Rotten wall plate in wall

[Alisdair]

I have a victorian property which like most has joists that run into the walls and are supported on the wooden wall plate. This is however rotten! What is the best was to replace this? The joist ends are also rotten. Is it best to hack out the wall plate and attempt to install a dpc and brick it up and then use joist hangers? or is it best to put wood back in. It has solid walls and the bricks are very porous so the walls are damp throught the property. The back of the property has been rendered now and the sides and front will be sprayed with brick sealant so hopefully this will resolve this issue. Under the floor is quite damp there is good ventilation down there though. Any ideas an all of this?? The sleeper wall in the middle of the room seems ok as does the plate on here.

 

[stuart45]

It would be better to build some sleeper walls near the extenal walls to take the joists, so that they are not in the damp brickwork. If you are taking the floor up you could concrete the oversite to help prevent damp.

 

[Alisdair]

yeah i thought about the sleeper wall, but can you not just use joist hangers? at the end of the day the joist isnt then in the wall and i could put some dpc between the joist and the wall. I have a load of latex floor levelling left over from a previous job could i just pour this in? at the end of the day it will seal the floor to some extent but I am concerned about this causing more of a problem up the walls!

 

[stuart45]

You could use joist hangers as long as the timber doen't touch the damp walls. Concrete oversites have been standard practice since the 30's on suspended timber floors, but it's important that the level is above ground level or has drainage to prevent any ponding and dampness.