Pre-purchase survey finds damp!

[JoceAndChris]

Hi dalivar. Your experience is identical to ours three years ago, and I suspect to many writing on here! I wouldn't worry too much about what's said by so-called professionals as so many of them seem to be a bunch of hopeful salesmen who just want your money. They won't live in the house and so they will never understand it. If you want the house, buy it, and trust to your own judgement about whether or not it's damp, and where it's damp, and what's the best thing to do to remedy that.
You'll find a lot of very valuable, helpful experience on this forum and I also recommend the SPAB website and "The Old House Handbook" by Marianne Suhr and Roger Hunt.

Cement render can be problematic, we're going to have ours removed and rerendered in breathable lime. That will be 25k. A cheaper alternative is to remove areas where damp is a problem and patch in lime.

You might also want to consider emoving the concrete ground floor and replacing it with breathable limecrete. That will be some more ££££ so bear ion mind that if you really want this house it might end up costing you a fair bit to sort the damp out. Or, it might be that you just fix up the guttering and the drains and you have no more problems.

But squirty chemicals are unlikely to do anything good to the building.Good luck, and do post back.

 

[dalivar]

Eek!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the rendering cost, does that include removing the existing concrete? I'm not exactly surprised at the cost just thought it might be a little lower! Luckily only half the house is rendered and as its an end terrace there is at least one less wall to worry about. I'm looking forward to finding out what is underneath the render (in time) - maybe we'll be able to coat on some limewash and leave it at that, I love that look.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Sorry to shock you dalivar! Yours could well be a good deal cheaper. ome and remove thick concrete (6cm) off all the walls of a detached house (14 m long by 6 metres wide and 3.5 high) - then to repair the very damaged stone sections underneath - then to render in lime and score the lime to look like ashlar blocks. Because of the formal style of the house the render isn't easy to apply and requires "lining out" to get the angles all perfect. The cost also involves removing a later York stone plinth all the way around the building which is a metre high in places, chipping off the nasty cement it was stuck on with and replacing it with a smaller Ancaster stone plinth.

I did get cheaper quotes of around 15k but judged that those builders had never done a job like that before and weren't up to it.

You'll get a range of quotes I'm sure - and it may not be necessary to remove the render in any case. Another approach is to attempt to remove it yourself - a number of forum members have done that successfully.

I removed a bit of ours with another forum member's help - the dampest and most problematic section - it has cured the damp in the dining room. But it made a dreaful mess of that corner of the building and I regret it now. So do be careful! What's underneath can be very fragile and crumbly.

If it's a rural, rustic building then limewash on bare stone can be appropriate - it just depends on the architecture! Some people strip their buidlings and leave them bare, round here are all sorts of cobbled together cottages with brick and stone all mixed in messily and left naked. I don't really approve of uncovering that and leaving Granny naked but each to their own!

Live in the building a good while before you do anything! Winter reveals an awful lot, and your priorities will change as you find out about what it's like to live there.

 

[dalivar]

Hi JoceAndChris,
thanks for clarifying all that. Thankfully ours is a terraced miner's cottage so I think it could tolerate rustic quite well! I'm trying to research its original appearance and since the neighbouring houses are bare stone, I suspect the render is covering newer additions which will look out of character without being covered.
I think we will need to spend a good while settling in before wanting to take on any major work and I agree its important to get a proper feel of it first...

Thanks for your help and encouragement!

 

[JoceAndChris]

It sounds like your new home is going to be in good hands. All the best with the exciting first few months ahead and the decisions and discoveries you'll make.

My main advice for damp is not to panic and rush into a badly-thought-out remedy. These houses don't fall down with damp. Slow and careful exploration and elimination of damp sources is the best way, with the constant awareness that the main source is likely to be yourself and family ( so good ventilation is crucial)