If a house is built on slate, does it mean that damp proofing cant be fitted?

Question

I am buying a house and the valuation picked up some damp. The house was built on slate and never had damp courswe fitted. I have been told that it cannot be fitted with being on slate? Is there any other way otherwise the mortgage company will not provide the mortgage.

Answer 1

Hello,

I suspect the answer here to your question depends a great deal upon the property's location. Some older houses in places like wales (if very old) were infact built straight onto the bare ground and so no thought was given to rising damp or rising ground water levels. Such houses often do suffer from both rising damp or rising ground water levels (i.e. a rise in the local water table).

**It depends in your case on how the building was bulit, on its foundations or if it has foundations (in the formal sense) at all.

**If the building has cellers then you might still be able to create a simple damp proofing system but if the house doesnt have a basement or cellers then it sounds like you wont be able to create a damp proof course, yes! then you might have more serious difficulties.

**We had a very old property in snowdonia and this was built in the 1700's from local stone and without a damp proof course but we were able to dig trenches around the house and lay in land drains which then took rising ground water away from the property, in effect it produced the same effect as if the house had a damp proof course.

**If the house is in a slate or slate mining area and is actually built on slate or slate rock then YES! I would tend to agree that your NOT going to be able to put in a viable damp proofing system.

**Another VERY common issue that would stop a morgage company (lender) providing a morgage would be if there was any serious or even sometimes minor problems with a properties roofing. If the roof isnt in tact or in a good condition then this could be grounds for the morgage application to fail. Why? because good roofing is seen as essential to the integrity of the over all building. If the roof is in poor condition, then the walls can be badly effected if water gets into them for example.

IR

Answer 2

Sounds like an odd reply. Slate is impervious to water, which is why it was used for roofing, and indeed, in some older houses to provide the DPC. If the house you want to buy is built of brick or stone, I cannot see why a chemical DPC cannot be inserted to stop water rising from the slate subsoil. Have you asked a reputable company like Rentokil to advise?

Answer 3

The planet earth is by nature negatively charged,anything built is positively charged,thus creating rising damp,a way of combating this called electro osmosis,where a magnetic field is created by inserting wires around the property,consult a reputable company to have it installed,this will cure any rising damp,if there is no other way ,it does work

Answer 4

Silly hats very interesting I always thought the earth was at an equilibrium (i.e neutral) if it was negative it would cause lightening which is also negatively charged to bounce away, and I thought dampness was something that seeped through buildings or whatever irrespective of its polarity or relative position to earth.. wires in the ground to repeal dampness..hmm did you vote for president Bush??

Answer 5

it could be built on jelly and still be damproofed just a bit wobbly