Conversion with a few probs

[Jackdown]

Hi there myself and a friend have recently moved in to a new flat conversion in an end of terrace house. Having been there a month or so a few problems have started to emerge and although the landlady is being very nice about trying to get things sorted the builders she is using appear to be next to useless so I was just looking for any further advice on suggestions for solving some of the problems.

The main problem we have at the moment is general dampness. The bedrooms are downstairs in what was the basement and at the moment both of us are having to clean mould out of the bottom of out wardrobes once a week or so. The builders told us to have the heating on during the day and open some windows.... we've done this for the last two/three weeks and no difference so far.

Also one of the bedrooms at the front of the property is suffering from a lot of efflorescent salts on two of it's walls. The builders have been in three times to scrape and repaint the walls but within a few days the salts are coming back through in roughly the same places.

They have also fitted a new damp concrete shield (can't remember the proper name for it) along the bottom 8 inches or so of the wall about three weeks ago. This so far appears to have done nothing to improve the situation.

Where is it best to go from here? Presumably there is an underlying issue causing this dampness but what possibly is it? The landlady seems reluctant to get a surveyor in at the moment too.

We also came home the other day to find that it appeared something had exploded out of the shower drain. There was a large fan of water and smelly gunk on the floor around the drain. Is this a simple blockage or have we possibly got some sort of odd back pressure issue?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance. Any more info I'll be happy to give it.

 

[Bahco]

The bedrooms are downstairs in what was the basement

From seeing Sarah Beeny on Tv I can remember something about basement conversions being subject to a lot of regulations and I would look into this to see if everything is above board.

My own feeling is that you should look elsewhere if you are renting as damp is not easy to get shut of.

 

[jeds]

Sounds to me like you have a combination of several problems there.

Firstly the condensation. This is the principal cause of the mould growth. It might look like general dampness but it is in fact a result of excessive moisture in the atmosphere condensating on cold surfaces. Poor ventilation and cold surfaces are a very common cause of dampness in basements. Mould growth in wardrobes is a sure sign. (because there is even less ventilation in the wardrobe)

Increased ventilation will help, as will heating the place up. But this is a poor solution on its own and will only have limited effect if the walls are uninsulated. What you really need are insulated walls. Preferably a good quality thermal panel fixed to the internal surface. e.g. Lafarge thermal laminate or similar.

Secondly, you almost certainly have some penetrating dampness as well. It's hard to tell for sure because this could be being masked by the condensation dampness. So what might happen is you reduce the condensation by heating and ventilating but the walls don't dry out because there is some penetrating dampness there as well. Remember that damp walls are colder so the penetrating dampness actually increases the condensation.

Slapping paints and gunk onto the internal walls is a useless waste of time and money.

The other factor is to reduce water vapour as much as possible.

Do you have extract fans in the Kitchen and bathroom? These can be effective at reducing moisture - especially ones that are designed to measure and automatically adjust air water vapour. But even then you need to deal with the structural damp/condensation first or they will be running 24 hours a day.

Do you have lots of plants or a tumble dryer? These can also cause excessive moisture.

Condensation moisture is often worse in bedrooms because people tend to have windows closed (especially in basements) and doors closed. People expire huge quantities of moisture into the atmosphere whilst sleeping. This need to have somewhere to go.

 

[noseall]

an awful lot of money needs to be spent in order for an underground building to be made both habitable and comfortable.

builders painting stuff on the walls will immediately ring alarm bells and smacks of cheapness and bodging. you cannot rectify the problems that the building is encountering by applying simple wall coatings.

it needs professionally tanking, insulating and venting (as said earlier), until this is done, be prepared for some mouldy clothes and a little bit of ill health.

 

[Jackdown]

Cheers for the demoralising replies folks!!

To be fair it is all, mostly, stuff that I've mentioned to the ladlady and I was looking for reassurance that I wasn't just being a pain. It's a shame because it could've been a really nice flat if it'd been put together properly in the first place. Like I said she does appear to be moving in the right direction but at the moment things aren't looking promising for us seeing out our lease.....

Other than heating, ventilating, cleaning, is there anything else simple we could be looking at doing. We've got some of those crystaline dehumidifiers in too...

 

[Deluks]

Other than heating, ventilating, cleaning, is there anything else simple we could be looking at doing.

Yeh, move. and try and get a refund for all the rent you've paid so far for an uninhabitable room. You can move into my shed if you like. £100 a month, and I guarantee you'll be warmer and drier.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If you want to get legal on their ass you can contact your local environmental health department at the council, where I live they were a force to be reckoned with, a mates rented house (he was the landlord) had to sort it out properly when the tennant went down this road..

 

[foxhole]

Basement should have been tanked, it was'nt, unfit for human occupancy, move.

 

[Jackdown]

Yeah things are looking interesting.

The current argument is that it is 'technically' not a 'basement' it is a 'lower ground floor' conversion i.e you used to go down the steps from street level to the front door but the front door has now been replaced by the front bedroom window.

The builders were round yesterday and installed some more ventilation into each of the rooms and said that they used a water resistant plaster on the walls.... if that's the case why are the efflorescent salts coming through two days after they were scrapped!?!? It's one of those builds where some of the regulations have been followed (e.g fire doors, mains operated fire alarms) and others apparently avoided.

Although we probably will end up moving where do we stand on getting the landlady to pay for the council to send someone round for a building regs inspection as we don't have a great deal of faith in the builders she currently is employing?

 

[Steve]

YOU phone environmental health (their service is free of charge i think), they'll come and assess the place. Your landlady need not know about this until she gets a letter from them. Though if you wish to keep it semi-amicable, tell her you're taking steps in this direction.