House Built into a Hill Damp Issues Damp can be a major issue in the home. Find answers to questions or post your own here.

[Leecross]

Hi I'm after a bit of advice

I have purchased a house that's built into a slope, the front is elevated tapering of to the back of the house, down the sides of the house the builder created 2 block gullies to retain the soil I presume and act as a form of damp proofing running down the sides , 150cm deep 50cm wide

the building is rendered to the bottom outside but inside the basement section its wet and on the walls inside the upper rooms we have black spores coming threw

my idea was to chip off the render to a foot above ground level then use a damp proof menbraine and put in a French drain ?

Any thoughts please

[katoosh525]

A few photos may help.
I would initially check that you ahve a damp proof course, and that it hasn't been breached in any way. People do silly things, like build gardens up to breach tehm etc.
You MUST do something. I had a similar problem with black mould - caused by some cracks in external render, and ended up with the full symptoms of Asthma. It was really not nice. I would suggest heat and ventilation to try to minimise the mould while you look for the source of the problem and cure it.