While investigating my damp problems I have turned my attention to the patio doors. I have made as good a drawing as I can although exactly what is underneath the internal floor is a bit of guesswork from squeezing cameras down the side!
The top of the floor isnt damp but feeling underneath to the suspended floorboards and the joist they are very moist. It looks like the small joist near the external brick is the wettest. I squeezed my phone down the edge of the floor and this is a shot along the gap between the two joists above the inner bricks (cavity on the right hand side)
This seems to connect the internal wooden floor directly to the external bricks - I see no sign of any damp proofing although I suppose there could be a thin membrane between the joist and the external bricks?
It is quite an old set of doors, some of the double glazed units are misted but was just planning on replacing those units. Where the opening in the wall has been made for the doors and the cavity at the side closed I can see a vertical damp proof membrane so there must have been some consideration of damp at the time. No knowing if the wooden floor was done at the same time though. I know the floor should probably come up for further investigation but was hoping that would be a last resort as it is going to be a right pain to get up!
I have lifted some of the decking timbers outside as that looks very suspicious of causing damp problems to me. The "shim" I have labelled looks like a botched attempt to lift that end of the decking to make water run away from the doors so I suspect the previous owners have had these problems for a while. I am tempted to get rid of the whole deck anyway (just small children around makes it a desireable softer surface than block paving)
Maybe I just need a builder to come and have a look at all this!
The top of the floor isnt damp but feeling underneath to the suspended floorboards and the joist they are very moist. It looks like the small joist near the external brick is the wettest. I squeezed my phone down the edge of the floor and this is a shot along the gap between the two joists above the inner bricks (cavity on the right hand side)
This seems to connect the internal wooden floor directly to the external bricks - I see no sign of any damp proofing although I suppose there could be a thin membrane between the joist and the external bricks?
It is quite an old set of doors, some of the double glazed units are misted but was just planning on replacing those units. Where the opening in the wall has been made for the doors and the cavity at the side closed I can see a vertical damp proof membrane so there must have been some consideration of damp at the time. No knowing if the wooden floor was done at the same time though. I know the floor should probably come up for further investigation but was hoping that would be a last resort as it is going to be a right pain to get up!
I have lifted some of the decking timbers outside as that looks very suspicious of causing damp problems to me. The "shim" I have labelled looks like a botched attempt to lift that end of the decking to make water run away from the doors so I suspect the previous owners have had these problems for a while. I am tempted to get rid of the whole deck anyway (just small children around makes it a desireable softer surface than block paving)
Maybe I just need a builder to come and have a look at all this!