Need help with damp!

[Rod2808]

Hello,

Could anyone advise about damp in a terraced house from around 1900.
We've lived here about 5 years. There's always been a bit of damp but gotten much worse this year. The tiles in the hallway have started lifting!
Is it just because it's rained a lot and is there anything I can do about it?

The worst affected areas are the hallway and the wall between the hallway and living room but probably worse in the middle of the house rather than at the front.

I've tried to make it clear with the colours on the plan what the photos are of.
The plug socket in the last picture is in the living room towards the front of the house.

The house had a damp proof company do the wall between the living room and hall and a few others in 2010. Could get similar done again but wouldn't help with the hall tiles presumably.

The guttering is intact over the bay. Nothing consistently dripping down I can see.

I assume the water main goes under the hall, I've tried turning off the water under the kitchen sink, the water meter doesn't move. The boiler pressure isn't dropping noticeably.

The living/dining room is lengineered wood on a concrete base with a membrane, I think just earth underneath. Is this The most likely cause? The hall I assume is original, not sure whats under it.

Is there anything that's likely to help or anything obvious to check?

Thanks for any help.

 

[blup]

Take up the floorboards and identify the source of the damp. It’s seems fairly extensive so you might need to replace the joists. You will also need to identify if the inner wall on the hall had a dpc as that will be source of the damp. If it’s a solid floor you will need to dig it out and put down/replace the dpm. It may seem like a lot of work but it will far cheaper if you can identify and remedy with the help of the forum

 

[Rod2808]

There's no joists. It's straight onto the ground as far as I can tell.
The wall between the living room and hall has a dpc done by a damp company in 2010. The wall between the hall and nextdoor has not as the gas pipe is there so can't easily be done, that wall is less damp.

So would need to dig out the floor, replace the dpm and damp proof the walls? Would be the whole downstairs essentially.
That's an awful lot of work and disruption. I guess if the floor lifting there's no way to fix that without digging it up. A bit of a shame to lose the tiles.
What happens if I leave it? Just more tiles lifting and crumbly plaster or something worse?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

There's no joists. It's straight onto the ground as far as I can tell.

Is the lounge timber floored? The air brick, at the bottom of the bay, suggests it might be.

 

[blup]

There's no joists. It's straight onto the ground as far as I can tell.
The wall between the living room and hall has a dpc done by a damp company in 2010. The wall between the hall and nextdoor has not as the gas pipe is there so can't easily be done, that wall is less damp.

So would need to dig out the floor, replace the dpm and damp proof the walls? Would be the whole downstairs essentially.
That's an awful lot of work and disruption. I guess if the floor lifting there's no way to fix that without digging it up. A bit of a shame to lose the tiles.
What happens if I leave it? Just more tiles lifting and crumbly plaster or something worse?

It’s a solid floor so will need to dig it out and put in new dpm and lap it over the dpc if there is one. You might be lucky and find where it’s been breached and repair that area making sure to overlap the old and new dpm.

 

[Koolpc]

Looks like it's wet under there. You really need to do some digging. Only way to know for sure..

 

[Rod2808]

So I'd be looking for a break in the dpm under the concrete in the living room. What about under the tiles in the hall? They're original what would be under them to stop damp?

 

[fillyboy]

Most victorian houses of than era won't have a dpm but the airflow under the timber joists normally keeps everything dry, except for the hallway where they lay a solid floor to lay the ornamental tiles on.

Looks like a lot of work has been done on the bay, maybe a later dpm added, silicone injection. If you have a concrete floor in the lounge behind the bay that's been done much later to try and cure the damp, doesn't normally work and can often worsen the problem.

 

[blup]

So I'd be looking for a break in the dpm under the concrete in the living room. What about under the tiles in the hall? They're original what would be under them to stop damp?

Probably nothing.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Is the lounge timber floored? The air brick, at the bottom of the bay, suggests it might be.

???

 

[Rod2808]

Lounge floor is concrete with laminate on top

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Lounge floor is concrete with laminate on top

Do you have any timber ground floors at all, or a cellar?

 

[Rod2808]

No timber floors, living/dining room is laminate over concrete, hall is Victorian tiles I guess concrete underneath. No cellar.

 

[transam]

Assume there are no pipes under the floor ???

 

[Rod2808]

The water main I think but the meter stops if I turn the water off. No central heating pipes.