Buying a damp thatched cottage - help please!

[medinabrowne]

Hello all. New to the site and looking for some advice. We are in the middle of trying to buy a listed thatched cottage. We've come up against all sorts of survey-related problems, most of which we have solved now. Except: there is damp in the dining room caused by cement render, visible up to a beam around 40cm up the wall. It's been looked at by two surveyors who recommended chemical treatment... We gather this is not appropriate and a very helpful conservation officer has pointed us in the right direction. However, our mortgage application is on hold until we have addressed the damp, or at least outlined how we will address the damp. I would like to know a super rough estimate for lime plaster repair work on a room 4m by 4m. And, if the timber turns out to be wet / rotten / in need of repair, what sort of cost are we looking at here?

I've spoken to various builders, but no one will give me a 'worst guess' estimate. I just need to know whether we are talking 100s or 1000s or 10s of 1000s of pounds..., so that we can work out whether we can budget for the repair work.

Many thanks!

 

[MatthewC]

Hi Medina

Your post seems to have been missed - first posts get moderated so are delayed. Welcome on board.

The answer to your questions (and probably the reason why no-one has replied) is that we don't know. The replastering could be several days work - think of the cost of plasterer plus mate (£300/day??) - my plasterer did a coat on two walls in a day. You can find the cost of tubs of mortar from websites like Mike Wye (who are also pretty helpful when it comes to the amount you will need). I'd guess you're looking at a couple of thousand pounds-ish, and I can't even guess on the woodwork without more details.

However, before you re-plaster you need to get the wall dry - there is no point in lime plastering a wet wall as it will pretty soon just fall off. So why is the wall damp? Is there high ground outside? You need the inside floor to be at least 6" above the outside level and it will then dry out naturally (and slowly). Even a concrete path up to the wall can cause problems as splashback from rain will make the wall damp - gravel or earth is preferred. Or has water been pouring down the wall? If so, fix the rain water goods and/or flashing. Is there a solid floor - what is it made of?

If you click on my Contact symbol on the right, the blue circle will take you to my blog where I described all sorts of issues when I did my house. Have a good read!

Matthew

 

[Flyfisher]

From the description it doesn't sound like a 100s job nor tens of 1000s. I'd guess a 'few' thousand, though it's always difficult to be accurate before fully understanding what might be lurking underneath.

I agree with MatthewC's comments about getting the wall dry and removing the cement render should be a fairly simple DIY job if the budget is tight and would also allow better examination of what might be lurking behind the render. Don't underestimate how long a soaking wet wall might take to dry out - one month per inch of thickness is a guideline often mentioned on here, though there are many variables.

I also agree about avoiding a 'chemical cure' for such dampness. Everything I've read about it has been negative (well, except the adverts of course!) - it damages the wall and in practice the injected material doesn't percolate the wall material enough to form an unbroken 'layer' within the wall so it stands little chance of working.

 

[Abi Cott]

Provide your mortgage company with a quote for an injectable dpc. A cheap one. Don't get it from one of the specialist companies, just a jobbing builder.

If the quote is cheap enough you will likely receive your mortgage without a retention.

Then proceed to do the job properly and simply don't tell them.

This is how I got my mortgage. Though I had to try two different mortgage companies before I achieved success. I have absolutely no intention of putting an inappropriate injectable dpc into a stone built structure. Particularly as it already seems to have been tried once and failed.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'd second what Abi said. The mortgage company will want to tick a box initially. Let them do so. Then do what is right for your house not their forms.

One you have removed the cement plaster and let the wall dry (months), you can then assess what to do next. I'm unclear from your post if the cement render is internal or external. If external - it might be as simple a problem as bad rainwater goods outside, or the render bridges the gap to ground level. Both of which are very easily rectified. But hacking of the evil cement is a given either way.

Lime plaster can be a DIY job - many of us on here have done it and it is easy to learn. Lime plaster is very forgiving and can be worked on for days by unskilled bodgers. It is straightforward to get an acceptable finish and deeply satisfying.

Folk on here will guide you through it.

Bringing in trades costs, but lime plastering is not highly skilled. A 4mx4m room with base and top coated including materials will be in the low thousands. Get some quotes and let us comment on them. 8 years ago I had two rooms of 8x5m and 5x5m lime plastered from bare stone wall plus an awful lot of structural oak timber work and other minor jobs done, all for £15k. So a 4x4m room will not cost a fortune.

oh - and congrats on the purchase!