Holes in kitchen floor - is this causing odour?

[MoonMan2]

I know nothing about this house other than it is about 10 years old.

In the kitchen I noticed there are about 4 or 5 holes in the floor ( in total it's about 5 or 6 sqaure inches) where previous owners installed pipes and badly patched up floor. Shinning the torch down I can see a bit of earth (I think). The holes smell a bit "earthy and foosty".

Should I cover them up or leave them? I am sure they are not helping the odour of the kitchen.

 

[big-all]

what you describe could be damp or rot
you need to check the under floor external vents are clear
and if the floor is discoloured or feels damp you need to find the source

 

[JohnD]

look for the air bricks which are supposed to keep the subfloor void ventilated

are they blocked or clogged?

there is often a lot of rubbish under floor, including dead (or live) rodents.

A 10 year old house should not have earth under the floor, it should be concrete. Poke a stick or something down and see how it feels and what comes out.

 

[MoonMan2]

unscrewed a patch worked floor board thingy, yes it is a mess, with gravel, dust and other stuff. I prodded with metal rod, there is a concrete base.

I then went round the building poking all the air vent bricks.
about

60% were clear
20% weren't clear but I prodded them clear with stick
20% weren't clear and I couldn't clear them with prodding.

I have left floor board open, fan on and window open, will leave overnight.

 

[big-all]

could take several days or indeed weeks to dry if its wet or even sodden

 

[JohnD]

if it doesn't become reasonably dry, there may be a source of damp such as a leak

 

[MoonMan2]

Unscrewed some of the patch work flooring in kitchen to reveal approx 50x30cm opening - now I can see...

Left fan pointing at 50x30cm opening in kitchen floor all night. The odour is still there.

I can't believe how much dirty it is down there (relative I guess). There is soil - where the hell did it come from?

Are there any companies who clean, dry and disenfect concrete subfloor as well as clearing the air vent bricks?

I don't have a hatch to below floor but I understand that can be made installed quite easily.

 

[MoonMan2]

Just had a chap round who said he could install a hatch and crawl under floor boards. He would then clean the concrete floor, which he called a slalom(is that correct name) and check for any leaks.

He said it would help with the unpleasant odour but couldn't gaurantee getting rid of it totally.

Is this worthwhile getting done?

 

[JohnD]

getting the rubbish out and looking for the source of damp is one of the things that needs doing (or you could DIY) but you must also clear all the airvents and see how many you have. One every two metres all round the house is not too many so you get a throughflow

is there anything blocking ventilation, like a new patio, extension or porch?

is the ground level above DPC anywhere?

are you on a hill that might cause water to run towards your house?

 

[MoonMan2]

Thanks will ensure I tell them to clear the air vents.

There is an extension (5 years ago) but it smells lovely and it has air vents round it too.

The odour is coming from the non-extension side of the house.

The DPC is definetely above ground level, chap pointed this out.

My house is at the bottom of a slight hill, the 3 tradesman that have come out for survey/quote all said this was not a problem and water would be draining away OK (I am not convinced though)

I decided to take on the tradesman who is going to install hatch to gain access to underfloor crawl space and then take a look and report back with photos. This costs just over £100. At least that way I will have a hatch and can decide how to move this issue forward based on what he says.

Make sense?

 

[JohnD]

sounds very reasonable

you can crawl down there yourself and keep an eye on it

you should feel cool airflow in and out of the opposite airbricks

 

[MoonMan2]

Spoke to a chap who does floor hatches, he asked how much space I have in sub floor as all sub floors aren't big enough to crawl through. I measure it using opening in kitchen and found I had 18 inches between floor and sub floor but 8 inches is taken up by joists, leaving 10 inches height between bottom of joists and concrete floor. Obviously there are pipes in that space as well.

Not good news, I doubt if a child could even crawl between 10 inches?? I decided to try and tackle this problem at where I think is the source so started this new thread.

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1680095#1680095

 

[MoonMan2]

Just had a thought, I think it would be useful if an endoscopic camera could be put down the opening in the kitchen and manaouvered through the subfloor to look for any issues.

Anyone think this is an idea?

Anyone know of any companies that may have the equipment to do this work?

 

[IJWS15]

Try a web-cam on the end of a stick

 

[MoonMan2]

I have tried lowering my mini dv camera in and shinning a torch but it is just so damned dark down there.