My aunty has got a damp problem in her extension, the wallpaper at the bottom of the wall started to curl up soon after they moved in, they havent decorated since, as they need other things doing first (like re-fit all the doors that wont shut, or scrape along the floor).
Anyway, she asks would I go round and see about the skirting board that is rotting. I go round, yep, skirting board is rotten, which seems a bit strange for an extension only around 10 years old. I rip off one piece to get a sample for the profile. Hmm, somethings not quite right here - it came off rather easily, and the bottom of the wall was black with mildew. Scrape back a bit, and the plaster started falling off, though it didnt quite look like plaster. Peeled off some wallpaper, and it all became clear - the cowboys who had built it hadnt bothered plastering the walls, they put up sheets of half inch chipboard FFS. I showed the mess at the bottom of the wall, and said all of the walls need stripping down to find where the water is coming in - that is way too much of a job for me to sort. My mate goes round. He rings me - Yes, it has been lined with cheap chipboard, and he thinks there is no damp course at all on the extension
- there are certainly no blue bricks above ground level. The £50 job for me has now turned into a £3000 strip down and plaster, and remedy some other things. She is not happy.
So the query - how long after purchase can they go back to their surveyor and find out if he ballsed up? I'm not too sure that they had a full survey done though, so doubt they have any fallback on these extra costs. Ta Alan.