Damp Floorboards and Underneath!

[ChrisWaino19]

Hi all,

We have just bought a property (built c. 1930-1950) and when we ripped the carpet off in the front room, the floorboards were very damp, black (rotting?) and could be kicked through fairly easily. The timber joists underneath were also black, damp and snapped easily as well. Although the concrete beneath that was damp, there was no puddles or visibly pooled water anywhere.

Surprisingly the hallway a couple of inches away from this appears to have the house's original floorboards in perfect condition. The front wall, to which houses the front room, does not appear to have had a DPC injection.

After speaking to neighbours, the area has a high water table and the drainage around the house is terrible (broken land drains and non existent connections) with most of the area around the property comprising of clay.

I have been advised by non-Professionals that cementing the whole ground floor may be the best option whereas others have advised that if we can fix the source of the damp problem we can simply replace the timber, which would be cheaper.

Has anyone had anything similar and know what the cause may be? The previous owner was a cowboy and it could have been an internal leak also. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

The wet joists should have been laid on a damp course on sleeper walls. Their ends should be clear of any brickwork below the DPC.
So is there a DPC under the joists? Are the ends of the joists sitting in a wet wall? Does the ground water flood over any DPC.
1930 houses have by the virtue of time shown to be very robust, so just sorting out the outside rainwater goods and drainage should sort most of the problems.
Frank

 

[maltaron]

Timber floors need underfloor ventilation. Check that you have air bricks and that they are clear. I suspect that they will be either non-existant, blocked or covered with earth outside. The rot has been caused by lack of ventilation or muck covering the DPC. Bear in mind that a 1930's house may have blue brick or engineering brick damp course.

 

[jason61c]

Timber floors need underfloor ventilation. Check that you have air bricks and that they are clear. I suspect that they will be either non-existant, blocked or covered with earth outside. The rot has been caused by lack of ventilation or muck covering the DPC. Bear in mind that a 1930's house may have blue brick or engineering brick damp course.

This.

What ever you do don't fall for any snake oil fixes. Filling with cement is just masking the problem and will probably cause more issues in the long run.

 

[ChrisWaino19]

Thanks for all of the advice!

We have a damp proof specialist coming to look at the place tomorrow and give us a diagnosis of the damp as well as a quote for repairs/installation of adequate damp proofing.

I have managed to get a few pics of the room in question, below. The new boards were put in by the previous owner and are located in the area, seemingly, most affected by damp.

Untitled

• ChrisWaino19
• 9 Feb 2015
• 1

The walls show no sign of any damp either. [/img]

 

[ChrisWaino19]

Prince, thanks for your reply. There is a damp proof membrane on top of the sleeper wall and under the joists however this ends about 2 metres from the family wall at the back of the photo above - not sure if this is correct or not?

Also I cannot tell whether the joists are sitting on a wet wall because we do not want to lift the full floorboards up before a specialist can see what the situation is like.

Cheers again mate.

 

[jason61c]

Be very wary about what your 'damp expert' says/suggests. what you need is an independent guy.