Just bought a new (very old!) cottage and noticed the lounge floor is wet in a few spots. The walls all seem dry and it appears to be isolated to about one half of the room. Any ideas what might cause this?
I would guess a leaking pipe. Do you know if any pipes run under there? Could be radiator, but if hot/cold pipes run through the room could be them too.
Hopefully you don't have a spring below the house!
A friend of mrs Mottie had her solid kitchen floor tiled. 6 months later there was dampness in the middle of the room - only the grout was discoloured. Initially she put it down to a pup ****ing in the same spot. Her nephew, a plumber, told her to check the level with a spirit level and the damp area was less than 10mm lower than the rest of the room. Turned out it was a minute drip from a loose washing machine hose in the adjacent utility room that was soaking into the solid floor and working its way over to the low point. He rectified that and after a few weeks the floor had dried out.
How old is very old? If it was built before damp proofing was a thing then there's a chance it's ground water, in which case a concrete floor is not ideal.
Turned out it was a minute drip from a loose washing machine hose in the adjacent utility room that was soaking into the solid floor and working its way over to the low point.
When I did an extension in my previous house I discovered 3 leaks in my kitchen - the dining room floor was soaking wet, probably had been for ages and never noticed.
Leak 1 was a leaking washing machine - that had to be replaced.
Leak 2 was the drip on the fridge - it had somehow been dislodged and was dripping on the floor.
Leak 3 was a leaking seal on a pipe, which just needed tightening up.
It was surprising how far the dampness travelled. And also that we never noticed it before removing the vinyl sheet in the kitchen, and carpet in the dining room.
Thanks everyone will do some digging (metaphorically!). I don't think there's any pipes underneath (the central heating pipes go up to the loft). This part of the house is around 250 years old but I'm quite sure the concrete is newer so hope it has a damp proof course. Will dry it out and see what happens next!
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