Solving damp patch/leak problem

[furry76]

Hello all - any advice on this would be much appreciated, reallly I'm just after second/third/opinions!

I'm looking at buying a place. One problem is that the rear first floor bedroom has a patch of flaky paint/damp on the ceiling/wall at the rear. The current owner says the problem has "been there since I moved in 7 years ago", she has "painted over it but it's gone flaky again".

The survey also says that there seem to be pockets of damp in the wall.

So it seems to me there was (or most likely, still is) a leaky gutter/roof/pipe (in loft), although why the patch hasn't got worse over time is a bit of a mystery to me. (I'm a beginner at this though so willing to accept I could be extremely wrong!)

I've had a look around, there are pipes in loft in that general area (loft isn't boarded so I can't get close easily), the guttering is plastic (so presumably not ancient but not beyond fault, and roof has been lined (in the loft) so I can't get a good view internally.

I've had a very quick "quote" given (over the phone, hence the "quote"), which is as follows:
1) Remedy roof leak by re-aligning guttering and down pipe, repair/renew any loose/slipping tiles = £545
2) Hack off loose/defective plaster to walls and ceiling, then render, float and set walls with added waterproofer = £645
3) Re-line one wall and ceiling and apply two coats of emulsion = £645

I'm not expecting anyone to tell me if this quote is reasonable or not ("can't see it, can't quote it"), and I'm getting someone else to have a look and quote in the next day or so anyway, but I am thinking that number 3) looks a bit steep and is probably something I could do anyway? Roofing and plastering I'm happy to pay for but this seems like something I could save some money on?!

Any thoughts on this problem/the quote/what you would do, would be most welcome.

Thanks very much

 

[Fluffster]

Sounds steep to me then again he is probably covering himself as he is quoting blind.
You really need to get a ladder and have a look at the guttering.
Pockets usually mean if the walls are cavity the water is bridging in places.
Where are you in London?
Get at least 3 on site inspection quotes.
Pete

 

[masona]

2) Hack off loose/defective plaster to walls and ceiling, then render, float and set walls with added waterproofer = £645

Sadly the damp treatment and all these chemical treatments are waste of time & money, it is the biggest rip off of all time, if you do a search on regarding damp problem, been covered loads of time here.

 

[ModernMaterials]

when i was a lot younger i worked with a decorater and we saw this a lot.

i would finish emulsining some part of a room one day only to see some ectoplasmic residue return the next.

normally this would manifest itself as a horrid yellow colour bleeding through on to the white emulsion. (if this sounds similar to your thing read on, otherwise ignore me cus i aint risking any cash on this house of yours whereas you are )

as decoraters we would always be coming in last and the major stuff would have been sorted, this may not be the case for you

but a bit of oil based undercoat and sometimes gloss, over the ectoplasm always sorted the prob ready for re-emulsioning.

basically. if you are confident that the roof is ok then dont worry about a bit of emulsion that aint exactly right...

 

[ModernMaterials]

I've had a look around, there are pipes in loft in that general area (loft isn't boarded so I can't get close easily)

i think you have to establish whether pipes or citerns in the loft space are leaking

 

[JohnD]

I also suspect thgat the person quoting high for the decorating may be a roofer, so he doesn't want to do the decorating, or is slow at it, or earns more doing roofs, or might get someone else in to do it, so is quoting high to discourage you. This is quite reasonable if he is an expert roofer but not an expert decorator.

 

[furry76]

Thanks everybody for your posts - like I said, all extra opinions are valued.

Quick update - had a local firm in for a look today, he's faxing a quote tomorrow, but he said:

Looks like the ridge of the roof has had something done to it (tiles missing? felt/plastic laid? he wasn't sure because of limited access), which may be letting water in. Also, he doesn't think the gutters are in great shape (I'm not so sure about this, but sadly I'm not a professional so can't really argue).

He also said that inside the room, there of the four walls have got cracked/damaged plaster, possibly because of this problem.

He said that basically it's very difficult to put a number on it all without knowing for sure what the actual cause is - if they have to sort out the ridge and a few tiles (he seemed to think some of them looked out of line/damaged, and the homebuyers survey did mention that the tiles were "coming to the end of their natural life"!), maybe sort the gutter out and then sort out the internal stuff, it sounds like costs could be mounting.

I'm also being my usual ultra-cynical self and thinking his eyes have got pound signs in them and he can get a lot of money out of this. Equally, he could well be spot on and doing me a massive favour.

Fluffster - the place is in Tooting, SW London. And I'm just about to try to get other quotes. I'm desperate to get another firm in ASAP to give a separate quote (we were looking at exchanging contracts this week, not so likely now though).