summer house with no guttering

[ning]

Hi guys,

we moved into our current property a couple of years ago and at the back was a summer house. this has been until now been used as a place to store junk.
i started to rip the old furniture out because the floor was very springy near the sink, my initial thought was there may have been a leak from the sink and caused wet rot.
long story short after ripping the floor back i noticed rain water was coming through the side wall. my guess is that rain water is falling off of the roof and sitting by the wall and rotting away.

My question is would guttering and a water butt be the best option and also what is the best way to repair the damage? the summer house is made from tongue and groove construction and is sitting on a concrete slab with DPM.

im planning on replacing all the damaged DPM and timber frame work but obviously want to know how best to prevent any further head ache.

If someone has any experience or any advice id really grateful.

 

[^woody^]

That damage is related to run-off from the cladding, no window cill and no drip along the bottom edge of the panel. Poorly designed and not related to lack of a gutter or the roof overlang which is fine.

 

[ning]

thanks for the reply Woody.

Could you explain like i'm five for me:

run off from cladding? the wall which is rotting doesn't really get rain fall on its only the bottom which is wet.

What is 'drip along the bottom edge of the panel'?

also wanted to add that the front of the summer house also has the same window but there is no water damage .

many thanks in advance.

 

[scbk]

The floor timbers are pretty bad, looks like they're well sealed in, no fresh air to dry them out.

 

[^woody^]

Could you explain like i'm five for me:

When mommies and daddies go out to build beautiful little houses in the woods they need to make sure that big bad wolves or bears can’t get in to eat all the sandwiches. But mommies and daddies also have to keep the rain out so that boys and girls can play inside in the nice and warm rooms.

If daddy builds walls out of wood, all the rain will run down the wood and into the ground to make the flowers grow. But if daddy does not build the wall to make the rain drip off the bottom of the wooden wall, the rain will slowly soak the bottom of the wall and floor and make it all horrible and wet. Then the wood will get soggy and soft and make holes which will let the wolves and bears in to pinch the sandwiches.

So what daddy will do is fit the bottom piece of wood in a special way so that water drips off the bottom of the wall and does not soak the wood or the floor. Big builders will call this a drip design.

And when mommy makes some windows so that she can look through to see the little boys and girls playing, she needs to make sure that there is a special piece of wood called a window cill along the bottom of the window. This window cill will let birds sit on it when they look for worms in the garden, but it will also let rain drip off and not run down the wall below it and make that wet or make it go soft and rotten.

So these are vey important things to have, and big builders who don’t do this might get told off by a policeman. If you see that your little house does not have these special things, tell your mommy and daddy and they will fix it, and you can live happy ever after.

 

[JohnD]

It might be light enough to push it so it can be lifted one side at a time to put bricks or paving slabs under the bearers. This would take the walls away from the ground and allow some air circiulation to dry out damp. Slabs are better as they won't wobble. The slabs should be tucked inside the walls so that rain can't fall on them and soak into the timber.

You can also lever it up with a fencepost or something, but this will be a spot load that may break the timber, especially if it has been weakened by rot.

If the buiding has corner posts, and possibly other posts along the wall, that support the weight, you can lift the posts in a similar way.

 

[foxhole]

The damage around the water sink may well be due to a leak, but you also have rot due to problems mentioned by Woody.

 

[ning]

When mommies and daddies go out to build beautiful little houses in the woods they need to make sure that big bad wolves or bears can’t get in to eat all the sandwiches. But mommies and daddies also have to keep the rain out so that boys and girls can play inside in the nice and warm rooms.

If daddy builds walls out of wood, all the rain will run down the wood and into the ground to make the flowers grow. But if daddy does not build the wall to make the rain drip off the bottom of the wooden wall, the rain will slowly soak the bottom of the wall and floor and make it all horrible and wet. Then the wood will get soggy and soft and make holes which will let the wolves and bears in to pinch the sandwiches.

So what daddy will do is fit the bottom piece of wood in a special way so that water drips off the bottom of the wall and does not soak the wood or the floor. Big builders will call this a drip design.

And when mommy makes some windows so that she can look through to see the little boys and girls playing, she needs to make sure that there is a special piece of wood called a window cill along the bottom of the window. This window cill will let birds sit on it when they look for worms in the garden, but it will also let rain drip off and not run down the wall below it and make that wet or make it go soft and rotten.

So these are vey important things to have, and big builders who don’t do this might get told off by a policeman. If you see that your little house does not have these special things, tell your mommy and daddy and they will fix it, and you can live happy ever after.

Thanks, this made me laugh.
So do you think if I replace the rotten wood with new treated wood and install a drip and window cill I wont get the problem repeating itself?

 

[ning]

It might be light enough to push it so it can be lifted one side at a time to put bricks or paving slabs under the bearers. This would take the walls away from the ground and allow some air circiulation to dry out damp. Slabs are better as they won't wobble. The slabs should be tucked inside the walls so that rain can't fall on them and soak into the timber.

You can also lever it up with a fencepost or something, but this will be a spot load that may break the timber, especially if it has been weakened by rot.

If the buiding has corner posts, and possibly other posts along the wall, that support the weight, you can lift the posts in a similar way.

Lift it up? I would need a crane!

 

[JohnD]

Ordinary garden sheds and summerhouses are of lightweight construction, but I see now yours is made of pre-cut notched boards like this.
http://hampshire-log-cabins.co.uk/
You just stack the boards on top of each other, self assembly, and they lock together. They are of similar weight to decking boards.

IIRC they are made in Finland. I don't know how you can replace the rotten boards at the bottom, and space it off the ground, without lifting or dismantling. But there will be a way. perhaps the importers can advise. See link.

any wooden building must be isolated from the damp ground, and ventilated underneath.