I have a 160 year stone built old house with a suspended wooden floor at ground level. There are barely 2 inches between the bottom of the joists and the ground. There are no vents to the outside world. The ground is dry, I think the water table is certainly greater than 2 feet below the surface - I have a 2 foot hole in the front garden next to the house and it has never had water in it, even after heavy rain.
Apart from the ends of two joists with an 1/8th of an inch softness on the underside, there is no sign of rot, the wood looks as good as the day it was installed 160 years ago.
Since most of the iron nails holding the floor boards to the joists have broken/rotted away I was planning on lifting the whole floor, spraying with 5-1 treatment and relaying the floor.
Putting in external ventilation will be tricky, the walls are 2 foot thick at the base. The only place I think I could get some ventilation holes through the external walls would be below the two south facing windows where the walls are only 10/12 inches thick.
Any advice beyond lifting and laying the floor would be gratefully received.
Iain
Apart from the ends of two joists with an 1/8th of an inch softness on the underside, there is no sign of rot, the wood looks as good as the day it was installed 160 years ago.
Since most of the iron nails holding the floor boards to the joists have broken/rotted away I was planning on lifting the whole floor, spraying with 5-1 treatment and relaying the floor.
Putting in external ventilation will be tricky, the walls are 2 foot thick at the base. The only place I think I could get some ventilation holes through the external walls would be below the two south facing windows where the walls are only 10/12 inches thick.
Any advice beyond lifting and laying the floor would be gratefully received.
Iain
