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FLOOD PLAN...


Gunnut
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Bought my bungalow 5 years ago, survey was fine, but having big problems with damp and mould, smells terrible, keep on redecorating to make it smell a bit better, but within weeks the mould smell is back, spores on the wall's and ceiling, clothing and leather goods covered in mould spores. getting on now, would it be a good idea to sell and buy new, and start afresh, spoke to an old guy when we moved in, and he said, all the surrounding properties were built on a lake, had a new bungalow near by built recently, and they had to pile drive 30ft, so I have been told, and any fence poles, fill with water, has soon has they are dug, we also live 20 minutes from the sea, and the air is very moist, so I don't suppose that helps, just fed up with the cleaning and decorating, and having the dehumidifier on 24/7.

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Something is seriously wrong (obviously). Mould is a sign of condensation, if there were serious problems of damp, the original survey should have picked it up and you would have damp patches and perished plasterwork.

Sorry for stating the obvious, but I assume your tumble drier is vented and you don’t dry all the families weekly wash on the radiators?

Are the floors solid or suspended? If suspended including concrete beam and block, try to have a look under the floor and see whether it is flooded or a plumbing leak from washer, soil pipe etc is gathering under the floor.

Finally, if you do decide to sell and not solve the problem, how are you going to hide it from the surveyor with his damp meter?

My recommendation if you can’t find the problem, is to instruct a Chartered Building Surveyor to carry out an investigation - don’t just get a local damp proofing contractor in. If it is flooded, then you should be covered by insurance. Hope you get sorted one way or the other.

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Something to think about.  Look at heat recovery forced ventilation.   Very often damp issues are due to excess air humidity causing condensation in 'cold spots'.  The modern practice of near sealing the building to eliminate draughts to save energy makes this worse.  It simply doesn't work in many older properties because there is no way for moisture to escape.  Opening windows and simple extractor fans works in summer, but is unacceptable in winter.

Forced heat recovery ventilation saves heat by using the outgoing warm damp air to 'pre warm' incoming fresh air.  I have very simple ones in my bathrooms.

In a bungalow it can be installed relatively easily in the roof space.  There is some information here https://www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk/heat-recovery-systems-information/how-do-heat-recovery-and-ventilation-systems-work.html

You would need advice and a survey from someone who knows the subject, but this may work for you.

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1 hour ago, JohnfromUK said:

Something to think about.  Look at heat recovery forced ventilation.   Very often damp issues are due to excess air humidity causing condensation in 'cold spots'.  The modern practice of near sealing the building to eliminate draughts to save energy makes this worse.  It simply doesn't work in many older properties because there is no way for moisture to escape.  Opening windows and simple extractor fans works in summer, but is unacceptable in winter.

Forced heat recovery ventilation saves heat by using the outgoing warm damp air to 'pre warm' incoming fresh air.  I have very simple ones in my bathrooms.

In a bungalow it can be installed relatively easily in the roof space.  There is some information here https://www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk/heat-recovery-systems-information/how-do-heat-recovery-and-ventilation-systems-work.html

You would need advice and a survey from someone who knows the subject, but this may work for you.

It’s woeth considering this as we install heat recovery systems in the houses we build as they are Passiv, which means they are built to insulation levels way above the norm, and no air ( except a minuscule amount ) escapes once the building is sealed. 

It sounds like your house may have had some method of insulation installed at some point which has stopped its ability to breath, or something else indeed has. Heat recovery system could be the answer.

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3 minutes ago, Scully said:

It’s woeth considering this as we install heat recovery systems in the houses we build as they are Passiv, which means they are built to insulation levels way above the norm, and no air ( except a minuscule amount ) escapes once the building is sealed. 

It sounds like your house may have had some method of insulation installed at some point which has stopped its ability to breath, or something else indeed has. Heat recovery system could be the answer.

It does sound like a ventilation issue. 

Many of the super insulated homes built in UK (different standard from Passive) had heat exchangers fitted which were supposed to run all of the time. People who bought the houses often turned them off thinking they were saving energy. Without the air movement the houses quickly became mouldy and suffered with condensation within. 

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Heat exchangers are abit before my time!

I think it would be helpful if you could tell us how old is your property, is the ground floor solid and most importantly, how soon after moving in, did you experience problems?

If for example you lived problem free for 2 years, then experienced condensation problems, then that would suggest something has changed/happened which needs further investigation.

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Some very good points above. I agree with scully in that it sounds like your house may have had insulation added. If it's a cavity walled house then quite possibly the cavity has been filled and this creates a direct conduit for moisture to pass to the inner leaf and cause damp problems. The cavity is there for a reason. I have recommended people NOT to have a cavity wall upgraded this way for this reason.  It may be worth checking the walls and if retrofit insulation has been fitted in the cavity consider having it removed.

Houses need ventilation even if this means throwing open a window. But given the climate and time of year a mechanical system would be a positive way forward.

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2 hours ago, Jbob said:

Some very good points above. I agree with scully in that it sounds like your house may have had insulation added. If it's a cavity walled house then quite possibly the cavity has been filled and this creates a direct conduit for moisture to pass to the inner leaf and cause damp problems. The cavity is there for a reason. I have recommended people NOT to have a cavity wall upgraded this way for this reason.  It may be worth checking the walls and if retrofit insulation has been fitted in the cavity consider having it removed.

Houses need ventilation even if this means throwing open a window. But given the climate and time of year a mechanical system would be a positive way forward.

This. 

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