About to put offer in on house but have a question about this damp... Damp can be a major issue in the home. Find answers to questions or post your own here.

[John2005]

Hi all. So we've decided that our next property will be a "fix-er-upper" and so we were looking for a cheap property that clearly needed work. We've found one that does need lots of work but 90% is cosmetic. The part that I'm most concerned about though is the damp in the kitchen.

So to explain, the kitchen has an area that is clearly damp related. On the otherside of the wall...there is a drain that is blocked and water has filled it up, and pouring over the the sides of it, directly against the wall where the damp is. So, to my untrained eye... I'm going to say that this drain IS the cause of the damp as far I can tell and that unblocking this would solve the damp issue from getting worse since the water will now drain away as it should. However, if it were truely that simple, surely the current owner (who is not living in the property and was renting it out) would have just done that to increase value?? However, that said... maybe damp can't be fixed over night and thus easier to sell the problem to someone else.

So my question is, does what I said, sound reasonable? I will be getting a full survey done for sure but trying to get some pre-emptive advice/help.

[stoneyboy]

Hi john2005,
If the walls are solid 9” brickwork the your solution may solve the problem. If the path level outside is close to DPC level then this may also be contributing to the damp ingress.
Regards S