Damp under floor boards in Victorian House

[sanyi]

Hi there all. Today I have been getting round to the much procrastinated and feared task of looking under the floor boards in my Victorian house. There are a couple of areas in the downstairs dining room and lounge that have a bit of rising damp but not overly serious. I've pulled the floor boards up towards the back of the building where it meets the concrete floored kitchen and discovered a lot of rubbish under there ranging from old bricks, damp cardboard and bit of old floor board, the usual plumbers and sparky rubbish. Anything that is wood and in contact with the ground is rotten. There is a lot of white mould, the brick seems in good condition fortunately.

From my limited experience it seems I have a ventilation problem as there is only air brick access at the front of the house, the back is cut off to any ventilation by a concrete floor in the kitchen. Properties either side of me on this terrace I believe have concrete floors.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this problem and how I can remedy it, I will do the work myself if it's not too technical. I have included photos that are hopefully good enough to illustrate the condition. Please ask for more and I will provide.

Many thanks.

 

[JohnD]

have you got a water meter? and a clay yard gulley outside the kitchen?

Water leaks are very common in the ground under or beside houses, especially when the pipes and drains are over a hundred years old.

Shovel all that rubbish out and leave a floorboard up at each side of the room, see if it starts to dry out. The parts that stay wet may be nearest a source of water.

The incoming water pipe may be visible. Put your ear to it.

 

[sanyi]

Hi John, thanks for your reply.

I did indeed have a salt clay gully outside the kitchen until about a year ago which i discovered was cracked and has probably been like it for decades. I have since replaced it with a bottle gully and check and replaced any other soil pipes since then which has stopped any further soaking of the ground.

I think your plan of action is a good one, I'll get all the rubbish out and let it all breath out, maybe get some dehumidifiers down there as well and recheck for any damp areas. I don't have a water meter. My water connection comes from the neighbours house, one connection from the road feeds three in the terrace, mine being the middle one.