I need some help figuring out what the hell is going on with the floors in my late Georgian / early Victorian property. Long and short of it is the property is about 200 years old, it was originally 4 terraced cottages and is now 2 semi-detached properties.
The property has a cellar which sits under the front half of the house. Half of it is dirt floor, half is concrete (I've drawn it because it's hard to explain!). In the concrete lined room (which judging from the discarded debris was use until the 50s or 60s) the joists which go into the party wall are starting to rot, and the wall plate they sit in is heavily damaged by wet rot (spongey to the touch, evidence of mould). It has evidence of woodworm too, but I know was previously treated 20+ years ago. The floor is not deflecting but clearly this needs to be addressed.
I've had 4 damp and timber companies look at it with solutions ranging from "i'd damp treat the wood and leave it in place" to "rip it out and replace it with bricks or an RSJ". But nobody can tell me what the structure of the wall is. It looks like you can see the joist ends from next door coming through the wall. Does that mean this rotten wall plate runs the full thickness of the wall? That would mean an entire wall of the house is sitting on a piece of rotten timber?
Anyone seen construction like this before? Is it even possible to replace this rotten wall plate?
The property has a cellar which sits under the front half of the house. Half of it is dirt floor, half is concrete (I've drawn it because it's hard to explain!). In the concrete lined room (which judging from the discarded debris was use until the 50s or 60s) the joists which go into the party wall are starting to rot, and the wall plate they sit in is heavily damaged by wet rot (spongey to the touch, evidence of mould). It has evidence of woodworm too, but I know was previously treated 20+ years ago. The floor is not deflecting but clearly this needs to be addressed.
I've had 4 damp and timber companies look at it with solutions ranging from "i'd damp treat the wood and leave it in place" to "rip it out and replace it with bricks or an RSJ". But nobody can tell me what the structure of the wall is. It looks like you can see the joist ends from next door coming through the wall. Does that mean this rotten wall plate runs the full thickness of the wall? That would mean an entire wall of the house is sitting on a piece of rotten timber?
Anyone seen construction like this before? Is it even possible to replace this rotten wall plate?
