‘Water dripping down walls of Lisburn home’

believes the Housing Executive is not doing enough to remove damp from her home.

The woman, who has lived at her Glebe Walk home for the past three years, said the damp had become so bad you could ‘literally see water dripping down the walls.’

Living with her daughter (7), the woman said she had had to throw out food, including rice, dried soup and porridge, because of the damp, as well as tins which had rusted.

She said the damp problem had also been exacerbated when the Executive recently replaced her front door. “Unfortunately, the new door does not fit into the old frame,” she said. “So I have had to put black tape around it to stop the draughts from coming in.”

She said she was told to bleach damp patches but when she tried to remove the mildew in her daughter’s room, the wall paper came off.

“I don’t dry clothes on radiators and leave all the windows and doors open when I can, so I cannot understand why there is so much damp,” she said.

“My daughter has recently been diagnosed with bronchitis, which I blame on the damp.

“When it rains you can literally see the water coming down the walls of the house.”

A spokesperson for the Housing Executive said, “One of our maintenance officers called with (the woman) last Thursday. He found the main issue for this property is condensation which is a result of the property being poorly ventilated and heated by our tenant.

“To help alleviate problems associated with condensation we offered to install a ‘Dri-Master’ ventilation-system but this was refused. We agreed to install an extractor fan in the kitchen but have had difficulties in completing this as twice we have been unable to gain access. We hope to install it by February 6 2015.

“We have agreed to thermal-imaging of the property and to conduct a damp-survey in case there is damp-penetration from the gable-wall.”