Hi.
I've been in my flat for 8 years now. It's part of a Victorian building, and is semi-basement (2 sides are about 3 feet below ground level, though there's a wide drainage channel outside).
Anyway, in the past year or so a lot of the dry lining fixings have started to rust up, mainly towards one side of the building.
I guess something might have failed for it to suddenly start happening after 7 years.
The guttering has failed on the external wall closest to the worst-affected parts several times
which I assume has led to the moss growth. It's probably only a few weeks of broken guttering in total but maybe the excess water during this cumulative time has led to the problems? Or perhaps it's a broken drain or something.
I must add that the flat has always smelt a bit musty, suffers from condensation on windows (walls are bone dry) and I've always had to run a dehumidifier. The windows all have vent-o-matic fans so it's odd that they should suffer from condensation - possibly a symptom of penetrating/rising damp?
was told 8 years ago by a surveyor that it was condensation, but odd that it's got worse over the years, and the rusting is rising. If it was condensation then surely all parts would be affected?
Externally, the brickwork seems to need some fixing, as there are huge cracks below the DPC
Any thoughts?
I'm trying to get a list together to bring to the freeholder as the building is due major (expensive) repairs soon and I'd like my issues to be addressed - currently none are ;)
Cheers!
