Damp coming up from the ground?

[Dan45]

Hi all

On my day off today, I thought I'd replace a small section of the door frame in the kitchen, where it seemed to be a bit rotten at the bottom. Its an old house, and I've just been here a year.

Once I took the little section off, I was that there was woodworm, and decided to take the whole side of the frame off.

The ground underneath the frame was really moist, and smelt of damp. I saw there was rotting wood underneath some of the tiles in the little cupboard extension.

I removed a few tiles and dug the rotten wood out.

Everything loose is gone, I can't go any further. I see a bit of original brick, and some old concrete.

I also took the left jamb off, because that was a bit rotten at the bottom.

I'm wondering how to go about filling this void now. The kitchen floor is concrete, and the little kitchen extension cupboard is also concrete. But I doubt whether either of them have any waterproof barrier.

Should I just put some plastic barrier down where I can, and fill up with concrete, then tile over?

Thanks for any tips

 

[JohnD]

find the leak, and fix it.

Quite likely it is from the water supply pipe buried in the solid floor. Have you got a water meter?

Might be from a drain, especially if there is an old clay gulley just outside, or a soil pipe.

 

[Dan45]

Is it definitely a leak? Could it be damp coming up from the ground? The rotten timber was laid directly on the ground

 

[JohnD]

in an old house, a leak is very probable.

you say the LHS jamb was less rotten? Further from the leak, perhaps.

Have you got a water meter?

 

[Dan45]

No, there's no water meter.

Maybe I should leave it for a while, and see if it dries out at all? If it is a leaking pipe, I suppose its a matter of taking up tiles, concrete, following the moisture?

 

[JohnD]

or if you can access the pipe before it goes under the floor, you could run a replacement. Does it run from the front under the hall floor? Or in from the back yard?

 

[Dan45]

The main water supply comes in from the front, but then travels upwards in the wall between the lounge and the kitchen (in the middle of the house), supplying the upstairs bathroom. it runs above the kitchen ceiling and comes down in the corner of the little cupboard that I'm working on, to feed the boiler, which is housed in the cupboard.

It then goes directly into the floor, so you're right, it must be going underground from there to get to the kitchen area.

 

[Dan45]

"you say the LHS jamb was less rotten? Further from the leak, perhaps"

Yes, its only had an inch or so of rot/damp at the bottom, whereas the RHS was saturated for a few feet up

 

[Dan45]

I've found a couple of old photos, before the kitchen was done by the builders, who made many mistakes. Plumbing isn't my strong point, but maybe there's a way of guessing how the pipes travel through the floor?

Here's the original kitchen cupboard. I can spot that piece of timber. Doesn't look like it was rotting then

And here's the back of the kitchen showing the pipe layout

 

[Dan45]

But the leak may also be coming from the washing machine waste, which certainly passes under that section of the wall. It was something the builders put in.

 

[Dan45]

I've also spotted these pipes from the old photos. Not sure what role they play?

 

[DmitriKara]

Pretty impressed you're saving those old photos!

 

[Dan45]

I'm so pleased I took them!

 

[Dan45]

John, thanks for your very good observations and advice. I think I've found the culprit - probably this waste pipe from the washing machine, which runs under the wall. The builders made many mistakes, so may have made a bad connection here. The builders actually installed 2 pipes under that wall, one of which supplied the water, but they forgot to connect it in the area under the sink. This waste pipe also goes to the area underneath the sink. Maybe I could take it straight out the back of the house?

 

[JohnD]

yes, if there's a gulley. You will need a biggish SDS+ drill. See what it costs to hire one. You can often buy a budget one (heavy) including drills for about £60 at Screwfix. It won't be a top brand but will have a 2-year guarantee. Useful if you have a lot of heavy work to do before the warranty expires.

Expensive ones are lighter.

BTW those pipes running around in pairs are probably for radiators (flow and return) or hw cylinder, and might go to your boiler, or might be old redundant ones.