Kitchen is sinking!

[Emerald69]

The floor by the door of my kitchen has 'sunk' over the last 6 months by about an inch (there is a gap between the door/wall and the floor) and it is 'bouncy'. Could this be something to do with the joists?
I am a woman living on my own and I've been in this house for 10 years. I have no idea what this problem could be, just guessing!
Could someone let me know what this could be and how I get it sorted.
Thank you.

 

[stuart45]

There could be timber rot( wet or dry) in the sleeper wall plates. The boards need lifting to check.

 

[Emerald69]

Thanks.
If that's the case, what would need to be done and how much am I looking at??
I will have to rip up the laminate flooring to access the floorboards in order to lift them to see, that's the first expense...!!!

 

[stuart45]

Its difficult to put a price on it without seeing the job. Dry rot is quite common in old timber ground floors if the air bricks get blocked up.
They often get ripped out and replaced with concrete.
However if you remove the conditions that timber rot needs to survive and replace the rotten timbers you should be able to keep a timber floor.
A specialist company will treat the affected areas with chemicals, although recent research by BRE has suggested that the use of chemicals is not always required if the correct amount of timber is removed and the area is well ventilated.
Years ago the brickwork below floor level was just heated with a blow lamp to kill the spores.

 

[gregers]

Years ago the brickwork below floor level was just heated with a blow lamp to kill the spores.

which only burnt off the hyphae on the face of the brickwork.

for wet rot cut out all infected timbers and replace making sure you treat any timbers in the vicinity with fungicide/pesticide,stop any ingress of moisture,update /clean your air vents.
for dry rot iirc the industry states that you have to remove all timber that is rotten 1metre past the last found infestation in all directions where feasible,we used to do 5 star drilling into the brickwork and then flood the wall with a fungicide,i think they now just do a perimmetre drilling to stop it from spreading,but again check clean/update your air vents

with both make sure you use d.p.c under any new timbers and wrap any joist ends

emerald,do not know how handy you are with tools but it is something you might be able to do with a bit of research i:e highering the sprayer/pump and obtaining some chemical from a higher shop or just phone a preservation firm up and see what they have to say.

 

[Shytalkz]

...higher shop...

Yes, you must visit one that's more than 100m above sea level. Something to do with atmospheric pressure affecting the chemical constituents.

 

[gregers]

doh,hire shops.