seems we might have damp

[ianfish]

We are buying a property which we have begun to set out a design brief for restoration and extension.

 

We had identified a few issues from other thinking but the causes around the stack are confusing as there is little visible evidence inside the walls are clean painted un-bubbled plaster .

 

Our Surveyor via our home buyers survey has highlighted the following as red3

 

There is a chimney breast to the outside wall of the kitchen. The stack has been taken down above roof level. No defects were noted externally but there is dampness within the flue. Ventilation is required.

 

The main roof is pitched, hipped and covered with clay tiles assumed to be fixed to battens. There is a timber lining under the roof covering. The extension roof is pitched, hipped and covered with concrete tiles assumed to be fixed to battens.

The surface of many tiles and pointing is covered with moss and lichen growth. This is a common problem on roofs of this type and this growth should be removed

from time to time as moss holds water which can lead to defects. Please also not that defective tiles and pointing may be uncovered during the cleaning process.

This is a risk, see section J1. Slipped tiles should be replaced. The main roof is original to the property and is likely to require on-going maintenance and expenditure. The roofs should be overhauled and repaired as necessary. The pointing along the ridge tiles to the apex of the roof and also to the hip tiles is worn and largely missing. Some ridge tiles may be loose. Hip tiles are loose and some have slipped and require repair. All pointing should be renewed.

There are no hip irons which are required to help prevent hip tiles from slipping.

 

Sub floor ventilation is inadequate because several air bricks have been blocked up by the construction of the conservatory. This means that there will have been no, or very little, air flow to the floor timbers to the rear bedroom. This could have allowed a build-up of damp and for defects to occur. The through flow of air from front to rear needs to be reinstated and a check made of the sub floor timbers to ascertain whether defects have occurred.

Additionally render to the rear bridges the dpc. It should be removed to above the dpc level.

 

Damp

Tests were conducted with an electronic moisture meter at appropriate positions throughout the property (except where impermeable surface finishes, furniture fitted cupboards and stored goods prevented access).

Higher than normal readings were obtained to the rear wall of the rear bedroom and the en-suite hall. Timbers such as the floor and skirting boards run the risk of being affected by rot and may be defective where concealed. Timbers and the damp need to be checked, including sub floor timbers, and may need to be treated/replaced. Plaster work may need to be replaced. These matters need to be investigated further. The damp is likely to be coming from the chimney breast on the outside wall. All walls should be checked as there were some areas where it was not possible to take readings.

Any thoughts or if this needs to be moved to a better section (im new here) 

 

Off to Swindon tomorrow...

[ProDave]

All seems normal for a 1930's house.  I doubt anything actually needs much done unless you are getting visible condensation and mould.

[ianfish]

That's the thing the window  had condensation in the window  in pics we took last week are crystal dehumidifiers...not present when we looked round!

 

We do see a lot of work being carried out on the back of the property so fingers crossed we address the damp then.

 

 

[PeterW]

1 hour ago, ianfish said:

Tests were conducted with an electronic moisture meter at appropriate positions throughout the property (except where impermeable surface finishes, furniture fitted cupboards and stored goods prevented access).

 

Before you panic, read this...

 

https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/the-ping-prong-meter-guilty-of-fraud.html

[ianfish]

Interesting to read thanks 

[Onoff]

8 hours ago, PeterW said:

 

Before you panic, read this...

 

https://www.heritage-house.org/damp-and-condensation/the-ping-prong-meter-guilty-of-fraud.html

 

I know there's loads of fraudsters about and the bit about sticking the probes into lead paint was funny but it came across a bit as saying "it's not damp it's because of the salts in the substrates". There must be cases of damp that just happen too to be "salty" and presumably you'd see higher conductivity than a "dry" salty substrate?

 

I'll hold my hands up to in the past to repairing "breathable" lime plastered walls with a modern, pva laden mix! ? This through ignorance more than anything else.

 

Blocked air bricks was the culprit for underfloor damp on my 1865 first place, a 2 up 2 down terrace.

 

When I did the bathroom just, the inside concrete floor was level with the outside path along the house and the inside floor was itself 6cm higher than the adjacent room floors. The bottom of the cavity was rubble filled too. I took the path up that was bridging the dpc and everything rapidly dried out.

 

 

[PeterW]

If you look through his whole site it is very informative. I’ve seen one of his surveys and they make your average home buyers survey look like a comic. 
 

This bit is very true :

 

Every damp problem has a specific cause, and it is usually easy to fix that cause - for example, faulty guttering, external ground levels too high, concrete / cement render trapping moisture on outside walls, and so on. Our survey will outline any problems, and suggest solutions, which never include injection damp proofing!

 

The silane based chemicals can’t work the way they are described to, yet I’ve seen them suggested where wholly Inappropriate by bank and mortgage company surveyors that suggest you can “fix” damp into this way.  As he says repeatedly, find the cause of then problem first ...

[Onoff]

2 minutes ago, PeterW said:

If you look through his whole site it is very informative. I’ve seen one of his surveys and they make your average home buyers survey look like a comic. 
 

This bit is very true :

 

Every damp problem has a specific cause, and it is usually easy to fix that cause - for example, faulty guttering, external ground levels too high, concrete / cement render trapping moisture on outside walls, and so on. Our survey will outline any problems, and suggest solutions, which never include injection damp proofing!

 

The silane based chemicals can’t work the way they are described to, yet I’ve seen them suggested where wholly Inappropriate by bank and mortgage company surveyors that suggest you can “fix” damp into this way.  As he says repeatedly, find the cause of then problem first ...

 

Yep, I tried an injection kit myself from Wickes in the early 90s. Came with a pump and then little plugs from memory. It didn't work. Think the wallpaper continued to lift thereafter.

[scottishjohn]

carbide test for moisture -- that reminds me of how we got all the pike out of a pond when i was a boy 

an old ginger beer stone flagon -- with screw in stopper-- put some carbide in it from a pot holers lamp --piss in it --then chuck it in the pond 

10m ins later -- BOOM-- like a wartime mine -and stunned fish floated up to top 

just make sure it sinks or its a hand grenade .

 

[Onoff]

6 minutes ago, scottishjohn said:

carbide test for moisture -- that reminds me of how we got all the pike out of a pond when i was a boy 

an old ginger beer stone flagon -- with screw in stopper-- put some carbide in it from a pot holers lamp --piss in it --then chuck it in the pond 

10m ins later -- BOOM-- like a wartime mine -and stunned fish floated up to top 

just make sure it sinks or its a hand grenade .

 

 

It was a banger in a Corana bottle when I was a kid. Boy did we get a sweat on trying to screw the lid on quick!

[scottishjohn]

4 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

It was a banger in a Corana bottle when I was a kid. Boy did we get a sweat on trying to screw the lid on quick!

tried that --but alli lid kept blowing off before bottle exploded--we only had one stone flagon +corona bottles needed stones in them to sink-- so we only got one real depth charge bang--

and it was my dad who told me how to do it --can you imagine any modern dad saying that 

Edited October 19, 2019 by scottishjohn

[ianfish]

We have had further feedback which suggest some remedial roof work and some work to provide a breathable solution to the blocked now not used chimney stack could help sort it...

 

I will update as and when we have progress...still to get in the house full time!

[ianfish]

Missing led was the issue.

 

[ianfish]

Starting work on the utility which was a bedroom ground floor in a side built mean to on to a 1930 brick built structure.

 

Around the under stairs there is an air brick this had a huge chunk of styrene used in the extension floor between the wooden joists on a concrete poured foundation floor.

 

Is it worth providing a vent out to aid the what was external vent?

It's about 8' from the original 1930 built wall to the lean to block cavity wall.. or is there enough air under the "New" cavity area?

 

Tia