Damp treatment in old house

We are in the process of buying a small fixer upper and there's some damp.. Old single storey cottage, with extension that has a Flat roof done badly and all that jazz.
We were recommended to get Electro osmosis something.
Google says builders don't recommend that's it's an outdated fix.
Think the walls are poured concrete.
Do you have any recommendations on what the best damp fix is?

What is causing the damp?

We haven't had it properly checked yet.. We are going to get the pipes checked too for leaks. But the finish on the flat roof is a factor and no ventilation.
Looking for an idea of solutions because the contact we have seems to only do the osmosis thing

Newhomeowner45 said:

Do you have any recommendations on what the best damp fix is?

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Buy a different property.

You don't know the cause of the damp, so there's no way of knowing what solution would be appropriate, or what it might end up costing. You're out to buy a pig in a poke and someone is trying to sell you snake oil.

If it's a fixer upper walk away. Unless you're planning on a full renovation etc, in which case remediation cost relative to the overall budget may be reasonable (but only because of stupidly high current renovation costs). But if you're thinking more along the lines of a coat of paint and new laminate flooring then run until you can't.

Newhomeowner45 said:

Do you have any recommendations on what the best damp fix is?

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Yes...(and I'm not being smart here) ... find the cause or more likely causes and go from there.

Very often, several contributory factors result in the issue of damp and mould and therefore a magic bullet solution such as EO is likely not appropriate because the root cause(s) remain. This is especially true with older properties when many changes have been made over the years compromising the original structure especially when more modern materials and methods are applied to old properties by the misinformed.

Forking out for such things like EO will likely only result in enriching the EO supplier.

The 'trick' for what its worth is do one thing at a time.

Start with drains, gutters, downpipes.

roof repairs if needed

Check outdoor ground levels and make sure they are lower than indoor.

Look at installing a soakaway / french drain

When was the cottage built?
Is it rubble stone or mass concrete?
What is the external render like?
Are the windows sound?

Assume you will have to do a full rewire and replumb and budget accordingly.

These are just some of the questions you need to be asking.

If you're prepared to put the sweat equity in, renovations can be very rewarding.

Hasten slowly.

I'm sure most people selling reverse osmosis will recommend it in all kinds of situation, but regardless of whether it works or not, it addresses a symptom and not the cause. Find an independent expert who can diagnose the problem(s) and recommend appropriate solutions.

Newhomeowner45 said:

We haven't had it properly checked yet.. We are going to get the pipes checked too for leaks. But the finish on the flat roof is a factor and no ventilation.
Looking for an idea of solutions because the contact we have seems to only do the osmosis thing

Click to expand...

Presumably you're going to get an engineer to do a full survey, but that may not be good enough to identify the root cause of the damp. For that you need a specialist, we recently got one such and he went thru all possible causes with us and produced a proper report. We are going to be doing dry lining, including not just on the outside wall but to a distance of some feet in on the shared terraced walls, some chemical treatment, a new 'warm roof' to replace the outdated felt one, on the extension, chemical treatment of roof timbers, and an investigation of trusses yet to be done to check for wood damage. If damaged then they get new 'boots' like a metal sock. Our main cause seems to be bad guttering on outside walls attached directly to the wall instead of on brackets. He didn't recommend outside lining (not sure what that's called). We also are taking up the floors as there is nearly a foot down to just earth or stone (very old property) and then we will be going with concrete flooring with a DPC. (I don't have all the technical stuff/wording as I'm just the payer ! but that's the gist of it). The aim for me is that we do a mega job to give us 20 years with no hassle and top rent.