Flood/Damp Defence

[dogegg]

hi,

We have recently removed a rotten suspended timber floor from one of the ground floor rooms in an old house we recently purchased. The ends of the timbers at the front of the room had completely rotted through.

The void underneath the floor is between 1 and 1.4 metres deep and at the 1.4 end has about 8 inches of water after rainfall (i think this is rising ground water)

I'm after some advice on how to repair the floor and protect it against any further water/damp damage.

I would like to replace the floor with solid concrete with a damp proof course with insulation but reading the building regs it advises no more than 60cm of hardcore so i wouldn't be able to fill the void.

I am concerned that just replacing and treating the timbers and adding more air bricks may help prevent rising damp but not help with rising ground water or potential flooding in the area.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

thanks,
matt

 

[noseall]

The void can be filled, it just need to be compacted in layers.

There is nothing stopping you filling with (cheaper) heavier and larger in-fill material, prior to finishing off with 30mm-dust mot.

 

[ColJack]

block and beam flooring not an option?

 

[noseall]

block and beam flooring not an option?

It is an existing build.

 

[^woody^]

I would like to replace the floor with solid concrete with a damp proof course with insulation but reading the building regs it advises no more than 60cm of hardcore so i wouldn't be able to fill the void.

That's rubbish.

When a floor slab suffering from sulphate attack needs to be replaced, its common to remove at least 1m of ground below the slab.

So infilling your floor void will be no problem. Just make sure you compact it in layers

 

[dogegg]

I would like to replace the floor with solid concrete with a damp proof course with insulation but reading the building regs it advises no more than 60cm of hardcore so i wouldn't be able to fill the void.

That's rubbish.

When a floor slab suffering from sulphate attack needs to be replaced, its common to remove at least 1m of ground below the slab.

So infilling your floor void will be no problem. Just make sure you compact it in layers

I'd much rather fill the void than have anything suspended with a void that could fill with water.

I checked the with building control officer, he told me they would not recommend anything over 600mm due to risk of movement and the concrete cracking unless i had an Structural engineer design somthing which was reinforced with steel. He also said new builds would not go above 600mm of hardcode