Last night’s episode of Help! My House Is Falling Down
Season 2 Episode 8 of 10
Gypsy Hill in London – Denis fell in love with the two level appartment at the bottom of a house. Slowly after a few years water appeared and caused damp and the electrics to fail. She’s lived in squalor that stinks as it’s probably sewage leaking into her basement flat.
There’s also japanese knotweed in the garden!
The woman has tried to solve the problem but said that all the different workmen gave different answers. Sarah’s structural engineer said the place needed tanking.
When they were investigating they discovered several load bearing walls had to be shored up too.
The tanking company agreed to do the work at a knockdown price, presumably because they were on TV. How annoyed will they have been to see she could afford to do up her kitchen and lounge! So much for skint!
Her budget was originally £20,000 but was upped after a family loan of £5000 when they structural issue was revealed.
I was suprised to not hear them say they were going to stop the leak of sewage. Or had I fallen asleep during the monotony of the program which now follows a set routine.
Whilst tanking will stop the ingress of water it won’t stop the water which surely will continue to soak through bricks and undermine the building if the pump fails.
The example demonstration was on the Spitbank fort which is being turned into a holiday destination. This consisted of them spraying some water at a plastic bobbly sheet.
It was horrific to see what this woman was living in – and surprising she wasn’t ill. She had however not let any friends in for several years.