is starting to appear rather tempting.... Should gt a copy of the written report next week, so hopefully that will shed a bit more light on it...

 

[yello]

House purchase is a stressful business, it's a sad reality. The most stressful thing most of us do some claim. I think that's partly because that when we want something so much, it piles on the self-pressure. If one can remain detached (ho ho) and objective then it'd probably be easier.... IF!

It's difficult to say without seeing it but, re-reading your post, I reckon I'd be inclined not to worry about it, to let it go. If you purchase then see if the patch dries out naturally. Deal with it it not. If the current owner is legit when they claim it's only due to a leaky washing machine then it should be okay. If not, then they've lied and you'd probably have recourse to some action.

Personally, I take whatever an estate agent says with a pinch of salt. For all we know, he's on a backhander from the company that have quoted the £1000! People get anxious when purchasing a home and do all manner of daft things to ensure they get the house they want. Estate agents could easily play on that.... if they wanted to. Not saying they're all like that mind, not even most, but I'm wary.