Case study
Newtown Terrace: Rising Damp Hidden by a Pre-Sale Paint Job
The Property
A small original terrace in Newtown, on the high side of the street with one common wall. The new owners called me after a neighbour tipped them off. Their building report had not mentioned rising damp at all.
Two months after they moved in, the paint was already bubbling.
What I Found
The signs of a quick pre-sale cover-up were all there. Half of a wall had been repainted, the texture did not match, there were patch lines at the base, the skirting had not been cut back, and the new paint was blistering after only two months.
A dropped floor bead lined up with old termite damage that had rotted the timber. The kitchen sat on a later concrete slab. And the neighbour had sealed their side of the party wall, which pushes all of the moisture to dry out on my client’s side.
In the laundry, the pavers bridged the damp course by one brick, but the tiled wall showed no damage at all.
What was causing it
Rising damp, most active in the kitchen area, made worse by the neighbour sealing their side of the shared wall. The laundry had water getting past the damp course but no damage, so I recommended leaving it alone. Treating something that is not causing a problem is wasted money.
Options I quoted:
- Kitchen wall injection only
- Kitchen injection plus render removal to about 1.5m, isolated at the bathroom corners
- Whole-house injection
- Timing the work with the planned kitchen renovation
- A cheaper interim lining option until the kitchen comes out
The lesson
Fresh paint at the base of the walls in a house that has just sold is worth a closer look. If you are buying, a pre-purchase inspection picks this up before you exchange.