Hi. We've moved into a house last year and found that the previous occupants had kindly covered up a serious dry rot problem in one room. Got it sorted but the problem was the fireplace hearth wicking up water to the old untreated, gone through rot joists. I dug out the hearth and made good by renewing the entire floor structure and dwarf walls.
In the room next door the joists around the fireplace have been replaced with treated timber and the flooring and plaster are new - so there must have been a similar problem there.
Thing is - should I dig out that fireplace hearth aswell, as a preventative measure. It's all still there and I'm worried it was a slap dash fixup.
Option I think are, dig out, just cover with liquid dpm, or leave to be ok??
How can you tell whether an old hearth will be ok?
All advice welcome
Roy.
In the room next door the joists around the fireplace have been replaced with treated timber and the flooring and plaster are new - so there must have been a similar problem there.
Thing is - should I dig out that fireplace hearth aswell, as a preventative measure. It's all still there and I'm worried it was a slap dash fixup.
Option I think are, dig out, just cover with liquid dpm, or leave to be ok??
How can you tell whether an old hearth will be ok?
All advice welcome
Roy.
