Damp around front door

[Jackpro]

Hi,

I'm in the process of redecorating my hall way. When I removed the carpet and skirting by the front door I noticed they were very damp and partly rotten.

I brought a damp meter and found the floor and first 2-3 inches of the wall were all damp (readings of between 15 and 20% on the damp meter). It's mostly damp on the floor 12 inches from the door then tails off to nothing after a few feet.

I had a new UPVC door fitted a few years back and on close inspection I'm not sure if the DPM has been installed correctly and it appears water has been coming in around the outside door sill. The house has bitchmen paint which is also peeling off under the door but only a small amount.

My questions:
I can see the DPM under the front door and on the walls but I'm not sure if these need/should be joined somehow and if they could of been damaged when the new door was installed?

On the outside of the door under the sill there is some yellow gunk, I guess this is some sort of damp proof, does anyone know what it's called so I can reapply to seal properly.

Between the door and the floor there is a 3 inch gap filled with cement (which I have partly removed the completely crumbled pieces), should I put a new DPM between the floor and the outside wall somehow? (I.e. A sheet of plastic against the outside wall and then re cement)

The DPM under the door would appear to be ripped, should it be wrapped over the bottom of the door somehow to prevent water entering?


I did get someone to look at this but was advised I needed to have the floor taken up for a new DPM but the problem to me seems to be connected to the poor join or damage to the DPM between floor and door so I was hoping to fix this myself and avoid paying someone £500 to do what may be unnecessary work. He also said he would only guarantee it for 3 years which seemed weak.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[foxhole]

I would suspect a poor seal at the door frame letting in rain.

 

[vinn]

OP,
Why not stand back and give some context for pics of the door frame from outside, esp. at cill level.
And context pics from inside the hallway.

What you can see under the threshold and in the walls is most probably a DPC.
DPM's typically go under solid floors. Do you have one under the hallway solid floor?
"the house has bitumen paint" what do you mean?
I can see some black stuff in the first pic above - what is it?

As suggested above, remove all sealant from around the frame and under the sill - dig it all out and leave a clean dry surface for new sealant. Use a wet finger to force the new sealant into the gaps.

Your good idea will work, for dropping down a one piece of plastic shaped like a bath tub, and then filling with a rough mix of sand & cement & stones, and smoothing off the surface level with the floor.