to rebuild or not to rebuild

I have just bought a cottage with a dodgy brothers extension par excellence. The reason I know this is that I have just had a builder in replacing some interior walls that had suffered water damage. He told me that the building is sub standard and that water will enter again unless I can find where it is getting in and stop it. Apparently the gyprock walls go all the way down to the ground next to the cement slab. I thought the walls are supposed to sit on the slab, not on the ground next to it. Anyway because of that any ground water just seeps in and upward into the wall. Some has entered from above due to an inadequate gutter (see gutter woes thread) which is now being replaced, so that will fix that problem but the underground seepage is worrying. My question is, is there something that can be done to fix this permanently or should I just cut my loses with this lemon and move on. Ideally, the whole thing should be rebuilt but I have no idea of at what cost. The original cottage that the extension hangs off is sound. The cottage is in an excellent area in terms of real estate value and I am mortgaged to the eyeballs. I am in two minds about selling up and moving out or hanging in there and hoping it stays standing. Who should I call on to advise re building options and costs? I live in Mitcham in Adelaide.

Meg

I think I'd be looking into who did the extension and the council approvals of it. From there you may be able to work out some compensation. It sounds pretty dodgy from what you've described.

Consider just knocking down the extension part and keeping the orginal maybe.....otherwise get a water proofing company in to fix the leak and get a 2nd opinion about the building.

While the builder had the gyprock off, did you inspect the framing behind? How far below the top of the slab does the gyprock extend? What were the floorplates sitting on? How does the outside ground level compare to the top of the slab?

Shall I go on?

hi meg
can you post some pictures it would make it a lot easier to assess.

I would seriously consider Micks advice given in your gutter woes thread, the problems with your house are, I think obvious faults and should have been easily detected by a pre-purchase inspection.

Meg

I think it all dpends on your circumstances. If it was me, I'd fix it. Not real hard from what you say. If you can swing a hammer, mix concrete etc, then I'd have a go. If you sell, you'll take a bath, in its current state.

Ask yourself if you like the house (when it's fixed) and area, do you have the determination to fix it, anyone to help out, how do you feel about dirty hands and broken nails, etc???

Personally I'd say don't give up. Also remember that a lot of buiders don't think outside the square, and some may even look to create lucrative work for themselves! Horror!

Bon chance