Help please. In process of purchasing a cottage

[Newbytocottages]

This new builder sounds more promising than the first one you mentioned!

Too-high ground levels are a common problem with older properties. The good news is that it's a known problem with known and proven solutions (good news in the sense of not stumbling around trying all manner of random things to see if anything works). Replacing slabs with gravel should also help, though don't underestimate the capacity of gravel to hold water, even though it's certainly better for drainage than paving slabs, so reducing the ground level is still important.

Personally, I wouldn't rush to install a DPC. Your point about 'good ventilation' is bang on the money but don't expect it solve damp within the walls/floor particularly fast. An often quoted figure in these here parts is that a damp wall can take around one month per inch to dry out, ie a 9-inch thick solid wall that has been standing in damp-inducing conditions for years might easily take 9 months to readjust to its new environment when improvment works have been completed.

I'd endorse Eric56's post above, ie do the obvious basic stuff first (ground levels, foiliage removal, checking for guttering leaks etc), then just 'live and learn' for at least a year - you'll learn how the house and its environment 'works' and also the house will gradually find its new equilibrium with the basic changes and your lifestyle. Plus, you've rightly mentioned 'good ventilation', which can solve all manner of damp-related issues without the expense and disruption of installing a DPC.

Also, based on my own experience, 'good ventilation' doesn't necessarily mean wide-open windows all year round. I think of it as being averaged over a year. In the summer months, our windows and doors are always wide open, in the spring and autumn they are generally wide open during the warmish days but closed at night (mostly) when we have the heating on and more often closed than open in the coldest months. So indoor winter humidity levels will likely be a bit higher than summer levels but with adequate average ventilation, damp will not accumulate. Buildings react slowly.

Houses don't suddenly have a damp problem because the gutters start leaking or the outside ground level is raised too high with paving (for example) - but such changes in conditions will cause a change in the environment for the worse and the gradual build up of problems will begin. Left for many years, the effects eventually manifest themselves (in this case, damp problems), at which point many people start to panic and look for a quick fix and of course there are no end to 'snake oil' solutions out there. Alternatively, reverse the basic problems and give the house time to heal itself while you get on with living your life. You'll learn to love your new house and it will learn to love you.

Thank you very much.

 

[tourcheredtony]

Hi,
We're in thr process of purchasing a cottage c1880/1890. It has an extension to the rear c1970. Just been round it with a builder and the cottage has damp walls (internally). The walls are thick and solid, stone or brick not sure as there is render which looks in fair condition but the vendor has painted white for sale purposes.
I'm very nervous about the potential nightmare the damp may cause in terms of remedy and cost. The internal walls are mostly studded as when I knock on them they sound hollow. A friend says old buildings need to breath and not be stifled with sealants on walls. The flooring is solid so I guess they began life as wood and were then concreted but I don't know for sure. Feeling rather daunted by all of the unknown. Can anyone offer suggestions and advice please I could attach the link to the property on rightmove if that's any use?

Ive just purchased a cottage with damp and having been on the journey can tell you a few things from my experience. Apologies if some of this is repeated from above- have not read all the replies.

1, check the soak-aways, assuming you're not discharging your rainwater into the mains sewerage (if there is any!) often old soakaways get clogged up, treat roots, dirts etc and the rain water is just pooling on the foundations.
2, a new DPC will not solve the problem, dont even consider it
3, look for the reasons of the water ingress. Where there is damp, normally there is a water source (leaking gutter, drain, maybe even a water supply pipe)
4, the best remedy IMO is on the damp walls, dig a trench down to the foundations, add a French drain where possible, blackjack the walls, remove any water ingress as mentioned above and then refill with type 1/shingle/lime chippings so any water goes down past the foundation and not against the wall.
5, dont let this put you off, but do adjust your offer accordingly

TT

 

[Newbytocottages]

Thank you for your help and time. I’ve received such fabulous help from this forum. I will take on all of the comments everyone has made and see if we can get a more favourable offer accepted by the vendor.

 

[Lacan07]

I endorse the comments on here about living in the property first before going mad on the renovations. If you've got time on your side I would just live and observe beyond making the obvious repairs, keep consuming information and asking questions on forms like this. That way you'll avoid making the costly mistakes some of us have had to endure.

 

[Stevers]

Apart from the triffids growing up the building, the proximity of those Leylandi would worry me. The roots travel, and those haven’t been well maintained, but just recently cut back - you can tell from the lack of green growth.

Agree that there are Leylandii that need to go, but I'm pretty sure the two big shrubs each side of the gate are yew. They will come again if cut back hard.

Ivy is an impractical nightmare on a house, as is Virginia Creeper. I planted a Wisteria on the front of our stone house and a Hydrangea Petiolaris on the gable end. Both soften the slightly gaunt outline of the house, and passers by certainly approve. They have room to thrive, but absolutely need to be pruned once a year for the Hydrangea and twice a year for the Wisteria. There has been no damage to the house and my take is that the moisture they extract from the ground through growing is better off in the atmosphere than where it was.

 

[LadyArowana]

An ivy that originated in our garden had been allowed to grow out of control over, and into, a neighbouring house. The situation occurred because there were uselss tenants in our house and the neighbouring house was a weekend party house. When a family bought the party house to live in we found out about the ivy situation, our tenants were gone a short while later as we wanted to renovate the place to live in. A tree surgeon advised to sever the ivy at ground level but to allow it to die back naturally after that. We did that and the thing wilted immediately. It took over a year to be dried and not as firmly attached to the ashlar stone wall. The tree man then did a heroic job of removing the remains some of which were almost 3 floors high. I had already taken down the bottom 8ft and dug out the roots, it was not a pleasant job, many many spiders, but thankfully no bitey ones.

I would advise the same approach, ripping the thing down immediately you risk it pulling away anything loose it’s grabbed with air roots and leaving those shadows. Be aware that in springtime there may be birds nesting and you aren’t supposed to disturb them. If you need a better look at what’s underneath just cut the protruding foliage and any unattached parts, but don’t pull away the fixed bits until theyr’re dry and lost some of their grip.

 

[Newbytocottages]

Thanks for your help about the blasted ivy!
It is likely that as the tender appears to be concrete we will remove the lot including render then dig deep to remove the Ivy roots too. It’s going to be one heck of a project I feel from start to end. Having great support from all on this forum, it’s got some amazing people on it, thanks again.

 

[Cubist]

Good luck finding the ivy roots. I've been fighting a perennial battle with the damned things for donkeys years it seems and every year they do their Arnie impersonation on me.

You need to also be ready for another surprise. One of the ivy plants I found here was responsible for the deaths of five large mature apple and hawthorn trees which then fell to lie in heaps across one of our boundaries. I must have walked past the root of that ivy plant a hundred times or more before I recognised it for what it was. It had deceived me into thinking it was the remains of a twisted and deformed tree of some indeterminate kind as near its base it was nearly 30cm in diameter and very much alive and well. When I put a chainsaw through it to save the neighbouring trees it bled sap in a torrent for over a week.

 

[Newbytocottages]

Wow, thanks for the message, I will wage war on the ivy, probably use a stick of dynamite! Thank you